Rolling up the miles... "The Trophy" spent most all of this past week flirting with the Canadian border which was only a couple of few miles to the north of where we worked each day and where we were able to enjoy yet another week of truly world class phenomenal Walleye action. There may be some fish everywhere in the Ashtabula area right now but there is no doubt in my mind that the Mother Load is lurking out there right now some 20+ miles out from the harbor. A incredibly long way out. A incredible school of fish. And a incredible challenge just getting there and getting back with the conditions that good old Lake Erie seems to throw at us almost on a daily basis
This week was no different then most all of the other weeks thus far this summer. We had incredibly windy and rough lake conditions that we had to overcome more days then not in the last 7 days. More days then not we had to suffer through a long grueling 2 hour boat ride before we ever even wet a line . Tough on the crew, tough on the equipment and it certainly is wearing on me. But if we chose to only go on the nice days, well, we wouldn't fish very often. The big difference is the insane distance that we are running right now. There is a HUGE difference in fishing in 3-5 footers when you are out only 7 or 8 miles as opposed to having to go out 20 some miles in the same conditions. HUGE... Todays trip, Sunday morning I met my guys at the marina with the flags standing stiff and snapping wildly. The forcast was changed from 2-4 footers to 4-6 footers out of the north. Just can't be done. Not that far out. Sadly I sent the guys packing. Yet another loss.
I do not charge a fuel surcharge but boy if I ever wanted to, this week was the week that I would have liked to have started. It is totally ridicules how much fuel I went through this past week to try and keep my boys on what I felt was worth running for. Every other trip right now goes strait to the marinas cash register just to pay for the gas. Never mind all the other bills that still keep streaming in including the repair bills that are now popping up from my little dilemma that I had with my starboard engine here a couple of weeks ago. About 3 G worth... Yikes ! I often ask people if they know what BOAT stands for ? Most people do not. B.O.A.T. = Break - Out - Another - Thousand ! How very true lol ! Super extra thanks to the couple of trips that dug deep at the end of the day this past week and apparently felt my pain as I winced at the spinning digits on the gas pumps.
OK, I'm done crying so we'll move on to a couple other things. I mentioned a couple of open dates that were coming up in last weeks report. Well we filled one of the days but we still have Wednesday September the 1st available for a Walleye trip for anyone that may be interested in squeezing in one more outing before this summer finally slips away. Also, we are starting to push our departure time back a bit as darkness is starting to linger longer and longer each morning as the summer days pass by so quickly. Rather then getting off around 5:00am each morning like we did all summer I am now telling everybody that we need to be on our way at 5:30. I would actually like to go later then that because it is still very dark even at 5:30 but we have sooo friggin far to travel right now that we still need to get a jump on things so we can cash in on the early morning feeding frenzy that takes place at daybreak. Maybe around Sept. 1st we'll make it around 6... That's it for this weeks report. Stay tuned...
Capt. Walt
* REMINDER There are no fishing licenses available at the marina this summer. You need to get them ahead of time ! Questions, CALL ME
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