First things first: we knew this was going to be an amazing experience when our captain called us and said, “Hey, the fishing hasn’t been great because the water is too warm, would you like to reschedule for a time when you can limit out?”
DUDE! Most captains would be glad to take your money and drive you around for 8 hours while you catch nothing. That Captain John is more concerned about your experience, that you catch as many as you can, and have a great time, rather than just making his fee for the day? We’re never going fishing with anyone else. While we knew that we may not limit out, after the Spring and Summer of “EVERYTHING IS CANCELLED!” (Thanks, COVID-19!), we decided to take a shot at it and give the kids their first experience fishing on a boat, cause the idea of one more fun/ cool thing being cancelled just sucked.
We showed up with 4 kids- 14, 13, 10 and 10, And me- none of whom have ever fished on a boat before, or used live bait, and the kids were super comfortable with him right away. Our “oldest youngest” wanted to invite him to his birthday party in a few weeks! (btw, ask about his fiancées cakes, they’re amazing!), and the kids talked about how they can’t wait to come back and fish with Captain John again after we left
John worked his tail off finding what little fish there were, helping us understand how to fish for perch, chatting about the science and the ecology of the lake and the fish, answering EVERY QUESTION the kids had (and there were a lot of them!), helped my sons work on Boy Scout Fishing Merit Badge stuff (he was a Boy Scout in addition to serving in the Navy), and helped us track 6 poles. He and the other captains were trading spots and counts all day, and while no one was limiting out (or even really catching anything at all), I’m sure we were having the best time if anyone else out on the water today, and we STILL brought home enough perch for an awesome dinner tonight and to freeze for another time- like I said, he worked his butt off finding what few fish there were!
If you’re choosing between captains and charters, do yourself a favor and go out with Captain John. He’s been doing this for 25 years, has earned recognition from The Ohio Department of Natural Resources, his boat is clean and well maintained, and he’s a great teacher if you’re new to fishing or have kids yours introducing to the sport (and still want to do some fishing yourself!) We can’t wait until we can come back again when the fishing report is good and fish with him again!
First things first: we knew this was going to be an amazing experience when our captain called us and said, “Hey, the fishing...