Fishing report for the week of July 15, 2012.: , ,
Fishing Report Posted: July 15, 2012

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[ Lake Erie & Tributaries Fishing Report ]

Posted by Capt. Walt Ermansons on July 15, 2012 at 08:59:42:

LIMITS ! LIMITS ! LIMITS ! You really have to go back quite a few years to recollect a year with so many consistently good days as we aboard “The Trophy” have been enjoying and most everyone else for that matter this summer and especially here as of late. It was just another incredible week for us with a perfect track record of limits all week and back before the heat of the day made things miserable each day. Right now there is a block of fish stretching from at least west of Geneva to at least Conneaut, OH to the east. And I’m not talking small patches of fish either. I’m talking steady action no matter where you go in the 4 to 7 mile range off shore and paralleling the shoreline between the above mentioned ports that I had just named. And there is even a secondary band of fish even further out there as well. I guess it’s finally safe to say, the mother load has arrived to the Ashtabula area !

And you can thank or blame it on the heat ! I’ve seen many exceptionally hot summers over the past three decades that I’ve been doing this gig and there is one thing for sure that is always in common. The hotter and the dryer the summer, the better our fishing is going to be here at the eastern end of what is considered the central basin. When the rest of the lake to the west starts to warm to bathwater like temperatures, the baitfish pour into the cooler waters here and it seems like every Walleye in the lake is in hot pursuit as well. It is simply mind boggling to see the clouds of Smelts and Emerald Shiners showing up on our High Definition digital fish finders right now along with all of the embedded big hooks, the Walleye marks mixed in and right below them. These Walleyes with their high metabolism because of the warm water are feeding on these baits like crazy. Every day when we empty my fish box at the end of the day, there is handfuls of these smelts that our captured Walleyes had regurgitated. And if you lay one of these dead smelts up against one of my Jr. Thundersticks, well it’s easy to see why these lures are my very favorites for getting the job of fooling them done. It’s a dead ringer for their favorite prey that they feed upon.

You could not have asked for nicer weather to be out on the water and to be fishing as we had all of last week either. You just have to feel for all the farmers with all their crops desperately needing water but it has always been that way up here. When the farmers are hurting because of the terrible drought conditions, the dry weather and the heat up on the lake is to our advantage. It draws fish to this area and makes fishing for them much less of a chore as say fishing in pouring rains. And we didn’t even have any big wind events this past week either. Just a perfect summers week with wall to wall sunshine, no rain and very pleasant and comfortable temperatures, at least in the mornings when we were doing the bulk of our damage on the fish. Just perfect fishing weather.

It looks like there is more of a chance of rain here and there this coming week but really no real big deal. I see no big winds predicted and I think that we slipping quietly into the dog days of summer now. I see no big changes in the catching either as this many fish in the area are not going to disappear over night and we know for a fact that the Walleyes are putting on the feed big time right now as well. It’s about time that the fishing became a bit easier for us. We have all paid our dues working very hard for our guests that we have been taking out all season long and it’s refreshing when you can make longer trolls and not have to put all that much thought into each and every detail and move you make. Big schools of fish are more forgiving and you don’t have to split hairs just to get everything just right. I know that the work I am doing now is much more physical then when the fishing was leaner but at the end of the day, I am much fresher. There is a lot less stress when we are catching and you don’t have to rack your brain out. Imma liking it ! lol

Capt. Walt
*I am reminding all of my upcoming trips that we REALLY need to get off of the dock by 5:00am. 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





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