Fishing with Bob and Bruce Brenton 11/6/19

[Capt Juls]

Bob and Bruce drove in from MI this morning and met me at my house at 7am. We headed to town for the usual gas up and bait/ice pick up, and then over to Mazurick's to launch. We hit the water at 7:45 and only had to wait about 5 minutes for the ETEC to warm up to temp before I could put the Ranger up on plane.

The lake was flat this morning, but for a few rollers from the WNW, as we headed to the east side of Kelly's. We had missed the sunrise from the water, which was too bad, because the sunrise was gorgeous this morning! The air temp was a cold 32 degrees with a 10mph south wind.


(The water temp was 47.7 degrees in the morning and 48.1 degrees at 1:45PM when we came back in.)


We stopped up on the NE corner of Kelly's Island in 37-38' of water first. It was actually that spot from my first day with Mary and Nancy last week, where I said the current was busting through there and it wasn't until the end of the day when I realized we should have stayed in that first spot and used heavier weights.


Well, today that spot didn't have that same current, so the regular 1oz weight was enough. I had marked some perchy looking marks on the Helix, so I deployed the Ulterra and hit the Spot Lock button. As the Ulterra made the usual adjustments to point the bow into the wind and hold us on that spot, I got the boat ready for fishing. Towels laid, minnows given to each of us, and rods handed out.


I dropped the weight down and hit bottom and found a soft bottom. I prefer the harder bottom or rocky areas when I'm perch'n....that's not to say, you can't catch perch on a soft bottom, you can. I just prefer the harder bottom.


We didn't get bit in the first 10-15 minutes, so we left and headed north to the green buoy on the NE corner of the shoal. I didn't mark a lot, but there were some marks over a good rocky bottom. so we set up again.


Gobies.....huge stinking Gobies....deep sigh. Bob caught a rock too. lol


I headed south again, towards the lighthouse, keeping an eye on the Helix as we rode there, hoping to find a school of gold on the way. We didn't. I didn't see anything at the lighthouse either, so I turned the boat and headed west to the Lakeside Pier area. There were 6 or 7 boats not too far off the pier, but I was another 1/2 mile outside of them. I saw some marks in one of my spots from last week, so we set up again.


Nothing...ugh.


I looked to the west again and headed to Mouse Island. We set up in 30 feet of water just off the north side of the island. Finally...we found some that would bite. It was a slow bite, and we only caught 32, and one bonus 3 pound walleye in that spot, but we stayed there. A few more boats come over to try there too, but I don't know if it was just a pack mentality, or if they knew something I didn't know. lol
I'm guessing it was just a tough perch bite today, and people were just looking around like I was... and came over by us hoping there was a bite.


Bob and Bruce had a good time, and so did I. It was a fun day, and that makes me happy!


Hopefully, the next scheduled dates won't be canceled due to wind/weather. Bob and Bruce were booked for 4 days, but will be rescheduling three of them to the 2020 fall season instead.


Stay tuned....


Capt Juls

[wajski]

Way to go can't catch them on the couch, thanks for the pictures

[itsbob]

Thanks for report Juls.Is a shame the perch fishing was so poor this past season.Hopefully it will improve next year.Your report reminded me of an incident that happened many years ago.We were casting for walleye in the western basin when my girlfriend's rod bent over and looked like had a heavy fish.We got the net and she struggled to reel it in.Was a steady pull so had to be a huge walleye.She finally got it near the surface and saw that it was a chunk of limestone!!!! Got a good chuckle out of her catch and brought it home.We still have that rock in our flower bed.

[PatSea]

Similar rock story here. Years ago I took my teenage nephew and his dad walleye fishing around the islands. First trip to Erie for my nephew. I "fought and landed" a rock also. We had a great laugh over that one and my nephew still razzes me every time he sees me at the holidays. Great memories!

[stanton21]

Hate to hijack but i cought a beach towel while trolling. One of those big ones that had years of mud and zebra mussels on it.

[Capt Juls]

Hate to hijack but i cought a beach towel while trolling. One of those big ones that had years of mud and zebra mussels on it.

It's not a "Hijack"... Probably lost by a perch fisherman..lol Friend of mine lost one over the side of his boat last month, when the wind grabbed it, but it wasn't a big one like you found.