Fishing with Bill and Max Claassen... July 11, 2023

Bill and Max Claassen, drove in from Iowa yesterday, to fish three days with me. I picked them up at the Best Western at 5:15, and headed to the gas station on the west side of town. I had already gassed the boat and truck up the afternoon before, at another gas station, that saved me money. I only needed ice for the coolers, so it was a quick stop.

We went to Mazurik's, to launch. We were in the water, and on our way back to where I fished yesterday, by 5:45. The sun was just peaking over the horizon, as we rode north, showing us what a blazing orange fiery ball it was going to be this morning. It was spectacular...the camera didn't do it any justice at all.


When we reached the line, the Terrova was deployed and the baby Merc fired up. They steered and pushed us along at a speed of 2.3-2.5mph. Once the Fish Hawk was set down to depth, it showed a speed of 2.2mph. It was time to set the dipsies.
We ran the same program as yesterday, with the dipsies set on the zero and three settings.
The zero settings started at 40 and 50 back, but the 50 was less active, so I raised that one to 36 back, and put a gold/black Ripplin Redfin on, and it did better than the spoon at 50 back. The three settings were running at 65 and 70 back, and both were productive.


We caught a bunch of shorts this morning too, along with some Sheephead, and one White Bass.


It wasn't rough when we headed out, but it got rougher as the morning progressed. Just 1-3s with some 4s thrown in for good measure, from time to time, so not too bad, but, it was a little too rough for "Papa", because he started feeling seasick.


When we put their 12th keeper walleye in the cooler, I asked, "Do you want to move down south where it would be a little less rough, and try for those last 6? Or, would you like to go in?" Bill asked Max, "Max, what do you want to do?", and Max replied with the usual reply of... "It doesn't matter to me, whatever you want to do". Without hesitation, Bill turned to me and said, "We can go in". So, we packed it up and headed in.


It was a short day, today, but they still had a lot of fun, and are looking forward to going out again tomorrow. However, I will not be going back up to the line with the east winds that are forecast, (12-13mph...1-3s again), and will take them to the west side of the islands for a bit of protection, and smaller waves. I was over there three days ago, and managed to catch some keeper walleye, so I know we can put some in the cooler tomorrow, too. We just have to dodge some early morning scattered thunderstorms first, I think. At least, that's what the TV Weatherman just said on the news, at noon.
It might be a later start in the morning...I won't know until the morning, though, when I can look at my radar, and see what's headed this way.


Stay tuned....


Capt Juls