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| ... and hello ASHTABULA ! Well, I closed one chapter of this years season up already by finishing my two month stint in Port Clinton on Sunday of Memorial Day weekend and bringing the boat across the open lake to Ashtabula, Ohio, the REAL home of “The Trophy” ! Although it was one of the better springs in years, I was soooooo ready to come back home ! The send off however wasn’t very pleasant. With a two foot or less forecast that day, I dropped my Sunday guys and their fish off from my morning trip and by the early afternoon I was off thinking that I was in for some smooth sailing. WRONG ! After grabbing a tank full of fuel before taking off, I was dismayed to see a nasty northeast chop setting up as I hit the open lake just outside the Port Clinton harbor. Already committed to go, I pushed on. And by the time I rounded Kelly’s Island and started my trek across the big stretch of open lake, I was in some seriously big water. 3 to 5’s right on the nose straight out of the east northeast. What a crappy and fuel consuming ride that turned out to be. I turned what normally would be a 5 1/2 hour pleasant ride home into a grueling and tiresome 7 1/2 hour boat ride getting in just at dark. I was just about cross eyed by the time we got her tied up and pretty much running on fumes after plowing for so far. What a ride. |
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| And if the send off wasn’t bad enough, my welcome home wasn’t all that swift either. With my home schedule starting in earnest on this past Friday, June the 1st the weather decided to really turn ugly up here on the wide open spans of the big lake. Friday I sent my guys away because of 5 to 9 foot waves. Saturday I sent my guys away because of 5 to 7 foot waves. Yesterday, Sunday I sent my guys away because of 4 to 6 foot waves. Like, are you KIDDING me ? What a heartbreaker and disappointing starts to my summer trolling season back here. Normally I do my fishing reports on Sunday night. Well, I had nothing to write about since I had lost all of my trips. We did manage to get out today, Monday the 4th under still a choppy lake, maybe 2 to 4’s but very doable for a change. So I figured I would throw up a quick report so nobody thinks that I fell off of the face of the earth or something ! lol ! |
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| And so it starts. We stuck our noses out to the northwest of Ashtabula Harbor this morning and it was immediately game on. First fish to the boat, a plump 7 pounder. Just a real nice Walleye ! Then we fired off a double off the big planer boards with our Tru Trip 40’s that we have been running ever since these Divers have come out about a year or so ago. Good stuff. It was actually back and fourth between the board lines and the big Dipsys. It all worked. It wasn’t long before the old fish box started filling up. Man, these central basin Walleyes are HUGE ! And with a nice early quit, we were just a few fish shy of maxing out. Not bad for my first trip out, even though it should have been my 4th trip already. Oh well. Such is this job. I guess Mother Nature makes up all of the rules. I’m just a simple player. |
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| So that’s my report. Kind of a quickie and a day or so later then usual but at least I got something up here anyway. This whole week looks to be much better weather wise so I should have all kinds of fish stories by next Sunday. OK, very quickly I am reminding all of my upcoming trips that we REALLY need to get off of the dock by 5:00am and at the VERY latest be motoring by 5:30am. These central basin big Walleyes in this real clear water are really squirrely and 90% of the time they feed like crazy right at dawn and then it drops off dramatically with each passing hour. WE DO NOT WANT TO MISS OUT ON THIS OPPORTUNITY if you want to catch a nice load ! It’s really just that simple. Also please MAKE SURE that you have your fishing license ahead of time before arriving in the morning. There are no provisions for licenses at the marina. Any questions, call my mobile # 216-387-2656 Capt. Walt |
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