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Fishing with Vito Centofanti 10/16/2020
This morning I was fishing with Vito, from my home state of Wisconsin, finally. I have had to reschedule him 4 times this season due to the Covid restrictions that started back in March, wind, and one screw up on my end where I had double booked, and the other person was on the calendar....not Vito. He understood and was super flexible...rebooking to today. The wind was worrisome this morning, because when I got to Mazurik's a little early to do some clean up and re-rigging, the wind was a little gusty out of the NNW. I couldn't see them yet, but I could hear the waves crashing on the rocks out in front of the launch.
Vito showed up with his wife Michelle, who wasn't inclined to put herself through that kind of experience today, so, smiling, she sent us on our way without her. She was going to keep busy by checking out some sights here in town.
As the sun lit up the eastern sky, the winds miraculously died to around 5mph. The waves subsided substantially, which was a relief, so we could take an easy ride out. We started at the lighthouse, just to check and see if there were fish in there yet. There weren't.
We picked up and headed up to the islands. I took him where I took Jeremy and Steve the other day, to see if those fish were still in there. They were.
We ran Bandits at 55-58 back and DHJ14's at 47 back behind Off Shore boards. Three per side since there were only two of us. Because of current and a break line I was following, my plan was to see if it caused one side of the boat to catch better than the other, and if it did, I would put more boards to that side of the boat, and less on the other side.
I knew I could do that with Vito, since he's fished with me a few times before, and knows the program really well.
He bought my 2018 Ranger 621...(the blue one if you remember that one), and brings it down when he comes for an extended weekend. He fishes with me, and then fishes a couple days out of his own boat. Unfortunately, that poor boat took a major hit in the rear in by an inattentive, uninsured, driver a few weeks ago. Ugh!!! I'd be sick.
He's looking at a lot of glass repair, new trailer, EZEESteps, and a kicker motor. His truck's rear end looks like a big can opener was taken to it too, because the EZEEStep was forced through the body panel from the impact of the hit.
Anyway...back to fishing...
We made a directional change that turned on the bite for us. The wind went from NNW to the SW about 2 hours into our trip, and when we trolled from west to east with the SW wind on my starboard stern's corner, the Walleye started to bite. We made three passes that were about a 1/2 mile long and picked up our 12 Walleye, one Smallmouth, and one Sheephead. The bites were about even per side, so we didn't need to add or subtract boards, and kept it even.
We launched at 7:30 and we were done by 10:15. Vito decided we should head in, so he could spend time with Michelle and show her some of the visitor's attractions around here. They are staying one more night and heading back to Wisconsin. They feel like family to me, and it's always fun to fish with him. :)
My original trip for tomorrow was rescheduled to 2021, per the customer's request, but then an hour later I received a message asking if I had tomorrow open.
Ethan and his Dad had booked a charter on the Niagra River, but the Capt canceled it for whatever reason, so he was looking to get out on Erie, and wondered if I had the day open. Well, I do actually, so I told him it might be a little rough, but it's fishable. They booked it. How fortuitous for all of us. :)
We'll be launching out of Huron at sunrise...well before the top ten NWT Pros take off at 8am.
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
