Originally Posted by
Capt Juls
I'm not going to write much about yesterday, because I would rather forget it. We only caught 2 walleye north of Lucy's, up on the line. The marks were there, but the fish were mostly in a negative mood. I know some people caught them up there, and good for them, but they didn't want what we had to offer, and that was Bandits, Reapers, Bill Lewis PWCs, and Crawler Harnesses.
We caught one on a Bandit and one on a crawler harness, so no pattern, and no more bites. I felt so bad, that Jeff, Kevin, and Dan had come all the way from MN for our Lake Erie walleye bite, and I couldn't produce it for them. They didn't complain though, and said "We're fishermen, so we know that's how it sometimes goes".
I still felt awful though, so I went to bed earlier than usual, and got up with a new attitude and plan, after looking at the satellite picture from yesterday afternoon.
After deciding where I wanted to go, I talked to two people that confirmed my suspicions, and gave me a boost to my confidence that I needed. Thanks guys, you know who you are. :)
I picked my crew up at 5:15 from their VRBO rental, and proceeded to the Speedway on the other side of town, for gas and ice. We hit Catawba while it was still dark, but the huge full moon to the west was shining so brightly across the surface of the water, that it didn't feel dark.
We launched a little before 6am, and let the 400 warm up before heading north. The sun was just starting to lighten the sky to the east with a warm palette of oranges, yellows, and reds. The sky was clear, the air temp around 50 degrees, and just a whisper of a wind, that put little ripples on an otherwise flat lake.
The 8 mile ride took no time at all, and was smooth as could be. I love mornings, like this morning! I wish they could all be like this....perfection. (Well, I could do without the full moon, but you get it).
We set up in 30' of water and set all Bandits behind the Off Shore boards with longer leads of 120, 97, 80, and 70 on the port side, and 120, 93, 83, and 65 on the starboard side.
Colors that caught today were:
Wild Thing (JT Custom through FISH USA) Had 3 of these running out there
Blue Shiner (Stock Color) Had 2 running out there
Whiskey and Water (Slim Shady Custom)
Green Lantern (Slim Shady Custom)
Blue Chrome (stock color, of course)
All the leads took fish, but the 80 and 83 back, took the most fish.
Speed was 1.8-2.0 on the GPS but 1.5-1.6 on the Fish Hawk.
Water temp went from 49.8 to 52.3 in the 6 hours we were out there.
We managed to catch our 4-person limit of 24 fish, so I was much happier with today's outcome, than yesterday, and I'm sure my crew was too! Ha!
They have another charter tomorrow, where they will go jigging, with another captain. I am off tomorrow, and have some things getting done around the home front this weekend, so I'll be back out on Monday.
Have a great weekend, everyone! :)
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
