Fishing with TJ and Daphne... 7/31/2021

Sunrise was at 6:31 this morning, so I had my crew meet me at Mazurik's a little before 6am, so we could be launched by 6am. The half hour before the actual sunrise is great for driving on the lake. It's light enough to see everything, but there's no big fiery ball in the sky yet, to blind you when you're headed ENE. :)

TJ and Daphne have their own boat, and have started to use inline boards, on the few trips they have been up here. Today, TJ wanted to learn how to run dipsies. "We have some dipsies", said Daphne, "But, they are still in their packaging", she added with a giggle. "That's okay, dipsies are the easiest thing in the world to run, and you'll have all the confidence in the world, after this trip, to use them on your own boat", I said. I wasn't lying. Dipsies are the easiest thing in my arsenal to use.


We set up north of Cedar Point in 41' of water and let the Ulterra and baby Merc guide us on a NNE trolling pass.


Running two dipsies off each corner:


The "inside dipsies" were set on the zero setting, and the "outside dipsies" were on the three settings. The port side zero setting was set to 54 back and the starboard side zero setting was set to 65 back. The three setting on the port side was set to 65 back to start, and the starboard side three setting was set to 91' back.


A Black/Gold Ripplin Redfin ran on the starboard side 3 setting, while a Yaleye Mooneye Minnow ran on the three setting on the port side. The two inside dipsies ran spoons...the larger BadMo spoon on the starboard side and the Red Headed Wonderbread Yeck spoon on the port side.


Speed was 2.5mph. I usually start with that, because the "Precision Trolling Data" info for the dipsies is based on a speed of 2.5mph. I adjust from there.


(3) Bandits and (1) Spro were running, unassisted, behind the Off Shore boards between 45 and 75 back. Blues with white in them were a good color today.


We caught our three-person limit by 10:15, and took a nice leisurely back in.


The forecast was a little off today. I was expecting a relatively calm lake, other than some residual NE rollers from last night's wind, and less than 5mph out of the south. Well, it wasn't less than 5, and it wasn't out of the south. It was a SE, and sometimes NE wind...it kept switching around. The waves were no more than 1-2's, unless some knoob with a pleasure boat drove by too close, plowing through, and throwing a big wake. I wonder if they think they will lose their way if they deviate from that straight line they are driving on out there. I don't get it....but, I digress.


Anyway, it was a nice morning. Cool enough to wear jeans and a light jacket, and sunny. TJ and Daphne had a good time and said they learned a lot, so mission accomplished...and, that makes me happy! :)


I'm off tomorrow, and have the same crew for Monday and Tuesday. They are driving in from Iowa, and we will be targeting walleye.


Stay tuned....


Capt Juls

Great post as usual Capt Juls. Ditto on those cruisers who can't steer a couple of degrees around the fishermen.

Great post Capt. Juls. But I always enjoy reading your posts. I was a little east of you Saturday morning. I have one question for you that I hope you can answer. With the kicker pushing and the minnkota steering, what speed do you set the minnkota to run at? I only have a kicker but want to add a bow mount to keep me straight when I am trolling alone and landing a fish. Especially when headed into the wind or a cross wind. I like to switch direction to see if one way works better than the other. Direction seems to help at times.

I managed 4 keepers but I only was running 2 lines since I was alone. Started with dipsy divers and spoons then switched to a bandit and reef runner deep diver.

Thanks for posting as often as you do.

Drifting about 4 miles straight out of Lorain got 4 man limit in 3 hours. Great day!