Slower than we would all like it! This was probably the slowest week that I have had this whole summer season aboard “The Trophy”. Not horrible, mind you but just slow. We still managed to get fish boxes of upper teens to low 20’s for fish counts each day but for a lot of my groups that are used to having limits iced down and cracking a beer back at the dock by 10:00am, well it’s been a real eye opener. Other then somebody that just likes to brag, I would say it’s a safe bet that most everyone is in the same predicament and most everyone would agree with me. It’s been a real grind for everyone. There’s some really good fisherman and captains around here that are plain scratching their heads and working their butts off for everything that we all are bringing in. Tiring and very stressful to say the least!
I think I know what is going on. These Walleyes are doing what Walleyes around here do in July. They are moving offshore. The real problem is the lack of any huge schools of fish. When you take a thin band of the larger fish from the “near shore waters’' and now spread them out even thinner in the vast and super deep offshore waters, well it’s going to get tougher. At least till more recruitments move into the area from wherever they might filter in from and make the population denser. It will happen. It just hasn’t happened yet. When the existing fish were bunched up closer to shore and in the shallower waters, we had the advantage. Now like I said, they are spread even further out there. The lack of very many really solid marks on the sonar offshore is troublesome also. It’s hard to get excited and put all the gear out each day when you’re not marking hardly any fish but that’s exactly what we have to do. You just have to “assume” that there are some out there and do it. Put your gear out, put your time in and PRAY!
I made some mistakes this past week by not turning on some fish when we did have a spurt of action on several occasions. Not that it was so great and me thinking that we will run into something better. But in hind site I should have spun around when I had the chance and see if I could squeeze a few more out of where we did catch one or two. That’s what it seems to have come to. At least this past week it seemed to be that way. If you catch one, you better be turning! Lol! Funny and pitiful both. So “The Trophy” is spending her days now in 70 foot plus of water. We are catching some fish down deep where they ought to be. Some real hogs as a matter of fact. Just not in the great numbers that we would all like. If there is a bright side to the story, it’s the fact that the garbage fish haven’t been too bad out there either though. And it seems like the bulk of the “baby” Walleyes are still back in the shallower near shore waters as well. Man I had my fill of having 14 inchers hanging everywhere even though I love them dearly! We are still catching a handful each day even offshore but it’s been very manageable thus far. That might all change as well as the offshore waters start to really warm. We will just have to see how it all plays out.
We did have a pleasant surprise this past week when we boated our second Brown Trout of the summer season aboard “The Trophy”! Man are they ever a beautiful fish! I sure hope that catching a couple is a sign of things to come around here! It also helps liven up the crew after staring at rods for long periods of time! Lol! So by this coming weeks end, it will be mid July already and the 4th will already seem like a distant memory. Like I said in last weeks report, it’s going to go fast now. I also mentioned last week that I had Tuesday July the 12th available for a charter should anyone be wanting a trip. Well surprisingly, I STILL have it OPEN if anyone wants to go hunting with me for the rare and elusive offshore Walleye! Lol! We are probably only days away from things really busting loose around here. You don’t want to miss out on your chance to be onboard when we run into the old Mother Load! Worst case scenario, I’m pretty sure you’ll have a lot of fun and have more then enough Walleye fillets for some ‘bangin good dinners! And if I don’t fill that date, well a mental health holiday don’t sound all that bad to me right now either! That’s it for another week...
Capt. Walt
Celebrating Our 30th Season!
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