Fishing with the Simon Family 7/14/2021

I got up at 2:30 and did the usual routine of making coffee, cleaning the cat box, getting the royals their canned food, and grabbing a couple treats for Dexter, before hitting the back deck to check the weather for the morning.


Today's forecast, was calling for a decent wind from the west for the early morning hours, and then diminishing as the morning progressed, and picking back up in the afternoon. So, I texted my crew and told them to meet me at Mazurik's at 6:45 instead of 5:30. We would do a later start.


Well, the forecasters got it wrong....deep sigh...again.


It was pretty calm when I looked out over the water from the get ready lane at Mazurik's. There was just a small ripple, due to a light SSW wind.


My crew, this morning, consisted of a family from a place near Rockford, ILL. Mark and Cindy Simon, and their daughter, Kiera, would be joining me today.


We headed east out of the break wall, and headed towards Cedar Point. The sky was cloudy and gray, and their was a light haze hanging over the water too. But, there in the smallest of openings in the clouds... the sun poked through, and lit things up a bit.


We started in 30 feet of water. The Ulterra steered us on a northeasterly course, while the Baby ETEC pushed us at a speed of 1.9-2.1mph.


We started with Flicker Minnow 11s behind Off Shore boards, (3 on each side), and two dipsies off each corner. The Flicker Minnows were set at 100 / 70 / 50 on the starboard side, and 100 / 80 / 65 on the port side...(longest leads on the outside).


Dipsies: Yeck Spoons, Rippling Redfins, BadMo Spoons, and Scorpion Spoons today.
Shorter inside rod: set on zero and set 30 back on both sides.
The longer outside rods: were set on the 3 settings and sent out 50 and 60 back.


I showed Mark how to use the boards and clip them on the line, and set them out. He caught on quick, and before he could start the second rod, the first bait out, got hit. Mark reeled in a nice eater, and put it in the cooler. I said, "I just hope this isn't one of those days when the first one comes superfast, and then we catch nothing for hours". Mark laughed, and emitted a feeling that he knew exactly what I was talking about. But, we didn't have to wait long for the next one to hit. It was another nice eater, I thought we were going to have a great morning. But, after fish number 4 came in the boat, the marks on the Helix were thinning out, and so was our bite.


I tuned the boat around, to go back through that area, and see if that direction would be any better. We caught a few more, along with a couple of sheephead, so I directed the Ulterra to the NNW this time. We were now going with the waves, out to deeper water.


I replaced the spoon on the starboard side's 3 setting with a Black and Gold Chrome Ripplin Redfin, and it caught a bunch of fish at 65 and 70 back.


Kiera was on the money when reeling in dipsey fish.....reeling down to the dipsey, and then lifting and backing up at the same time, so the fish could be netted. She's a young athletic young lady, with a contagious smile, who loves to golf...and will hopefully succeed in getting a golf scholarship to college. She did an awesome job today. :)


Mom, Cindy, was happy just floating along on the boat, and wasn't really interested in reeling in any fish, so Kiera, Mark, and I did it all.


Most of the fish we caught today were little buggers on the spoons...along with 16 keepers that went in the cooler...the largest only going 23 inches. The Simon family was happy with their catch, and would have been happier, if Mark hadn't broken the key off in the truck topper's lock this morning. His cooler was in the back. lol I drove the fish over to Port Clinton Fish Co., so they could have them cleaned there. The bagged fillets could be put in a smaller cooler then.


They had a great time, and that makes me happy! :)


I am off tomorrow, due to forecasted conditions. The trip has been rescheduled to a later date.


Weather permitting, I'll be back at it on Saturday.


Stay tuned....


Capt Juls

Thanks again juls. How were the bugs out there. Want to bring my grand daughter Monday.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by badboards

Thanks again juls. How were the bugs out there. Want to bring my grand daughter Monday.

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There weren't any bugs bothering us yesterday.

That's great. They can be annoying. Thank you.

Great report, thanks