Whacking and Stacking! We had yet another unbelievably fabulous week of Walleye fishing aboard “The Trophy” in her home port of Ashtabula, Ohio! We are off to a VERY solid start to our summer fishery once again. The last handful of years or so immediately upon my return from the western basin the the fish have been here already in groves and on fire! This year has been no exception. It literally has been as good as it possibly gets. On top of the excellent Walleye fishing, there has been next to no boat traffic every day and very little if any junk fish. Somebody pinch me! It’s almost too good to be true! And the real remarkable story is that even the horrific start in this past weeks weather did little if anything to slow down what has been going on out here.
Seems like I can’t ever go too long a stretch before I end up having to discuss a rash of really ugly weather up here on the lake. And man, did we ever get hammered last Sunday and Monday! Sundays marine forecast looked grim several days out and I along with most other charter captains had already cancelled our scheduled outings to save the groups a wasted trip up to the lake. And as bad as they had forecasted the wind, waves and rain forecast, it was pale in comparison to how bad it actually got. Sunday mornings' of a week ago cold front that dropped down on us here along the lake shore sent temperatures plummeting into the 40’s. Winds gusted for a 24 hour period between 40 and 50 mph out of the east, northeast. And Rain? Oh my goodness! The area picked up between 3 and 4 inches of rain. It was just about as miserable as it could possibly get. Not only did we loose a couple of days of fishing, everyone feared the worst for what it may have done to our near shore Walleye fishing immediately after being able to get back out there on the water.
The short answer is, it did nothing to set us back any! After loosing Monday as well to the 48 hour severe weather system, I set out hesitantly on a still very choppy Lake Erie on Tuesday with a strong easterly winds. With a elderly crew onboard I quickly decided that there would be no circling around on any one tight area. I just cranked it out east about 6 miles and set up a long one way troll. We started in about 45 feet of water and just headed west with the wind and waves square on our tail. It ended up being a long but productive 12 mile one way troll and we caught fish the whole way! We started around 6 miles east of the harbor and finished up about 6 miles west of the gap. We did what ended up being about a couple of fish a mile. And all of this immediately after a major blow and cold front which had just exited the area. Something that normally would be a big time kiss of death for at least a few days up here on the big lake. Just a testament to how good this fishing really is for us this year in this still very early part of our season out here. And all of this in the what is considered still relatively shallow water for us compared to what is yet to come the remainder of this summer. The rest of the work week with pleasant weather setting back in, fishing was nothing short of a burn for us aboard ‘The Trophy” There was nothing but big smiles from all of my happy angling guests!
And this past weekend, oh boy. Saturday was again very choppy. Maybe not not anywhere near as bad as the previous Sunday was but just enough to discourage most from going. We aboard “The Trophy” along with a handful of other charter boats did fish but most all others elected to just stay back at the dock. Although we were probably in 3 to 5 foot waves, fishing was amazingly good for us for as long as we lasted. By late morning however with seemingly building wind and waves and my crew not feeling all that great anymore, I pulled the plug and we just headed back in. We had better than half our limit I believe which was good enough and most of those were real monsters! Not bad for a choppy cold day and early quit. Sunday of this same weekend was back to gorgeous weather and very flat seas. Man, what a difference a day makes! So, this upcoming weeks weather looks to be somewhat unsettled. As I check all of my sources, I see a chance of rain and thunderstorms pretty much everyday for most of the week. Ugh! At least I’m not seeing any signs of anymore real dramatic winds like we experienced a week ago and on Saturday of this past weekend. We’ll just have to see how it all plays out. Rain never really did bother us as long as it’s not storming. Bring your rain gear is all I can tell you. Till next week...
Capt. Walt
*I would like to remind all of my upcoming charters. As I have been simply asking all along now for the last few years, please try your very hardest to keep your group size to a very comfortable, more personal experience of 4 people for everyone involved. I myself just flat out DO NOT WANT more then that on my boat anymore for these summer trolling trips. This is not a hard rule or policy (yet) but if you folks want to keep me happy and chartering for years to come, you will do this for me and for yourselves. Also, we ABSOLUTELY need to be off the dock between 4:30am and 5:00am at the VERY LATEST! Our best fishing is ALWAYS at the crack of dawn and WE DO NOT WANT TO MISS OUT ON THAT OPPORTUNITY! Please, DO NOT BE Late! I am at the boat and ready to roll everyday by 4:30am and if you want to catch lots of fish, you will be ready as well!
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