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| Good weather, great fishing - Bad weather, tougher fishing. That about sums up the world I live in. This past week once again this held true for us aboard "The Trophy". We had some awesome, awesome trolling trips this past week and a couple of days where it was so rough that we were just lucky to be out at all. And although we still managed to catch Walleyes, it was not all that it could have been. Such is the nature of this business and the way fishing on Lake Erie goes. I hate it. If I could wave a magic wand I would wish all my guests calm seas and sunny days. Of coarse this will never happen so everybody that schedules a day is at the mercy of Mother Nature and luck of the draw. Two months into the season, I'm getting tired of fighting this weather already. |
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| It seems like this spring is going to go down at least in my books as a excessively rainy, windy and cold year up here at the western end of the lake. It certainly will be the muddiest water conditions that I have had to fight all spring. It just has never cleared up in some of the favorite areas that we like to fish this time of year. It try's and then we get several days of high winds and it's back to almost pure mud. This has forced us to fish almost all month way off shore around some of the most northern islands just to find clean water where we can catch fish. I never used to think twice about throttling up hard and cranking it out 15+ miles to find the very best spots but now with marina gas at four and a half bucks a gallon and climbing, the fact that the weather is forcing me to do so every day is getting me down as well. Perhaps in a week when I return to Ashtabula we will finally get some sustained good weather. One can only hope. |
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| The fishing on the better weather days has been very productive the last two weeks anywhere north of Green Island and Kelly's Island. This past week we trolled almost every day west of Rattlesnake Island with great results. The marks up in this area on the fish finder are simply amazing. There are lots of high fish and low fish. It seems like the higher fish are the most active feeding Walleyes and therefore trolling is the preferred method now. I believe that I will now close out my stay here at Port Clinton if the weather allows running the rest of my trips as trolling trips. Although more work for me and certainly more costly for me to run, this is what I do best and what I believe will now put the most and nicest fish in the box. I might as well get into the groove of doing so because once I return to Ashtabula, this is all we do in the super deep water. |
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| Speaking of Ashtabula, as I mentioned before this is my last week here at the western basin and the Islands area. After running my last trip here next Sunday I will once again run the boat down the lake about a hundred miles east to my home port for the rest of the season. Although I enjoy my stay and fishing in Port Clinton each year, like Dorothy said, there is no place like home. I look forward to getting back. The guys that know what they are doing back home are already catching some HUGE Walleyes ! Things should really break loose out east in the next few days. I have returned home the last few years to immediate spectacular fishing. Hopefully the cooler than usual spring this year will not set us back any. This will be my last fishing report from Port Clinton and there will be no new report next weekend as I will be busy moving my operation down the lake. Also for those of you that follow my reports thru www.fishlakeerie.com you will now have to click on the Lake Erie fishing reports by title and select OHIO EAST. On my web site nothing will change as the newest reports always surface under my NEWS button. See you down the lake ! Capt. Walt |
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