Fishing with Steve and Carol 6/16/16

[Capt Juls]

Let me back up just one day, because Andy Takos and I did fish yesterday, for 3 hours, before what we thought was a pretty good thunderstorm was heading for us. At least it was.... until it hit the lake, and weakened, leaving all the lightning behind. But, we would be off the water by the time I would see that happening.

Anyway, I asked him if he would like to reschedule for a better day, since I thought we were going to have to cut it so short.....So, no blog from yesterday.....sorry!

On to today....

Passing by the lakefront, on my way to pick up Steve and Carol Schneider from their hotel, I saw a lot of lightning happening way to the north. A quick look at the RadarScope app confirmed it was on the Canada side.
We hit the gas station on the way out to Big Bopper's, to top off the Ranger.

Once at Bopper's, we enjoyed a leisurely breakfast, since we had to wait for the storm to pass, because our plan for the day was to cross over and fish the west side of Pelee Island. Leaving there, we headed to Mazurik's to wait it out a little bit longer.

The radar showed it moving east, and the sky was clearing, so we were able to launch at 6:30. The lake was pretty calm, except for a few NE rollers from the winds the night before. The fishing reports from that side were pretty darn good from the two days prior, so we were hoping that the lightning didn't effect them too badly, and they would want to bite.

We started out with the Bandits at 55, 60, and 65 back at a speed of 1.9-2.0mph, because I was told it was a good crank bait bite. It was sunny after the storm passed, so we started out with the chrome colored baits. But, as the day progressed the cloud coverage increased. As the sky darkened, we changed out some colors to more brighter painted baits, like the "Black Headed Wonder bread" (which caught our biggest walleye of 28 1/2 inches), that one that "Dream Catcher Bait" painted called, "Sucker Punch", and "Cotton Candy", or "Pink Lemonade" as most would recognize it as.

We ended our 6 hour trip with 9 nice walleye, and were told, when we took our fish in to the "Port Clinton Fish Co." that we had the best basket of fish so far for the day, and that made my customers very happy. I can't lie, it made me feel good too...woot! woot! But, that's only one fish cleaner, so I'm sure there were better baskets brought in today.

Steve and Carol did a great job working the Off Shore boards today, and said they learned a lot, so that made me happy.

Tomorrow's trip is being rescheduled, due to my long time customer having been in a very serious accident two days ago, thanks to someone texting while driving. He ended up in the hospital, and his van was totaled when it was hit from behind and then wrapped around a telephone pole. He was pretty banged up, but thankfully, no broken bones or internal injuries.
To his credit, he had lost over 100 pounds this past year, and had been walking up to 4 miles a day several times a week, so he was much healthier than last year, and this accident could have been so much worse, had he been in the shape he was in then...I don't even like to think about it.

So, my next trip out will be Saturday morning with the Norris men of Canton, OH. The wind forecast right now looks very favorable for another run up to Canada, but I'll have to wait and see if my crew shows up with their licenses in hand. I discussed it with them, and told them its up to them. We can always find some walleye on this side, but it's just so much better up there....and, usually less crowded too.

So Stay Tuned.....

Capt Juls