Fishing with Dan and Ryan 7/24/2020

[Capt Juls]

Left the house at 5AM, and headed into town to gas up the boat and get the usual 2 small bags, and 1 large bag, of ice for the cooler. I hit Mazurik's at 5:20 and readied the boat while Dan and his son, Ryan, made their way there to meet me.Dan has been trying for two years to get this trip rescheduled. Every time his day would get close the weather would turn to crap and we couldn't go. Today, we finally got that chance. He and his brother-in-law had a trip with me the first time he fished with me.


We launched just before 6AM and headed northeast towards the lightening sky. There was a big puffy cloud on the horizon, whose edges were highlighted with such a bright light from the Sun that was rising from below it, that it looked like it had been hit by lightning and just stayed lit.
It was in the direction I wanted to go, so I just kept watching and aiming for it. It was beautiful.


The wind was blowing 10-13 out of the NNE this morning...waves were 1-3's with some 4's thrown in for good measure here and there. We made our way up to the Canadian line and set up our presentation.


I start out with the program that worked last, which is what I've been reporting for almost 2 weeks now. There are some variations in line out on the dipsies from time to time, but I usually end up back where I started. 94-100 on the 3 setting and 54-70 on the 1 setting. Bandits are still working for me at 80 back unassisted, and just a little more so with the ones run 50/60 w/2oz, 50/75 w/2oz, and 50/60 w/3oz snap weights.


Speed varies, but my starting speed is typically 2.5mph.


The bigger walleye in the cooler always come from the baits behind the Off Shore boards.


Maybe I'll try running two different baits on one side tomorrow. I haven't had the BayRats out of the box yet this season....they caught some nice fish last year...so, maybe it's time to see if they can do the job too. I remember last year, the best lead was 125 back unassisted. Maybe I'll try one on a snap weight tomorrow.


Dan and Ryan had a good time this morning. It started out pretty slow, except for the sheephead and white perch...we had to really work for them. It wasn't a 3 hour run this morning like the last several trips out have been, and took all of allotted time. Eventually, we had our 3 person limit in the box with 15 minutes to spare, and we headed in.


They learned a lot and did a great job setting lines with boards and dipsies. Dan said he will be back again next year too, and that makes me happy!


Tomorrow, I am fishing with Dan Swickrath again. He fished with me back in early June, so he's familiar with how we will be fishing already.


The wind forecast for tomorrow is basically nonexistent, so I'm looking forward to an easy ride in the morning, and being able to troll in any direction I want.


Oh, yeah...that reminds me....


While we caught fish trolling in every direction, (except going into the waves, because I didn't do that), the best directions were either east to west or northeast to southwest. But, that was today...tomorrow it might change. I guess my point is, pay attention to that detail when you notice it happening. It's a "piece of the puzzle" that will help you catch more fish.


Stay tuned...


Capt Juls