Fishing with Mike, George, and Robin... July 20, 2023

I called Hi-Way Bait last night, before I went to bed, to make sure they would have Emerald Shiners available this morning, and talked to DJ. He said, "I hope so...it will depend on what we can get tonight". Meaning, they were going out to net some minnows. He said they were headed 70 miles east, to find them. Then, he said, "I'll text you at 4:15 tomorrow, and let you know if we got them". "Okay," I said, "That will work".

He let me know they have fresh shiners, and I should stop on out...so, I did.


I had them put 5 scoops in a zip-loc bag, that I put on ice, and another 4 scoops in a new live bait cooler/bubbler thingy. And, later, I'll tell you why I will never have one of those on my boat ever again. lol


But, first, let me introduce you to my crew. Mike Shepperson, fishes with me a couple times a season, and has been for the last several years. I'm not exactly sure how many years it's been, but it's at least 5 or 6 years, now. He brings different people every time he comes, and shares his love of fishing with them. This time, he brought his friends, George and Robin, who are fishermen, themselves, so it was an easy morning.


They had scheduled a walleye trip for today, but I asked if they would mind if we went perch fishing instead, because where I wanted to walleye fish today, would have been pretty rough. After telling him that the perch fishing was pretty easy right now, and what the conditions to the east would be, it was an easy decision for them.


We first set up on some marks close to Mouse Island, but that didn't pan out. Even though there were marks on the Helix, nothing was biting there. After 15 minutes there, we picked up and moved north to deeper water.


I hit the Spot Lock, over 34 feet of water, near South Bass Island. That area had the best marks I have seen on the Helix in a long time. I was hopeful. "How about a dollar bet, on the first yellow?", I asked. "Sounds good to me", said Mike. Robin and George were in too. I find that, that usually gets people to focus a little harder, right off the bat. :)


After some missed bites, some Sheephead (which seemed to like Robin the best), George caught the first yellow perch, and the skunk was out of the box! The bite picked up to a steady bite for a couple hours, and then slowed way down again, at around 9:30. It would take an hour to get their last 30, of their 3-man limit. We were done at 10:30


George would end up winning the bet on catching the last fish, too, for a winnings total of a whopping 6 dollars. :)


It was a fun morning for everyone. Except for....

When the three pleasure boats came by, and threw a big wake, which ended up toppling over my live bait cooler from the front deck, to the step....dumping the entire contents of water and shiners all over the floor in back. You can imagine my dismay at seeing all those shiner scales all over my clean floor. Arrrrggghhhh.....stupid pleasure boats. I will never be using one again, since the minnows in the Ziplock (on ice) does the job, too. Besides, the minnow dies when you rip them in half anyway, so why bother keeping them alive? They don't lose their scales when they are in a bag, with no water, and on ice.

Tomorrow, I'm off, but have a walleye trip on Saturday. The wind looks very good for Saturday, right now, so my fingers are crossed that it stays that way.


Stay tuned....


Capt Juls

Great report as usual. What do you do with your leftover minnows?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Moldman

Great report as usual. What do you do with your leftover minnows?

---

I freeze them in Wintergreen Rubbing Alcohol. Just drain any water that there might be...and pour the alcohol over them, until just covered. Then, throw in the freezer.

I was taught this several years ago. I thought they were crazy, but the fish seem to like it. And, it firms up the minnow, so it's not mushy on the hook. :)