Rolling along nicely now but really racking up the miles! It was a very solid week for us this past week aboard “The Trophy”! Fishing has really stabilized out there well offshore for us with the improving weather conditions. We had a perfect string of limit catch days. In fact, we were back to some really early quits with some extremely full fish boxes! What wasn’t quick however was the very long hauls out and back to the fishing grounds. I hate so very much those super long, expensive boat rides back and fourth. Even on a nice lake it’s a minimum of at least an hours run and that’s even running rather hard. And quite a bit longer with each additional foot of chop. Hard on the body, hard on the machinery and especially hard on the pocket book. And with the additional travel time, we have now moved up our departure time up even earlier to 4:00am. This all so when we arrive to the fishing grounds that we can still be setting lines by dawns early breaking light. It has really paid huge dividends for us though by not missing out on the usually strong morning bite.
The weather for the most part this past week was good. For the most part. We did have a few bumps in the road though. Nothing that we aboard “The Trophy” could not work thru but it’s never all that pleasant fishing in less then desirable conditions out there and especially when you know you are 15 to 20 miles from shore. Tuesday we had a extremely stiff south wind, just ahead of a cold front that came barreling thru on Wednesday. Cold fronts in July. Can you even imagine? I just have to shake my head at this summer. But came thru it did and along with it Wednesday was very rough with stiff cold winds out of the north. It took almost two hours to work our way out to almost the Canadian border for just a long one way troll back home. It certainly was a rough lake but the Walleyes did not seem to mind it. We smashed the fish! I think it took us longer to go back and fourth then it did to get our 4 man limit of huge Walleyes. We had some real monsters! And Thursday, we had one of the hardest one day all day rains I think that we’ve had all of this summer. Most of it was out over the lake but, ummmm, that’s where we spend all our time! Lol! But once again the Walleyes didn’t much care and the fishing was GREAT for us!
Surprisingly the offshore fish are still not all that deep way out there. It really is a very unusual summer. Normally when we are fishing that far out, the fish are also quite a bit deeper. Not right now though. At least not yet! I would say that we are still catching most of our Walleyes in the top 35 foot of the water column. Early summer conditions over late summer distances traveled out into the lake. But the water temps are also close to being 10 degrees cooler then normal and water levels in the lake are close to being 2 foot higher then even just a year ago. Man, if the water gets any higher, we are going to need a step ladder back at the dock just to be able to board the boat! All of this plays into what is going on out there with the fish. The better charters have figured it all out. Lots of other people are struggling though to catch fish out there. Especially a lot of the smaller private boats. But believe me, the fish are out there in good numbers and you just need to make the necessary adjustments with lure depths, boat speed and angle. Of coarse, it doesn’t t hurt to be out there at day break when these higher then normal fish are really biting!
So in a couple of days it will be mid July already! Man, I feel like I was just up at Port Clinton and the Islands! This summer is definitely screaming by. Maybe these fish will soon start their steady slow march back towards the south shore like they always do later in the summer. Who knows in this weird year what will happen going forward. All I know is that I am very tired of all of the cold days out on the lake, especially in the mornings. And all of the rain and all of the insane amount of miles that we are pounding now to keep our guests over the very best fish possible. In fact, I myself am just plain getting pretty tired physically. Seems like I just can’t get rested up enough now here as of late. I have my alarm clocks set to wake up at 2:30 in the morning! Can you even imagine doing that every day? Anybody that insists that I have their dream job ought to try doing it day after day after day. And have no choice and “have” to go. Rough water, rain, bugs, finicky fish, you name it. No matter what. It is very physically and mentally challenging. And its very stressful to “have” to produce everyday. The investment is huge and the expenses are great on top of everything. It is quite the commitment and life style to run a operation on the scale that I try to present. Not much of a life in the summer honestly. Fish, eat, sleep and do it again. Wash, rinse, and repeat. Over, and over, and over! Oh yeah, and write these little fishing reports! Lol! Check back next week to see what's up!
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 by 4:30am 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 4:00am and if you want to catch lots of fish, you will be ready as well!
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