Day 2 of 4 with Marc and Jim 7/13/2022

[Capt Juls]

The morning started out much nicer than yesterday morning, since I had hot water again, and I could take a shower. I woke up a 1/2 hour before my alarm went off, so I just got up and got the coffee going. With a cup of coffee in hand, the dog, three cats, and I headed out to the back deck to take in the morning sounds, and check the weather apps. According to iWindSurf, the winds were going to be light out of the west for most of the morning.

At 4:10, I headed to the Best Western to meet Marc and Jim, who are here from Wisconsin, for a 4 day trip. I told them to be ready at 4:30, and I would pick them up. I got there early, and went down the Tik-Tok rabbit hole for about 15 minutes, before I realized it was almost 4:30. I got out of the truck and checked in the complimentary breakfast area, to see if they were almost ready, but they weren't in there. "That's weird", I thought. They always grab some chow and then head out the door to meet me. I figured they had to run back to the room for something, so I went back outside. It was now 4:30, so I shot Marc and text and asked if they were ready. No response.
At 4:35 I thought I had better give them a call to find out what's going on. The phone rings and rings, and I start getting worried. Finally, Marc answer's, "Hello?" (he sounds very sleepy)....I said, "Morning, are you guys almost ready?"
He asks, "What time is it?" I say, "It's 4:30...are you just waking up?" To which he replies, "Oh my God, we didn't get our wake-up call this morning! We'll be down as soon as we can". "Okay", I said, and hung up the phone.


With all the little fires I've dealt with this week, and put out, I just kind of chuckled at my luck, and thought to myself, "It's no big deal...and, it's not their fault...don't let it ruin your morning". They came out, but I told them to go back in and get something to eat, because I know they never take a cooler of food or drink on the boat with them, and I didn't want them getting hungry.
I can do that, because I do a 16/8 diet, so long stretches without food are easy for me now. But, they are not, so I didn't see what harm a few extra minutes would hurt at this point. They ate fast, hopped in the truck, and we were headed down RT 2, to Huron by 5am.


By 5:40 we were headed out of the Huron River to the spot where the three of us ended our trip yesterday, when we launched out of Dempsey's. It was a much shorter ride to the spot out of the river, than from all the way over in Sandusky Bay.


Yesterday, if you remember, we were trolling in an ENE direction, from 36 feet of water to 40 feet of water, with the wind behind us. It was a west wind again this morning, so we just continued with the same direction, and program, we left off with yesterday, so we started in 40 feet of water this morning, and ended in 43 feet of water by the time we finished up.


The dipsey program used the zero and two settings, as usual, but we started with the zero settings on 40 and 50 back and the two settings at 50 and 60 back. Instead of the usual 30/35 and 40/50, respectively.


Eventually, the luckiest settings were the zero setting at 47 and 54 back, and the two settings at 75 and 84 back.


Speed was 2.5mph


Bandits ran behind the Off Shore planer boards with 2oz Guppy weights attached at the 50 mark, and then let out to a total of 110-120 back. We caught at 120, 117, 115, 113, and 110. The crank bait fish were usually nicer fish, whereas the spoons inspired smaller fish to hit them. Fish from 6 inches to 17 inches were the typical spoon fish, while the Bandits were 17-25 inches.


We went through a lot of fish this morning to put together our 18 fish limit, but the work was a lot of fun, and my crew did a great job! They had fun, and are looking forward to going out again tomorrow, and that makes me happy. (Side note: Marc and Jim have been fishing with me a couple of times a year, for 11 years now, and I know some day, we just won't be able to do it anymore, so I like to enjoy their company, while we still all have that chance. They are great people, and easy to get along with...but, hey, they are from Wisco, so that should go without saying.)


Looks like light north winds tomorrow, so I'm going to think about where I want to fish tomorrow, and what launch we're going to use. I'll know by morning.


When I dropped them off at their hotel, after we were done fishing, I asked Marc, "Do you want me to give you your wake-up call tomorrow morning? I get up at 2am, so it's not a problem."
Smiling, he said, "Yes, please! That would be great....3:45".


Stay tuned....


Capt Juls

[slimshady]

Nice job Captain, as usual. Great report. What patterns were working for you on the cranks? Looks like your experience is similar to mine, in that cranks are producing larger fish than the other techniques. I also painted up a few more prototypes that I want to run by you. I may have to send you one of each to test them out for me. I am planning on testing them for the first time this weekend. Can't wait to get back out there.