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| Fish, eat, sleep. Wash, rinse and repeat. Four months into the season now and things are becoming just a blur anymore for me. It’s truly like the movie Ground Hog Day. Every morning the alarm goes off at 2:30am and my day begins. A quick shower, fix a bowel of Cheerios and make my thermos of coffee. Sitting down to enjoy my cereal I check my emails and the latest weather updates. My go to apps in the exact order is first I check the current wind reports at the Fairport, OH light house which is approximately 28 miles to the west of Ashtabula. Since our weather most always moves from west to east, that gives me a sense of what to expect in Ashtabula in about an hour. Secondly I check the iWindsurf hourly graphic predictions for the day for Conneaut OH which is approximately 14 miles to the east of Ashtabula. And lastly, I check the National Weather Service’s official offshore forecast for Ashtabula, OH for waters beyond 5 nautical miles of shore. Most mornings these last few weeks after taking in all of this data, I’ve felt like throwing my cereal right back up that I had just ate. Nothing but wind, wind, wind everyday. Ugh. |
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| Although this past two week period wasn’t quite as brutal as the prior two weeks before that which I had wrote about in my last report, it was far from a real nice stretch of weather wind wise. I don’t know what it is always this time of year with the strong south west winds but man has it been ever relentless these last few weeks. We did have a few rare delightful days in this last period but only to be greeted the very next day with strong wind and heavy seas. A couple days again where it was just too rough to even go. Seems like so many times my fishing reports are dominated by me talking about all the wind that we have been dealing with but this sport is so weather driven and when we are fishing this heavy offshore it is the single most important thing that we face each day. My day starts each day with me studying the mornings weather and ends with me pouring over all of my sources for tomorrows weather. Wash, rinse and repeat. |
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| And again like a broken record, fishing remains quite excellent. Limit catches are the norm and to be expected. Even fishing in some very difficult conditions. Not much has changed out there. We are still out 15 miles plus most days and the fish are quite deep. Aboard The Trophy, I can’t remember the last time that we used planer boards. Our Dipsy Divers have kept us very busy and and are quick in and quick out. Nobody wants to reel fish in from 400 to 500 foot behind the boards if we don’t have to. So we’ve limited our rod count down significantly and have just concentrated on the Dipsys. Contender large spoons have been very deadly for us behind the Dipsys. I just love those things and apparently the Walleyes do too! On a few days if I have enough time I’ve been dropping the downriggers down to about 60 foot with the same Contender spoons as well and they have contributed nicely also to the days catch. The size of the Walleyes continues to be a very pleasant mixed bag of just keepers to very nice sized Walleyes and everything in between. It has been a real representation of all of the highly successful hatches that we've had these past half dozen years or so. This trend should continue for us for years to come. A real mix of different sizes. |
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| So just like that it’s mid August already. And as I mentioned earlier on it has become a real blur for me by now. Only 6 more weeks of fishing after this weekend left for me. That means only 3 more reports after this one for those of you that enjoy following along online. I sure hope that I have more to talk about in my last few reports other then the dang weather and all this wind! Otherwise, everything is the same ole, same ole. I guess that’s a good thing. Check back soon... Capt. Walt Trophy Charters * These trips were not priced for this kind of fuel emergency that is facing us right now. Your generous tips will help us survive these tough times that lay ahead! THANK YOU! |
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