Fishing report for the week of April 24, 2011.: , ,
Fishing Report Posted: April 24, 2011

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Posted by Capt. Walt Ermansons on April 24, 2011 at 22:33:46:

The week from Hell weather wise! I think it was back in my very first fishing report for this years 2011 season that I had mentioned "I hope It's not going to be one of those kind of years" after a particularly nasty week with the bad spring weather. Well, I can't tell you how or what the rest of this year is going to bring, but I'm here to tell you that this is probably the WORST April that I've ever seen for wind, rain and cold in the 25 years that I've been running charters. And I've seen some pretty bad springs... This past 10 days and this past week in particular was about as brutal as they get around here. On paper, I had one of my best schedules ever for April on the books. Mother Nature had other plans for me however. I've cancelled 7 out of the last 9 days due to unreal horrific winds and driving rains and huge waves. Throw in some unseasonably cold temperatures just for good measure into that mix as well. And what has been left in the aftermath of this lousy weather has made for a real muddy mess out there of most of the western basin. And the couple of days that we went, we probably shouldn't have. Not good.

These pictures here are from today's trip from a group that decided to celebrate Easter aboard "The Trophy"! A good day! We were FINALLY greeted with a dead flat lake and after a bit of searching, I was able to find a patch of water with halfway decent water clarity. They weren't exactly jumping in the boat today but we did a lot better then even I thought we would do by landing a little better then 3 limits of really nice sized Walleyes for my 4 man group. Not bad ! We didn't even have to go that very far to do it either for a change. I just stayed on the east side of the firing range and worked a couple little spots that has produced fish for me in the past. Everything else was same ole same ole... We worked water around 10 to 13 feet deep, just bouncing the same old purple jigs along the bottom. Since it was pretty calm, most of the fish came by casting out, letting the jig settle to the bottom and hopping it back on the retrieve. Other then being a bit chilly today, a pretty fun day to be on the water and a far cry from the crap weather that we've been trying to fish through.

Like last Monday. After having gale forced winds all of last weekend, Monday was SUPPOSED to be a window for us with only 2 footers predicted before gale force winds were to move in again for several more days. They were calling for just some rain, but hey, we can handle a "little rain" right? Well, it was about 2-3 footers dead out of the north east when we cast off and as promised, it was raining. After a little looking around down inside and not very happy with the water clarity, I decided to burn the gas and make the longer 10 mile run to the reefs. And guess what showed up about the time we got there ? The friggin WIND ! What was supposed to be a 10 to 15 knot wind was easily blowing now a steady 20 to 25 knots with higher gusts I'm sure. And to add to the turmoil, the rain had now turned to sleet and slushy snow. Unbelievable! Well we hung in there and gave it our all but it was pretty much a lost battle. The water was very stained and the drift was super fast in the now growing waves. After about 4 hours with no fish in the box and ice covered decks where you could hardly stand, my boys made the right decision and called it a day. We did have 4 or 5 hook ups while we lasted out there but none of the fish made it to the net. It took almost an hour in the now 5 footers just to get back to port, cold, wet and disappointed. Certainly one for the memory books and not in a good way either.

So as I am looking looking now at the long range marine forecast if you can believe them ( which you shouldn't... it could go either way, just like a coin toss ), it appears that it will be quite fishable the next few days with wind again in the forecast towards the end of the week. Right now they are saying strong south west winds later in the week but the beachy areas should still be protected enough to allow for fishing. We will just have to see how it all plays out and as always, hope for the best. Right now I still have the one open day for this upcoming week, Wednesday April the 27th. Last week I incorrectly said I had the 28th available. That should have read the 27th. Anyway, after some pretty good fishing today and if it stays half way calm the next two days like it is supposed to, we should have even better water clarity by mid week and these fish should really be on fire. Wednesday might just be an awesome day and I really hope to fill it. Especially after loosing sooooooooo many days here in this past week or so. And looking beyond this coming week, next week we flip the page on the calendar to May and I have a couple of openings that week as well. I never did have a trip for Wed. May the 4th so that is still available and a rare Friday just opened up the same week. Friday, May the 6th. An EXCELLENT choice for you guys that enjoy making a 3 day weekend for yourselves, quite possibly ending up in a bangin' fish fry ! lol ! Call me, 216-387-2656

Capt. Walt





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