Fishing with Steve and Mick 2/26/2024

[Capt Juls]

My alarm went off this morning, for the first time since last fall, and I woke up startled, wondering why it was going off...then, I remembered...I was going fishing! I jumped out of bed to get my coffee, and make sure the weather was still going to be nice today. To my delight, it was.

Steve called me the other day, asking if he and his friend, Mick, could get out with me today, so I checked the weather and wind forecasts, and told him, "Yes".


I don't usually run this early in the season, but with the mild weather upon us, I thought it was a good idea to take advantage of the nice weather, while we have it.
My boat is over in heated storage at the moment, so I left the house at 5:45 to go over to the bldg and grab her. Then, I hit the gas station, to gas up the Vexus and get ice for the coolers, and headed to Huron.


Steve and Mick drove in from MI this morning, and met me at the Huron ramp a little after 7. We were to meet at 7:30, but as usual, I was early. I had time to get everything set up, before they arrived, and was finished by the time they showed up, so we launched a little early.


We headed out of the river, and headed east towards Vermilion...searching water from 38-44' of water. I wasn't seeing the kind of marks I wanted to see, since Mick has never caught a walleye over 28", and was hopeful to do that today, and I figured that the water would be a little cleaner to the east, than what I was seeing out in front of Huron.


I had already used up an hour looking, so I took a friend's advice, who said he was working "stained" water at Huron, but was loaded with good marks...to go and fish over that way. So, off we went...headed back west.


When we got there, I could clearly see the cavitation plate, and the prop was slightly visible, so I was more positive that fishing would be okay there. The fish marks were all sitting below the 30 line, and not coming up, so I'm guessing with the clear sky last night, and the back end of a full moon, that the fish were feeding heavily overnight, and would get hungry again more towards the afternoon. And, from what I heard on the radio, it sounded like a lot of people were struggling, and asking if anything is working. The responses were few.


We set up with Smithwick P-10s on both sides, running with 2oz snap weights behind the Off Shore boards. We only put 7 nice fish in the box this morning, and lost 5 others, that didn't hook themselves well enough.


Most of the fish came on a Fire Tiger color at 45/45...(for those new to snap weights...45/45 means, that you put a weight on at the 45 mark, and then let out another 45' of line (total line out is 90), then, put the board on.
50/45, 45/45, 40/40 all caught.


At one point we took the P-10s off the port side and replaced them with Bandits. The Black Headed Wonder Bread at 120 back (unassisted) took two fish, and lost one . The other colors got changed out and set deeper, but the outside board was the only one to go, each time.


We were running 1.2-1.4 mph, but 1.3 was showing every time we caught a fish.
The FishHawk was showing 1.3, but the GPS was showing 1.7-1.8 mph.


Steve and Mick had a fun day, though, and said they want to come back again, soon, and will be watching the forecast. I'm looking forward to it, because they were a lot of fun to fish with. Both of them had positive attitudes and were just happy to be on the lake, on a nice day, spending time together.


I'm happy to report that everything was working the way it should be, after sitting for a couple months. However, I have to do the latest updates on the Humminbirds tomorrow, so fingers are crossed they both update without any issues.


Stay tuned....


Capt Juls