Fishing Day 1 with Dean and Bruce 5/22/2020

This morning was a drizzling rain with temps in the mid 50's. I was meeting Dean and Bruce at Catawba at 5:30. I left the house at 4:30, so I could go gas up the Ranger and grab some ice and minnows at Hi Way Bait. I figured if we caught our 18 walleye in a quick fashion that we could go look for some perch.

We floated the boat at 5:45 and headed west from the launch. We set up with Bandits in 18' of water at a speed of 1.8mph. The Bandits were set between 30 and 60 back on each side, and dialed into 35 back when just about every fish hit the lure at 35. It was a bit slow, we only had 15 in two hours, so I decided to head north to the islands to look for some perch. I figured we would probably catch a few walleye on the minnows too, so those last three we needed were left open for that.


However, when we got up to the "Triangle" between the Bass Islands, the water looked pretty good, and there were marks on the Helix here and there, so we set up with the trolling spread one more time to make a pass through there. My perch spot for this time of year was just up around the corner between Middle Bass and North Bass, so we trolled in that direction.


We did that for about 20 minutes before I said, "Let's go perch'n. We can always troll another spot for the last three walleye if the perch don't cooperate."


Well, the perch spot didn't pan out. Dean and Bruce each caught a sheepshead in 20 minutes, and that was it. So, we picked up and headed east of the Bass Islands and set up east of the monument to get those last three walleye.


This time the Bandits were set out 60-75 back and it wasn't long before we were watching the Off Shore boards go back with the telltale sign of a fish on. We played catch and release for the next hour and then headed in to take the fish over to Bay's Edge to be cleaned.


Dean and Bruce will be fishing with me again tomorrow, so I think this time we will be launching at Mazurik's and heading north from there.


Water temps are rising...we noted 55 degrees today.


Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be nicer than today, so it should be an even more fun day that today was. :)


Stay tuned....


Capt Juls

Great news, glad you are to be on the water and making money.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Capt Juls

This morning was a drizzling rain with temps in the mid 50's. I was meeting Dean and Bruce at Catawba at 5:30. I left the house at 4:30, so I could go gas up the Ranger and grab some ice and minnows at Hi Way Bait. I figured if we caught our 18 walleye in a quick fashion that we could go look for some perch.

We floated the boat at 5:45 and headed west from the launch. We set up with Bandits in 18' of water at a speed of 1.8mph. The Bandits were set between 30 and 60 back on each side, and dialed into 35 back when just about every fish hit the lure at 35. It was a bit slow, we only had 15 in two hours, so I decided to head north to the islands to look for some perch. I figured we would probably catch a few walleye on the minnows too, so those last three we needed were left open for that.


However, when we got up to the "Triangle" between the Bass Islands, the water looked pretty good, and there were marks on the Helix here and there, so we set up with the trolling spread one more time to make a pass through there. My perch spot for this time of year was just up around the corner between Middle Bass and North Bass, so we trolled in that direction.


We did that for about 20 minutes before I said, "Let's go perch'n. We can always troll another spot for the last three walleye if the perch don't cooperate."


Well, the perch spot didn't pan out. Dean and Bruce each caught a sheepshead in 20 minutes, and that was it. So, we picked up and headed east of the Bass Islands and set up east of the monument to get those last three walleye.


This time the Bandits were set out 60-75 back and it wasn't long before we were watching the Off Shore boards go back with the telltale sign of a fish on. We played catch and release for the next hour and then headed in to take the fish over to Bay's Edge to be cleaned.


Dean and Bruce will be fishing with me again tomorrow, so I think this time we will be launching at Mazurik's and heading north from there.


Water temps are rising...we noted 55 degrees today.


Tomorrow's weather is supposed to be nicer than today, so it should be an even more fun day that today was. :)


Stay tuned....


Capt Juls

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thanks for sharing your story and the fishing report. looks like some great eaters. not to big but small enough to eat real good.