Fishing with My Big Brother, Jack, Phil, and Jake 8/12/19

[Capt Juls]

Yesterday, after cleaning the house, cutting my grass, my two neighbor's yards, and getting food ready, I welcomed my big brother, Jack, who hails from Mississippi these days, for a night's stay. His work associate, Phil, and his son would be driving in from NW Detroit to meet at my house this morning.

After making my brother one of his favorite breakfasts consisting of crispy sauteed chicken livers over toast with sauteed celery, onions, mushrooms, and yellow bell peppers, we waited on the rest of our crew. We really didn't know what time they would arrive since we didn't know what time they left Detroit, but figured it would be around 6:30. They arrived shortly after at 6:40 and we loaded into the old girl (my Excursion) and headed into town to get gas for the Ranger, and ice for the coolers. Then, a quick stop at Rickard's for some Golden Shiners before heading over to Mazurik's to launch.


We had decided on perch today instead of walleye, due to the fact that the wind was forecast for gusty SW winds, and a ride out to where I had been walleye fishing would have been a bad idea.


They didn't care....they are both in high position jobs with a lot of stress, so they both said, almost simultaneously, "I don't care if we even catch any fish. I'm just glad to be out here. It's relaxing". Which is something any Captain would like to hear? lol


Anyway....


We went perch'n. My first spot was just east of the red can at Starve Island. We had some decent marks, but only brought up 4 pieces of gold there. They weren't on the large size either. Just good eaters. After texting Capt Kevin, who I found out was hitting all our regular spots up to the north side wasn't fairing well in finding them, so I with the knowledge of knowing that my crew was happy whatever we did, I opted to stay in the south passage.


After we tried a couple other spots, we went over to the last spot I was at, the last time I went perch'n, which was out in front of the Lakeside pier. We caught some there, but we missed many more than we caught. The bite was definitely a light one, and not aggressive like we always want it to be. But, we did catch another 18 for Phil and Jake to take home for a nice perch dinner. Jack flew in, so he couldn't take any back with him.


Capt Kevin had ended up there too, and had more than us closer in to shore than we were, but he also got rained on harder than us, as we were sitting on the outskirts of the rain cloud going over us.


The Pirate Clipper was over there today too, but he wasn't perch'n...they were trolling for walleye with an easy crew, who had the same mindset as my crew. So, I was one of the lucky ones to add to the photos of the "Pirate Clipper was Spotted Today" club when he trolled right by us. They did catch a nice walleye right beside us, so maybe that's why my perch bite was so on and off there. The walleye might have been chasing them down there.


It was a fantastic visit with my brother, and I am so grateful to have had that opportunity. He is the first of my immediate family to come fishing with me. Last year, I had my cousin Jim, and second cousins, Matt and Joe, and we had a great time then too. There's just nothing like fishing with "family" to flood your brain with good memories.


I saw that some heavy rain was coming in for tonight and tomorrow, so I didn't schedule a trip tomorrow. I'll be back at it for 10 days straight starting Wednesday.
I don't know what we're fishing for on Wednesday and Thursday yet. I have the same crew both days, so it's all going to depend on the winds and where I need to go, I guess.


Stay tuned....


Capt Juls