Fishing with Anthony, Shawn, and Chuck 7/29/15

[Capt Juls]

My crew was driving in this morning, and I couldn't remember if I was supposed to meet them at Mazurik's at 6 or 7am this morning, so I thought I'd better be there by 6.

I stopped off to get gas, and then headed to Big Bopper's for some breakfast. This was the first time I was the first Captain there! Usually, there is a group of them already having coffee when I show up. Anyway, after a scrumptious meal of eggs benedict, I headed off to Hi Way bait to get my ice for the big cooler, and then over to Mazurik's to wait. It was going to be a beautiful day. Light and variable winds, and hot and humid temps. It was hot out there, but it's never as hot on the lake as it is on land, so for that I would be grateful.

It was pretty clear it was a 7am launch, since they hadn't shown by 6am.
I got the boat and gear ready to go and then hung out for an hour until they showed up at 7:15. We launched and called in to Canada to let them know we would be fishing over there today.

The first destination was the Wagon Wheel. It's been pretty consistent with good eaters for the past few weeks now. We ran three Off Shore boards per side with Bandits running 75 to 91 back...with 75 and 77 being the hottest.
Color didn't seem to matter much, because everything from firetiger, purple, red, black, and one that looks like the RR color "cheap sunglasses" took fish.
We kept the speed at 1.7-1.8mph.

It was a lot of fun to fish with Anthony, Shawn, and Chuck. It was Chuck's birthday today too. The best part was, they have all have had a little experience running inline planer boards, so the learning curve of how they are run in my boat was an easy job for me. They were all awestruck with the new Ulterra trolling motor on the bow of the Ranger.
When I didn't get out of my seat, and the trolling motor was deploying itself, I heard a lot of "Check that out!" And, "I've got to get one of those!" (I always chuckle, because that trolling motor is pretty darn cool, and I had the same reaction when I first tried it).

They did a great job today on walleye and sheephead. No other junk was caught, except one little 4-5 inch perch...caught on a lure bigger than it was!

We had 8 walleye in the cooler, lost one nice one (and, for those of you keeping track, it wasn't because of my net job this time) and released one illegal sized walleye.

Then, I made the decision to go up around the top and over to the east side, to where the Captain's tournament was won yesterday. Unfortunately, we only caught sheep over there. What's that old saying? "Never leave fish to find fish"? Well, I made that mistake today and paid the price.

However, these guys didn't seem to mind. They said they had a great time today, and would take what they learned from me and apply it to their trips out in their boat. And, that made me happy.

Tomorrow is calling for 15mph winds out of the SW, and I have a two woman crew on board for a short 4 hour walleye trip, so I thought it best to hit up Huron in the morning. I'll try the Sawmill area first and then head over to Cranberry if need be. I had heard reports of some fish over there, so we'll go check it out. In those conditions, I wouldn't be able to get up to Canada, fish, and get back, in only four hours. On the bright side...it should be a nice day again...less humid with cooler temps. Woot! Woot!

Stay tuned....

Capt Juls