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Fishing with Tom and Bob 12/28/19
Tom and Bob drove in from Cincinnati this morning and were meeting me at Mazurik's for an 8am launch. The Ranger was already gassed up, so I only needed to get some ice for the fish cooler, and hit Big Bopper's for some breakfast, before heading to the ramp.
As I was leaving Bopper's, I got a phone call from Tom at 7:15 stating they were at Rt2 and 250 in Sandusky. I said, "You're only 20 minutes out", and headed to the ramp to get the boat ready for the day's trip. I was happy to see there wasn't any ice at the ramp this morning, but bummed that I went to the trouble of securing a friend's 4WD Yukon, because my Excursion is only 2WD. (Thanks Jenn Wieland!) Better safe than sorry though...I've done the ice thing before and it isn't fun.
It was still dark at 7:20 as I readied things. The boat was unstrapped from the trailer, the Ulterra turned on, kicker motor was put up, the G2's built-in "transom" saver was disengaged, the Humminbird's were turned on, the radio was turned on, and the rods were pulled from the rod locker and set up with the baits we would start out with.
As I waited for my crew to show up, I helped other guys in line move their rigs up, so the line didn't back up too far, and bottleneck by the big tree...if you've launched there before...you know the tree I speak of. ;)
We also discussed fishing results from yesterday and game plans for today.
My crew finally arrived at 8am, and we launched. The sky was gray and the air was heavy with fog that had a 3-4 mile visibility. The air temp was 35 degrees, and the water temp was 34.3 degrees (or, it might have been 33.4...I can't remember). There was just the tiniest of breezes out of the SE putting small a ripple on the lake.
We headed NW out of Mazurik's, where I fished a few weeks ago with friends. I had marked fish there yesterday, as I passed over the hole, while running from one spot to another, but didn't stop there.
We started with a "Motion Sickness" P-10 on each of the outside Off Shore boards...run at 30/30 1oz. A Red Headed Wonder bread Bandit 100 back unassisted ran on the starboard side, a "Pooh Bear Chart" Bandit 100 back UA was on the port side, an IB Frozen Bandit at 50/24 1oz ran on the port side, and a "I can't remember what color it was" Bandit also ran on the 50/24 program on the starboard side. :)
Everything eventually caught fish and we had 9 in the box and released 3 18" fish in the first two passes. It was a fun morning, but when the bite slowed a bit (as more boats worked the small area along that south edge contour with me), I decided to go back to the area I fished yesterday with Steve and Jeremy, and look at some different scenery.
We headed to the west side of Catawba and set up with P-10's 30/30 on the starboard side, while Tom pulled out his box of lures he brought along to try. Both sides of the boat were catching fish and a couple of times we had doubles on. It was a nice steady bite today and the guys had a good time.
Tom set up this trip, and brought along his cousin Bob. Bob, is a Captain too...he said he had just retired and sold his 13 boat fleet down in Cabo. That's pretty freak'n awesome (that he had that life, I mean...not that he retired). Tom said he's been fishing this lake for 30 years, and was happy to get out today. It's not often you get to fish Lake Erie at the end of December, so it was nice to get the opportunity.
Looks like I'll be off the lake all week, so it's back to abusing my body at the gym to remove all the Christmas goodies I ate this past week, and walking the dogs.....deep sigh.
The Ranger is back in heated storage until the next weather break that allows me out on the water again. So until then, I would like to wish everyone a very Happy, Safe, and Successful New Year!
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
