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| Words... It’s funny how something mentioned just in passing can come back to really bite you in the butt. In my last report I casually mentioned “Weather has been rather decent and pretty typical of our average north east Ohio summers as well. We’ve only lost a handful or so of trips due to high wind days thus far and I would say that’s better then average as well for us” describing how the weather has treated us so far this season on Lake Erie. Well I’m telling you, boy did I ever jinx myself! These past two weeks were the most relentless non stop super windy days this whole entire season. To the point where I lost four trips altogether and probably should have cancelled another four trips that were pretty miserable. At least for me they were miserable fighting a bad hip this year. The balance of the rest of the days were no picnic either. Just non stop west by southwest strong winds that seemingly blew all day and all night for the entire last two week period only interrupted by the occasional day that it blew just as hard out of the northwest. Man do I feel beat up. |
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| And I also happened to mention that the fish weren't that terribly far out yet. YET! Ha! Boy did that seem to change overnight as well. Just in time for the super windy, super rough days to arrive the bigger schools of fish have slipped yet another 7 or 8 miles further out then just two weeks ago. Runs of 15 to 20 miles are now common place. Even under ideal conditions the rides are long and grueling. Wear and tear on machinery is dramatically increased and always a worry with engines turning high RPM’S hours on end not to mention horrific fuel consumptions for these long trips. And the rougher the lake, the more we burn. Although relief on the street with gas prices has been trickling downward here lately, we’ve yet to see any real drop in marina fuel prices sold on the waterfront. I used to really enjoy the adventure of these long offshore trips. But anymore with all my physical aches and pains and the big pain at the pump that we are experiencing this summer, it’s not so much for me this year. Perhaps if the frigging wind would ever back off for a week or so I might feel at least a little more optimistic about it all. It’s just been a tough two weeks! |
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| What hasn’t changed is how good the fishing is once you get to the fishing grounds. The fish could care little how rough the lake is or how expensive the gas is for you to get to them. They are plentiful way out there and they are hungry! Fishing has been more then excellent! And the size continues to be a pleasant mix of all different sized year classes. True monsters have been rare but we are getting a good many 24 to 26 inch fish. Really nice Walleyes! Steelhead continue to be hit or miss even that far out in the cooler deeper water where usually it’s more common to find them. This past week I had a fellow onboard that had fished for them in the Michigan rivers before but told me that his bucket list item was to catch one here in Ohio. Well I made sure he was going to be on the rod should one go off with a silver bullet. And along with a full limit of Walleyes that we caught that day, my guest had his chance with four Steelies that we hooked up with him landing two out of the four. Not a bad average! I don’t think I’ve seen anyone happier in a long time! Lol! Then other days we go all day long and never even hook one up. Weird. |
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| So tomorrow is August already. Another fast month is about in the books. I would imagine these long runs that we’re making is going to go on for a while now. Nothing really new. These Walleyes follow the same patterns year after year. What we can look forward to is that usually when September rolls around they start steadily marching back southward reversing this crazy outbound march as the water temps start to lower. The same thing happens year after year. Hopefully we got our rough water over with for a while now and all we have to worry about is just the hot days as we enter the “Dog Days of Summer”! As if we haven’t really had enough 90 degree plus days this summer! Even with all the gusty strong south west winds that we’ve had these past two weeks, almost everyday these winds ushered in super charged hot air. What a bubble of heat most of this country has been locked in now for weeks. We’ll see how it all plays out going forward. So fishing is really good. River Marine where The Trophy is docked has built us two new fish racks And so I thought it would be only fitting to feature all fish rack shots for this weeks pictures! Enjoy! 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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