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Fishing with John and Bob 7/16/1
Picked my crew up at their hotel at 5am, got gas, ice, and stopped for breakfast at Big Bopper's before heading to Mazurik's, where we launched at 6am. By 6:30 we were up in Canada fishing on the west side of Pelee Island.
I chose a spot on the "Wagon Wheel" just below a contour point that came up to 24 foot of water and made a pass over it into deeper water. The smallmouth were stacked in the 24-25' range, while the walleye were out a little deeper in the 28-31' of water.
Deep Diving Bandits were the lure of choice today. We ran them 75, 85, 91, and 110 back behind the Off Shore boards...running 1.7-1.9mph. We started out with three boards per side, but since I was the only one setting lines today, and the fact that we kept getting tangles while bringing fish in from the outside boards, I thought it best to just run two boards per side and keep it simple....that worked out very well. No more tangles and the baits spent more time in the water. :)
We ended up with 18 nice eater sized walleye and 11 smallmouth bass in 6 hours. The largest smallie was easily a 5 pounder. They were nice fish.
John and Bob were my last customers in 2014. If you remember, for those that read my blog on a regular basis, it was that trip up to Canada for perch, where we caught a mess of jumbos that day.
John told me, "Juls, after we fished with you that day, I learned I had stage 4 colon cancer" I was dumbfounded and listened...he went on to say, "I figured I wouldn't be here this year, but you know what? After all winter doing Chemo, I am happy to say that I am cancer free!
The doctors were as shocked as I was, and no one understands how that happened, but it did. The first call I made when I got home was to you....to set up these three fishing trips". (He mentioned it several times, so I have to believe he really did make me his first call...I am freak'n honored by that!!)
He's really "good people", and I'm glad he will be around for a long time to come.
Back on topic....today's conditions were beautiful with a light SE wind, sunny skies, and 70-75 degree air temps. Oh, and NO BUGS! It was a perfect fishing day in my book...the best kind.
Bandit colors were Pink Lemonade, Black Wonderbread, I Be Frozen, Purple Mist, and Blue Chrome, and Firetiger....listed in the order that worked best. ;)
It was a fun day. My original plan was to go to Huron, but I'm glad I didn't. I got a couple of reports from friends that were over there today, and it was poor fishing near Cranberry. The water is muddied up and even the junk fish didn't want to bite. I'm glad we went to Canada today...whew!
My trip for tomorrow and Saturday have been cancelled, due to the client's boss sending him to North Carolina for meetings today and tomorrow. He can't get a flight back in time to do Saturday either. He's really disappointed, and I can't blame him.
So, my next trip isn't until Sunday. I will have the same crew for Sunday and Monday, which I like...that way by Monday, they are trained and working like a well oiled machine. ;)
Stay tuned....
Capt Juls
