Great fishing ! The weather, not so much. We finished up our last full week of Walleye fishing for this August in grand style and the fishing could not have been any better. The weather on the other hand started out OK early on in the week but got worst each day as the week wore on. Thursday and Friday the lake was very rough but we managed to fish and do extremely well. Saturday was very borderline bad and while very few boats left the harbor and even fewer lasted very long after venturing out there we managed to get most of our day in although the fishing was slower for us under the trying conditions. I seemed to have the right crew for the day though and nobody got sick and seemingly enjoyed the opportunity to go rather then be turned away at the dock. We still came in with a very nice box full of Walleyes that we truly earned that day. Sunday was a complete wash out with waves forecast at 5 to 7 foot and the way it blew Sunday it was probably even worst. I made the right call and spared my group the wasted trip up. Chalk another lost day up on the long list of lost trips that will not be made up this year. Such is the nature of this business and after all these years it still frustrates me when it happens.
Traffic out on the lake was very light this past week and with the fish spread out now from Geneva to Conneaut everyone is scattered out thinly as well. The fact that the lake was very rough most of the week further limited the smaller vessels from attempting to fish. Now with September knocking on the door I do not anticipate any more spectacles such as chaotic mob of boat traffic that we had a couple of weeks ago. Seems like after the kids go back to school and peoples vacations are winding down and we flip the calendar to September hardly anyone Walleye fishes up this way anymore even though the fish are still on fire. Weird. I see this happen every year but I am not complaining. I like my space out there ! LOL Now the focus will start to switch to the fall Perch season amongst most of the smaller private boats that choose to push on and fish into the fall. Most charters will follow suit as the business dictates and most captains will have to settle for Perch trips because they've already run the guys for Walleyes and new inquiries are scarce. I will be right there as well. In fact, I have my first scheduled Perch charter next weekend although I still have some Walleye trips left for yet another week or so there after.
Nothing much changed this week out there as far as the Walleye fishing went. Aboard "The Trophy" we continued to run our stick baits back about 300 foot on the wire line. The dipsy divers were hot this week and we got away with some of the shorter leads I've ran in a couple of months now. Our #3's were set at 150 feet and the #2's were outstanding at only 130 feet most all of last week. It was hilarious to see the mad scramble for the "shorter" rods as they went off as compared to the board lines which after being run down the tow line had close to 400 foot of cranking ahead of it to do to get the fish in. Even the new comers caught on quick ! LOL We even had a fair week with the downriggers for a change after I made a point of getting them out. Usually they are the last rods to go out and as busy as we have been most days I was never getting to them. But this week I focused on them because when they are working, you can't beat the easy in / easy out factor that they can provide. We had a couple of days where the riggers at 65 feet down and about 10 foot back with a gold Savant spoon worked, accounting for 7 or 8 Walleyes. For a downrigger, that's pretty darn good on Erie !
So only one day left and we flip the page to September. I am very thankful that I still have a decent schedule ahead of me. Most of the other charters are really struggling to keep running this season in these trying economic times. As the season winds down even more boats will be sidelined as interests change from fishing to hunting and football or whatever. And it is a shame for the whole fleet around here because right now and possibly well into October this year we have the best Walleye fishing that we have had at any point or in any part of the lake all year. They were slow to show up this year in the really big numbers and I am still holding out hope that it will last unusually long around here to make up for it. Like I mentioned, I am one of the more fortunate ones and since I have the trips, I don't want to go thru the stress that I was under most all of this earlier season again trying to make something happen when many days it seemed hopeless no matter what we did. Speaking of schedules, I've managed to fill a few of the dates that I had mentioned last week. I just now have September the 8th and 10th left to fill in the near future for a Walleye trip and the 21st,24th, 25th and 30th for either a Walleye or Perch outing depending on what the guys want. We could even do Perch on the 8th and 10th if I have to. Call me ! It may be September but it ain't over ! LOL
Capt. Walt
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