Fishing with John, Steve (Pops), and Dan 6/1/2020

I arrived at Mazurik's about 40 minutes before John, Steve (Pops), and Dan were to arrive for our 6am launch. I readied the boat, and picked the baits I wanted to start with, which was pretty much the same as the ones I ended the day with yesterday.

The guys showed up and I put them in the boat. This morning was a treat, as Capt Sam, who runs "Porkchop Express", offered to dump us in. I should say, it was a treat until he started to back us in and I felt that telltale sign of a strap not getting removed from the back starboard side. "Ugh! Hold up!" I yelled. "Pull us out". He pulled forward and I went to try and undo the strap, but there was too much tension on it from the boat not being up on the roller all the way, so I had him back us in again, so I could get the boat back on the trailer as best I could. He pulled out again and Dan was able to get it unhooked. Whew! "Ok, Sam...back us in again". This time, all went as it was supposed to. I turned to Pops, who was in the passenger seat and said, "This doesn't usually happen. Geez, I feel like an amateur!" He giggled and said, "It happens to the best of them".


So crises averted....we headed to the west this time. I wanted to look at the west side of Scott Point Shoal on the way to South Bass Island and see if there were any marks on the Helix that would entice me to set down there. There were, but I think my intuition kicked in and I felt heading north would be better. I didn't want to fish in that pack that's up there every day, so we stopped north of Starve and set up on some good marks.


Bandits 85, 71, and 63 on one side and the Mag 44's on the other. It wasn't long though and the Bandits were getting hit, but the Mags weren't, so I swapped them out for three more Bandits. Colors were (2) Attention Deficit (Domka color), Glare (stock), Chrome Barbie (JT Customs color), Stormy Night (Off The Hook color), and Sunspot (stock, I think?). Speed was 1.8-2.1mph.


At one point towards the end of our limit, I noticed the fish moving down in the water column, and wanted to get a bait down to 25 feet. So, looking at the snap weight info for the Bandit on the Precision Trolling Data app. it said, "74". I explained to them how the 50 / 2oz method works and had them put a snap weight on at 50 feet, then let out another 24 feet of line ...for a total of 74 feet. That put the bait at 25 feet.


It wasn't out a minute and took a nice fish. So, of course, I had them switch up the inside board on the other side of the boat too, and it wasn't long before that one also took a fish.


We finished out our 24 fish limit in 2 1/2 hours. The guys learned a ton, and were getting the hang of it, so they can confidently run Off Shore boards in their own boat now and catch fish too. They said they had never caught a limit until today, and were all very happy with their results. It was a good morning, and I'm thankful for the beautiful weather we had this morning too!


Tomorrow is a blow day. My customer has decided to reschedule to the 2021 season instead.


I have a three day trip with a Wisco crew that I have fished with several times now over the years, so I'm looking forward to that. The weather forecast for Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday looks pretty good.....so, my fingers are crossed that it stays that way. :)


Stay tuned....


Capt Juls