Fishing with Mike and his Buddies 4/24/16

[Capt Juls]

Woke up at 3:30am, which was too early, but I couldn't sleep, so I got up and put the coffee on. I checked the weather and wind forecast, and was pleasantly surprised to find it was going to be a nice morning.

After gassing up the Ranger, and hitting Bopper's for breakfast, I drove over to Mazurik's to wait on my crew. They were camping last night at East Harbor State Park, in a tent, so I can only imagine how cold that had to be....brrr!

I was at the ramp early, so I texted them to let them know they could come over as soon as they were ready. They showed at a little before 7am, so we were on the water at 7. Thanks Nick Hogan for dumping us in, so we didn't have to wait!

With only a 4 hour trip scheduled, (something I no longer offer), we made a plan of hitting Mouse Island and the ferry channel area. The reports on the radio were that Bandits 45-65 back were working.

My guys had never run Off Shore boards before, so after a quick tutorial, and my looking over their shoulders, to make sure they didn't have any issues, they were setting the lines with ease.

We caught the first one on a Pink Lemonade Deep Walleye Bandit at 55 back, and then....nothing. So, with the info from the tournament still rolling around in my brain, I thought, "Why not?" So, I put a 2oz inline weight on and a 6' leader in front of a Natural Perch Bandit, and set it out 55 back. I'm only guessing, but I think that puts it in the 21' range. Our speed was 1.6mph.

It wasn't long and the board sporting the 2oz inline went surging back, and another nice walleye was put in the box...putting a smile on my face, since the program everyone else was catching fish on wasn't working for us for some reason.

We would end the short trip with 5 nice walleye. Four of them came on the 2oz set up, and just that first one came on the higher baits. It's funny how you can be running the same area, same baits, same colors, and one boat does well at it and the other does nothing. That's a head scratcher for sure!

The guys were happy to have enough for a great fish fry, and for learning a new technique, so that made me happy.

Tomorrow is a new group of guys (3 of them, I think?), who will be fishing with me for two days. The weather looks pretty decent for the next two days, so hopefully, the fish will be cooperative. Fingers crossed!

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls

[Davesnothere]

Nice report Capt. Juls. Thanks for the tips!

[Fishonphil]

Juls I hear you about running the same programs and everyone catching fish and your not, happen to us on Sunday morning. Good for you thinking out side the box.
Again thanks for the info, between that and the lesson we got last year from you on the small boards we put some nice fish in the box for us last Saturday.

Cheers
Phil

[itsbob]

I finally picked up a few bandits before we fished sunday morning.caught a walleye on black headed wonder bread at 55 before could set rest of lines by mouse.After another 2hrs of nothing,made run to niagra.We went 4 of 5 at niagra with DHJ blue chrome and purple perch at 80-90.I tried looking for depth chart for the bandits without much luck.Juls,could you post some of the line out/depth the bandits are running for me.Good job on deciding to add the 2oz of weight to the bandits.I added 1oz to one line out at niagra,but did not get a hit on it.

[wakina]

[QUOTE=Capt Juls; So, I put a 2oz inline weight on and a 6' leader in front of a Natural Perch Bandit, and set it out[/QUOTE]

Question! Was the Bandit that you put out with the inline wt a Walleye Deep Bandit or the shallow version of the Bandit?

I am not a crank bait guy and I have always been under the impression that the deep divers do not perform well with the wt that close(6') to the bait. I am not questioning your statement but trying to clarify my statement and current belief, even if it is misguided, about the wt placement in relation to the deep diver lures/baits. Thank you for the nice report and pics.

[ltracey]

Great Report..

Daytime... there seems to active fish at 12-15 down and also
deeper in the water column 21-27 ?
(saw a captain reporting thermocline recently at 21ft. )
(perhaps not a strong thermocline this early... but enough to matter?)
this seems to jibe with MWC results... reports were the top placers were going deep.. "below the white bass"
while alot of fish are being caught at 12-15 lure running depths...

maybe theres a early season "transition" pattern

some "high"... some "lower/deeper" .. active feeding fish...

perhaps relates to thermocline starting to develop?

anyone out there with a fish hawk ... please let us know what youre seeing!