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| Well that didn’t last nearly long enough! I kind of knew that by mentioning how nice the weather had been in my last report that I was going to jinx myself for the next two coming weeks. And boy did I ever jinx myself! The week immediately after posting was exceptionally volatile. We had to deal with the remnant's of Hurricane Debby and it’s wrap around effect on the Great Lakes and also a strong cold front that really had the lake rolling. All in all it cost me yet another 5 trips. Of those 5 days, one day was marginal with some fishing and some not. We decided to join the camp of those just sitting it out and waiting for a better day. After you loose that many days, what's one more day! But of those 5 days, the weekend of August 10th & 11th was the most of interest. The lake was exceptionally rough for 48 hours and nobody fished that I know of. But it wasn’t of interest because that nobody fished. It was because of what it did to the lake! |
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| A couple or so reports back I had mentioned that we had some very rough days but that after we returned nothing had changed with the water temperatures or the quality of fishing. I also explained how sometimes by late summer and early fall after a sustained big blow that there was always the possibility of the lake “flipping” or “rolling over” as some may call it. Well after the weekend blow of the 10th & 11th, we had a text book example of exactly what I was talking about. New this year we have a weather buoy just west of the Ashtabula Harbor opening that records and charts all kinds of weather data ranging from wind speeds to wave heights to all kinds of water temperature data. Checking the weather data page on Monday the 12th I could not believe my eyes! Now keep in mind that this buoy is only in about 30’ of water but still, we went from a 77 degree surface temperature to a 57 degree reading! The blow which was northeasterly for two hard days and nights had blown in some really cold water! Man, I didn’t even think there was anywhere in the lake even at depth where the water was still that cold! Just so I could believe my eyes later, here is a screenshot from my phone of what I was looking at on their Ashtabula water data page. |
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| These really cold temps were only in close to shore and only for a few days. Offshore water temps dropped in those two days from also around 77 degrees to about 70 degrees. Not as dramatic as in tight to shore but still rather large in nature. And also as I had described a few reports ago, I had mentioned that if the flip was severe enough, there is sometimes a associated fish kill that comes with the quick change in water temperatures. And oh boy did we have a fish kill! Some of you may have even read about it in the news. The whole south shore of Lake Erie was littered with many dead fish. Fortunately most were the undesirable Sheephead or the Fresh Water Drum as is their scientific real name. A few Walleye and White Bass were also noted. Interestingly enough though, it did little if anything to slow the offshore Walleye bite down. Such is the incredible red hot bite this summer that we are all enjoying! Not even the rolling over of the lake can stop this steaming train of incredible fishing this year. Simply amazing! |
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| So this past week we enjoyed water conditions ranging from dead calm to a few days that were just so so. This whole weekend as I write this report is rather iffy with many spotty heavy thunderstorms popping up repeatedly. Many severe in nature. Although most didn’t effect the lake till later in the day, after discussing the options and forecasts with my guests we once again elected to not chance anything and reschedule for a little later in the season and hope for a better day. Even as of now, I have a few open dates still available in September that we can work with. And that’s exactly what we did. No big deal on my part. I want everyone to be comfortable with their decision to come out and enjoy their investment in the fishing trip. So that’s about the latest for me. Another report about lousy weather and the same old story with the Walleye fishing. ON FIRE! Cya back here in another couple of weeks! Capt. Walt Trophy Charters |
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