4 Attachment(s)
Fishing with Jeff, Trevor, and Steve 6/2/19
Today I had a crew from the Columbus, OH area. One which I've had to reschedule two times already, due to weather. Jeff really wanted to get a trip in, so the plan last night was to do a later start, because the forecast was showing strong north winds until around 9am. But, when I got up this morning, it had changed, and the window for light winds was my normal starting time of 5:30 to 9am. They couldn't get here that early, because of the 2+ hour drive from Columbus.
Anyway, we met up at Big Bopper's at 7:50 and ate a quick breakfast and headed over to Mazurik's to launch. The lake wasn't white capping yet, but the wind app was showing 20mph out of the west at the Put-In-Bay location. The forecast was showing the winds were going to switch and come out of the north at 16 with gusts to 21. I was not looking forward to that, because I know how rough it was going to get.
We launched and headed out at 8:45. My plan was to get up to where I was yesterday before the winds switched, so that we could troll with the waves and have a following sea on the way back in. We made it about 1/2 way up when the wind switched on a dime, and a burst of colder air hit us in the face. My eyes started watering, and my hat blew off...lol Luckily, I hold it on my head by my ponytail, so I didn't lose it. https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/e...1/16/1f642.png:)
I was not comfortable with how fast it changed and the white caps that were building on the lake, so we turned the boat and made a trolling pass towards the southwest corner of Kelly's from the Ballast Island area. After one fish, I decided to head down to the lee side of Kelly's Island and set up there, since I knew there were a lot of fish in the south passage.
We caught 5 more fish there, before I looked at the wind app again and found it changed....again. This time, it was for the better and the wind was going to lay down, and already was. The white caps were gone, so I asked if the guys would indulge me and make that rough ride back up to the north again. I told them, "I don't like playing bumper boats down here, and I know what kind of bite it is up there, if we can get there." They all agreed that if I felt it was doable, then we should go. So, we went. We secured everything down and made our way up the east side of the Bass Islands again.
It wasn't too bad, and we made slow steady progress and eventually got to our destination. It wasn't long after setting up (same program as the previous two trips) that we started catching, and again it took less time to catch the rest of our 4 person limit than it took to get up there. The action was fast and the guys had a lot of fun. Especially, Trevor.
Jeff, Trevor's Dad, told me that he was home from West Point, and had never caught a walleye, so it was the reason why it was so important for this day to happen. Trevor caught many walleye, and learned how to set Off Shore boards and dipsey divers, and did a great job with both. He's a very intelligent young man, and a quick learner, and made my job a whole lot easier today. https://static.xx.fbcdn.net/images/e...1/16/1f642.png:)
By the time we were headed in the winds had laid way back and the lake was down to 2' or less, instead of the 2-4's on the way up....and, that made me happy! Ha!
Tomorrow's crew is a husband and wife team, and once again the winds are forecast for gusty in the morning, and laying down in the afternoon, so as of right now....we will be looking at a 10:30 launch, unless it changes again by morning. I have already given them the heads up that I will be looking at the forecast in the early AM and if it changes overnight, that they should be ready for a much earlier start.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
