Fishing with the Young Family 6/27/14

[Capt Juls]

"How Many More Minutes?"....

Today I took Patrick Young and his 7 year old daughter, Ava, and his 5 year old son, Cooper, out fishing today.

We planned on 4 hours and would see how it went from there. I didn't expect the kids to like trolling and thought they would get bored, but Dad made sure they were always part of everything we were doing. Patrick and I set the lines, but the kids would hand us night crawlers to bait the harnesses with. It was slow in the morning up on the west side of North Bass for walleye, but the giant sheephead were plentiful.

When we would get a fish on Patrick would help the kids by holding the rod while they reeled the fish in...and, I net it.

My crew from yesterday were up there and they said they were having a slow morning too. It picked up for them and they radioed to tell me to get back to where we were yesterday, and that they were picking them up at a faster pace now. They mentioned that they had downsized their blades, and were using #4 colorado blades, so I downsized mine to #5 Bugsy's Bait blades and started picking up walleye.

Ava and Cooper both caught their first ever walleye today...yay!

When four hours were up, I asked Patrick if he thought they wanted to go another hour. He asked the kids and they both said yes...kind of reluctantly, because...well, they are little kids and trolling for them is kind of boring. lol

At the end of the 5th hour, Ava kept asking, "How many more minutes?" She was ready to go in. But, it was shortly after the 10th or 11th time of asking, that the Off Shore board on the port side went back....we all thought it was another monster sheephead and didn't realize it was a monster walleye until it hit the surface.

After the fish was in the live well, she asked, "was that another sheephead?" Her dad explained that it was a walleye bigger than he's ever caught, and you should have seen her smile. With the option of fishing for a 6th hour on the table, Patrick asked the kids if the wanted to keep fishing or go in. Ava was the first to say, "Yes! Let's go another hour". LOL

The kids kept busy by playing with the night crawlers in the wash bucket, and eating and drinking all kinds of things their Mom had packed for them. They did an awesome job for their young ages today, and it was a real pleasure having them in my boat today. They were very well behaved and reeled in all but a few fish. Patrick had his turn every now and then too.

We were only running two boards per side and one bottom bouncer off the corner simply to keep it easy and simple for my crew, and it worked out well. We finished the day with 13 Walleye, one catfish (they kept it), and a 12 inch perch that hit a harness up high in the water column.
Patrick is a chef, so I can only imagine how many yummy dinners their family will enjoy from their catch today.

I have a crew of three tomorrow, but will be heading east of the islands this time. It's time to find new area, I think.

Conditions today:
East wind less than 10mph
Sunny...no clouds
80 degrees

1oz inlines 45-60 back today...bottom bouncer took only one walleye...the rest were sheeps and whites.
Speed was 1.6

Stay tuned....

http://www.julswalleyefishingadventures.com/Blog.html

[Drifter]

That is what fishing is about. Those kids and dad will remember your trip and you forever. Thanks for sharing.

[Domers98]

Juls,

Thanks for info on speeds as soon as you said that on the radio we slowed to 1.6-1.8 3 man ticket 2oz inlines, spoon harnesses, between green and rattle north of the pack all by our selves

[Capt Juls]

Juls,

Thanks for info on speeds as soon as you said that on the radio we slowed to 1.6-1.8 3 man ticket 2oz inlines, spoon harnesses, between green and rattle north of the pack all by our selves

Awesome! Glad it helped..