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| Fishing this month out of Ashtabula has been on the slower side for us aboard The Trophy. Though we have been catching fish with each outing, the days have been rather full with us working very hard for everything that we have managed to capture. Year number 37 for me is not starting out as I had hoped and as some of the past Mays have started in recent years with the fish on fire right out the gate. Such is the nature of the game of fishing I suppose. One never really knows! |
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| Blame it on our cooler then normal spring. After a unusually mild winter with little to no ice on the big lake, the “mild” winter just kind of dragged on and on into March and then April. May up on the water here in north east Ohio has been no picnic either with constant east winds and plenty of days of much cooler then normal temperatures for this time of year. Water temperatures have struggled to get into the low 50’s which is very cold for this time of year. And every time water temps do start to climb, we get a big easterly big blow that pushes more cold water into the area from the eastern and deeper colder part of the lake. Ugh! |
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| Otherwise, it's been the same old early season techniques and tactics as always for us in May. That means planer boards way out well away from the boat out in the quiet and undisturbed water targeting the higher stealth Walleyes that lurk just outside the watchful eye of the boats sonar systems. And running as many rods as we are legally allowed to run. Not that I really want to work that hard and run that many rods. But when you’re struggling to fill the box and want to give everyone 110% effort, you suck it up and do what you have to do. Tackle used includes rods with braid pulling either Jet Divers and little spoons or a variety of stick baits on braid rods. Same old, same old. |
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| So as I mentioned earlier, my 37th season of full time chartering is well underway now. I’ve now settled into my usual summer routines. Early to bed, up at a ungodly hour and off the dock in the pitch black darkness each morning. Make the run out to the days fishing grounds, get all the lines in the water and watch a incredible sunrise. Now that part of the job never gets old! Hopefully as we flip the calendar now to June already, the weather will break for good with summer like conditions sticking around daily and the fishing really heating up as well. I’m more then ready for those mornings where you can hardly get a rod in the water without a hungry Walleye grabbing it! I just know it will break loose any day now and Happy Days will be here again for the rest of the season! I can’t wait! Capt. Walt Trophy Charters |
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