Fishing with Steve and Jermey Chapman 3/21/19

[Capt Juls]

I wanted to go out of Turtle Creek, so I had Steve and Jeremy meet me at my house and we rode over there together. We launched at 8:45 and found a foggy lake waiting for us. It was gloomy and misty on shore, but it wasn't that foggy, so it was a little surprising to see thick fog on the lake itself.

I turned the navigation lights on, and set out to find some fish. The Helix wasn't marking much near shore, or out by Locust Reef, so we headed south towards the cans, where I fished during the previous outing. It was a slow ride down, and we were straining our eyes for any silhouette of a boat that might pop up in front of us. We could only see about 100 yds in front of us at times, and other times, we could see 1/4 mile or more. It was very patchy fog.

Anyway, we made it down to H can and set up with Bandits running unassisted at 75/85/90 back at 1.2-1.3mph. The first fish bit, and was a nice female that we took pictures of and put back to swim another day. Another fish came a short time later that was also photographed and sent back swimming, but it was a slow bite for us.

A friend had texted me and said he launched out of Turtle shortly after us, and had caught his first one too. After about an hour he texted me again and said he had 7 in the box, had good marks, and the water clarity was perfect, so we made the decision to make the drive back up in the fog, towards the NW side of the reefs, and give it a try there. Once we got up there, the Helix was showing much better marks, so we set up with the Bandits again at 65/75/80 back unassisted (no weight) at the same speed.

Within 10 minutes of setting up, we caught our first fish...a nice eater. That one went in the box. The next one was another fat female that went 28 1/2 inches, so she got her picture taken and let go to do her spring fling thing for another season.
At some point, the fog cleared up and the sun came out, which was appreciated by all of us!

I changed a depth to 55 on a couple baits, and we hit a triple of 2-3 pounders that went in the box too. The hottest color for us is one called "Buck Fever". It's just a purple chrome bait that is just purple and silver...no color on the belly. Pink Squirrel was another hot color for us. I have heard reports of others saying that all green baits, or all white baits were the ticket for them. So, basically, these fish are hungry and if you put a bait in front of them...they are going to eat it. I don't think the color is going to matter very much at this point.

It was a nice day on the water, and fun to spend some time with two of my longest regulars that feel more like family than customers now.


Friday is going to blow, but Saturday is undetermined at this point. My Saturday customer changed his date to the 31st, because of a marine forecast he saw yesterday afternoon, but this morning that forecast has changed for the better, so I'm not sure what we will find Saturday morning....weather wise yet. I may or may not be fishing on Saturday, so my next trip out is Sunday with another Father/Son team from my home state of Wisconsin.

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls

[Mooner]

I really enjoy reading your stories, Juls. Great photos, too! Looks like a nice brisk day on the water. Cleared up my sinuses just looking at them.

[itsbob]

We also fished yesterday.Started with p10 and bandits.Switched over to all bandits in the afternoon.We went only one fish with four bites.Captain Eric Linton also had his shake down cruise yesterday.He went 10 for 10.Even though we were in same area and fishing same lures at same leads.Go figure.His biggest went 30".The one difference was that 7 of his fish came on Huff Daddy color bandit.Which we didn't have.

[Capt Juls]

We also fished yesterday.Started with p10 and bandits.Switched over to all bandits in the afternoon.We went only one fish with four bites.Captain Eric Linton also had his shake down cruise yesterday.He went 10 for 10.Even though we were in same area and fishing same lures at same leads.Go figure.His biggest went 30".The one difference was that 7 of his fish came on Huff Daddy color bandit.Which we didn't have.

What was your speed? I'm guessing you were going pretty slow if 3 of your 4 fish didn't hook up? Adding a scent like Pro-Cure's Walleye or Crawler scent will also help keep them hanging on after the initial strike when you're moving slow.

[high noon]

Thanks Juls for the report. As always really loved reading them.

[itsbob]

Juls,Not sure of speed later in day but when we were setting up rods for first set up,was telling Kieth we were at 1.2knots and he was able to slow it down to 1.1knts with a bag adjustment.We had to keep a sharp lookout for boats setting up the lines because Kieth was down on deck and we were on auto pilot.Had the radar on but could only see 100-200yds in that thick fog.Not sure how fast Capt Eric was going.He didn't have any problem catching Thursday.