Fishing with Cisco, Ted, and Lonny... 5/20/2024

[Capt Juls]

Alfie woke me up at 1:30 this morning. I had already had 6 1/2 hours of sleep, so we got up to spend some quality "alone time" out on the back deck, before I had to get ready to head out.

The wind forecast was calling for little to no wind this morning. It was 68 degrees in the wee hours of the morning, and expected to rise to the upper 70s to low 80s by the afternoon.


I got to Catawba early...as usual, and got everything ready to go, so when my crew of three arrived, we could just launch. The parking lot was empty, when my crew arrived, and we all chuckled at how nice it is on a weekday morning. Then, as we unloaded the Vexus in the water, another rig showed up. I didn't have to worry too much about other boats on the lake that early, so we just cruised on out to where I fished yesterday.


As the clear sky started to lighten at 5:30, I could see there was a light fog around the island shorelines, but not on the lake. It was still pretty dark when we left the launch at Catawba, and headed northwest, to the cans, so I couldn't wear the glasses I usually wear in the mornings, because it was too dark with them on. My eyeballs took a beating with the wind hitting them...all the while, I'm just praying that a bug doesn't get in one. I got lucky....no bugs to the eyeballs.


It was the same program I used yesterday, since it worked so well.


Bandits:
Barbie (painted...not chrome...I think it was a Domka Outdoors custom) at 110 (unassisted), and 50/18 with 2oz, back behind the Off Shore boards.
Carrot Top (stock color) was 80 and 90 back (unassisted).
Green Lantern (Slim Shady Custom) at 80 back (unassisted).


Flicker Minnow 11:
Pooh Bear (I think it's a DJs Custom Eye Lures bait) at 120 back (unassisted)


Dipsies:
Zero Setting at 30 and the two setting at 47 and 50. Spoons on three of them, and one Gold/Black Ripplin Red Fin on the starboard side...on the outside rod, that ran the two setting at 47 back. That caught a few.


Speed was anywhere from 2.0 to 3.0 mph. I would speed up, and then slow down, to trigger bites. It worked.

We kept 23, before a dipsey line got around the kicker prop, and I called the day. I didn't want to risk the seal getting damaged. Luckily, it came right off, and the spoon was still there, so win-win.

Cicso, Ted, and Lonny fished with me last year, and at the time they said they wanted to make it annual thing, so they could get some early season training in, before they hit the water with their own boats. They said, it helped the rest of their season...by putting to practice, what I taught them, and that makes me happy!


Tomorrow, I have a new crew...some more locals...that want to learn to troll. So, I'd better go tie up some more leaders for my dipsies, because when I checked last...I only had one extra one in the boat. Glad I checked...lol


Tomorrow's forecast is calling for wind out of the southwest at 12-13 mph, so we'll be launching at Mazurik in the morning.


Stay tuned...


Capt Juls