Fishing report for the week of May 22, 2011.: , ,
Fishing Report Posted: May 22, 2011

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[ Lake Erie & Tributaries Fishing Report ]

Posted by Capt. Walt Ermansons on May 22, 2011 at 21:21:55:

Another terrible set back for the western basin. That's what last weeks northeaster did to this already messed up end of the lake. As I was writing last weeks report last Sunday at the onset of yet another rash of bad weather, little did anyone know how severe and how long that this latest blow would last. Well it howled for 3 days and 3 nights straight through with unbelievable force and really did not start to back off till late in the day on Wednesday, making it more like a four day event. And just when the lake had begun showing some signs of a bit of recovery, this last blow came around, just the latest in an unbelievable string of nasty weather systems back to back and once again tearing things up something terrible. What was left in the aftermath this time is the most disgusting muddy mess out there that I have ever seen. Water that for the most part looks like coffee with way too much cream in it most everywhere you look. There is zero chance of catching anything in water so very dirty. And that's been the story this whole spring. No one has ever seen anything like it before. Not like this. Not so many days, not for so very long, and not so very bad. Disgusting.

And through it all, when the weather does allow, we still have to go and fish and try to produce for the guys. It has not been easy and for many this spring, just plain impossible. Aboard "The Trophy" after yet another string of lost trips all of last week, we finally got to go and fish this weekend under some shockingly delightful weather conditions but again, the super dirty water. Once again for me, that meant cranking it out as far north as we were allowed to go without actually crossing the Canadian line and making the best of the slightly better water clarity out that far. A very grueling, gas guzzling long ass boat ride. It was not all that great out there either but we somehow managed to put some fish in the box. Collectively for the weekend we iced a little better than 20 nice sized Walleyes aboard "The Trophy". In normal springs at this time of year, that might be just a few hours work ! Not so this year and with the fish that we did catch, I considered ourselves VERY lucky as you listened to the horror stories on the radio of boat after boat with no fish or one or two at best. The worst luck was for those die hard drift fisherman because of the lack of any real wind for drifting Sat. or Sun. That and coupled together with the muddy water... Just not a good combination.

So "the Trophy" did what she does the very best. We trolled for the fish that we did catch. And again it was not fast and furious but somehow we managed to capture enough fish to keep our heads up when we came in and certainly enough for some really nice fish fry's. And I've said it a thousand times before. Anytime you go fishing and you catch enough for dinner, you've actually had a pretty good day ! The days of going on a charter and stocking the freezer just might not be happening anytime real soon again. Who knows. Just take what the lake is willing to give you, enjoy your day on the water away from your work and the every day hassles and stress's that life itself throws at you and know that I, as most captains do, are trying our hardest to make things happen under some very tough conditions. After all, nobody wants you to catch fish more then we do. Sometimes things are just plain out of our hands. And just like the saying goes that everyone uses any more... "it is what it is" And this spring, it was very tough.

This will officially be my last fishing report from the Port Clinton area here in the western basin. Although I have trips all of this week, by next weekend I will be very busy moving my entire operation out east back to my home port Of Ashtabula, OH for the rest of the year. So there will be no final report. Frankly, I can not wait to get out of here. I usually do not feel this way but with the lack of cooperating fish this spring and the nonstop bad weather and subsequent muddy waters that I've had to try to make something out of nothing, I am beyond disgusted and already burned out and stressed to the max. I may not do much better back home for a while but if I'm going to get my butt kicked, it will at least be on my own home turf ! And I know for a fact that I won't at least have the mud issues out east in the deep water as we have all had to fight here in the shallow western basin for 2 months. That in itself will be simply refreshing ! So as this chapter ends, a new one will soon begin for me and "The Trophy" ! I hope a lot of you that have enjoyed reading these weekly reports follow us over to the eastern Ohio section of the fishing reports on the lakeerifishing.com site and as always, the transition on my websites www.trophycharters.com fishing reports under the news button will be seamless. Just log on as you normally would. For now, it's over and out and CYA out east !

Capt. Walt





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