Fishing with Jerry, Chris, and Matt 6/3/17

[Capt Juls]

I left the house at 4:30am and hit Walmart for some ice and bottled water. Then, I hit the gas station to top off the boat's gas tank, before heading over to Mazurik's to meet my crew by 5:15.

They showed up right on time, and we were launching by 5:30. I had no intentions of playing with those little baby fish out front, or playing bumper boats with a ton of weekender's again today, so we headed off into the wild blue yonder....away from where everyone would be.

We were one of the first on the lake this morning, and it was gorgeous. The winds were calm and the sky was clear. The temperature was 65 degrees and the water temperature was 68 degrees. The sun hadn't even begun to hit the horizon yet, but the eastern sky was getting lighter, so it wasn't difficult to see that early while on the water.

Jerry, and his son, Chris, and his son-in-law Matt fished with me today. They were very good fishermen, but were more attuned to fishing bass rather than walleye. But, it didn't take them long to learn how to use the line counter reels, attaching Off Shore in line planer boards, and setting them out to the desired distance from the boat. They did a fantastic job all morning, and were a real pleasure to fish with. I had a lot of fun today.

We ran crawlers behind 1oz and 2oz inline chain weights. The 1oz weights were put back 50, 55, 60, and 65 back. The 2oz inlines were run at 45 and 50 back. The speed was 1.6mph. Because of the current, while trolling from south to north, I used the 15 ETEC for propulsion, and the Minn Kota Ulterra for steering.
I only had to use the 2 motor combo going the one direction. I only used the bow mount TM for the north to south pass. We were fishing from 39' of water to 42 foot of water. Several of my friends were running the 3oz inlines anywhere from 30 to 55 back in other areas of the lake and doing well on that program too.

Having typed that last paragraph...I'm going to head off any emails or private messages asking me why I run the two motors....because, I know I will get one, or two....or, three.

The kicker motor on the back of the boat pushes the boat, while the bow mount steers it, because I don't want to run my Ulterra on a power setting over 5 or 6 for any length of time, so I don't run the batteries down at all. I can run all day if I keep the power at 5 or 6.
If I need to speed up a little, while doing it this way, I can simply tap the RPM button the tiller handle of the baby ETEC.
If you haven't tried it, and have the equipment on your boat to try it....do it! It works pretty slick.

Tomorrow's trip is being rescheduled to a better day. Return customer, Brandon Westerman, wanted to bring his 4 year old son along...but, with tomorrow's wind forecast, and the chance of rain and thunderstorms...I told him it wasn't a good idea with the "little one" along. And, he agreed.

Monday's trip is a "no go" too, due to forecasted winds, it's my birthday, and I have to get some stuff done.

Still watching Tuesday's wind forecast to see what that does or doesn't do.

So, Stay tuned....

Capt Juls

[Dollardon]

Happy Birthday Monday from Holland Mi

[Slughose]

Happy b-day Jules!!

[Drifter]

Do you ever use jets with worm harnesses? Do they pull too hard for inline boards?

I use big boards and jets for spoons and weapons. I have inline weights, but haven't spent the time to get the data fixed in my head like I have the jets.

Thanks for any help.

[Whopper]

Happy birthday Juls

[TabBiser]

Happy belated birthday Juls. Love to blog. It helps all of us to be better on the lake.

[Fishonphil]

Happy Birthday!

[Capt Juls]

Do you ever use jets with worm harnesses? Do they pull too hard for inline boards?

I use big boards and jets for spoons and weapons. I have inline weights, but haven't spent the time to get the data fixed in my head like I have the jets.

Thanks for any help.

You can put this picture in your phone, so you don't have to memorize it.

No, I do not use Jets with my inline boards. I use Off Shore Tackle Tadpoles (diving weights that have dive curve charts on the Precision Trolling Data App.

[Baydog]

Juls, when your running 3 boards on the same side, and let's say the middle or outside board gets hit do you real in the the inside boards closer to the boat to avoid a tangle, thanks.

[Capt Juls]

Juls, when your running 3 boards on the same side, and let's say the middle or outside board gets hit do you real in the the inside boards closer to the boat to avoid a tangle, thanks.

Typically, it happens like this....

Outside board starts going back...I have my customer take the rod tip all the way to the opposite corner of the back of the boat and start reeling.

While he/she is doing that...I move the two other rods to the most forward rod holders (since the outside rod is now being reeled in)...this moves the boards forward in the water a couple feet.

Then, I just watch to make sure there is clearance and adjust if need be.

Do we get them in tangle free? Most times, yes. Not all the time though.