A very windy Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Ugh! I really would like to get away from all this talk about the weather all of the time on here but it seems like I really have no choice. Although we had really nice bright sunny days most of this past week, we also had a very stiff wind for three days straight that just made my job so very miserable and made me wishing that I was anywhere but out in the middle of frigging Lake Erie. Although the week before the fishing was silly easy under very pleasant lake conditions, this past week things were a whole lot different and a whole lot tougher. Tougher to get out to the fishing grounds. Tougher to keep all of the lines going. And just tougher just to even simply stand and land the fish that we would hook. Just plain tough for a few days.
Monday was the gem and the pick of the week. The lake was flat out gorgeous! Little Emma reeled in Walleye after Walleye! How adorable! Her family had a great trip! Tuesday I departed with a different crew and a very stiff southwest wind but with a big wind change predicted for later in the morning supposedly switching around to the northwest around 11am. I had the perfect game plan! Run out to the fringe area where we could start catching some fish to the south of the bigger schools of fish that are well offshore. Then set up and troll out with the southwest wind and after it switched later in the day, troll back southward with the northerly winds behind us later in the day. The perfect game plan! EXCEPT, shortly after we got set up at daybreak the wind was already starting to pick up dramatically and curl around to the north hard. With a east, northeast troll set up already, we were trapped in trolling now sideways in the north wind and ever growing steep waves and white caps. We did that for a while till I just couldn’t stand it any longer and then just started going south way sooner then I wanted to squaring the waves off with the stern for a more comfortable ride. Miles from where we really needed to be. Thanks National Weather Service. Thanks again by blowing the marine forecast once again so badly. They were wrong on the predicted time frame for the big wind change by five whole hours and they were big time wrong on the wave heights predicted for the day. It was smoking out there! Still, we went on to catch a nice box of fish although we didn’t quite limit out for the day. The streak that we were having aboard “The Trophy” ended for us. It is what it is.
Wednesday, oh my, Wednesday... I went down to the marina at 4 in the morning like I do everyday and stepped out of my truck in total dismay and disbelief. The wind was howling dead out of the north so fiercely that it made the day before look like a walk in the park. And once again our friends at the National weather service were calling for 1 to 3 foot waves for that day. I’m like, are you kidding me? And of coarse my eager crew was already waiting and very excited to go. My suggestions for them to just go back to the house that they had rented and sleep in for a while was scoffed at and before I could say boo, they were already loaded up and egging me on to go. Lol! It took everything that I had to convince myself to do this. Everyone else either cancelled their trips that day or the few that went put their crews on a weather delay. But off we went in the dark. Taking our time, it took us nearly 2 hours to punch and pick our way out north 22 miles close to the US-Canadian border where we set up a long one way troll southward once again along with the wind and the waves. For the first couple of hours way out there, the fishing was just about as fast as we could go. We caught some beautiful Walleyes! But again after we got so far south, things started drying up pretty fast. I think we ended the day with 21 and a few Steelhead. A few short of what we needed but again a very respectable box considering the conditions that we were dealt.
Thursday it was back to just a plain miserable super stiff south west wind while all along the marine forecast was again calling for less then two footers for that particular day. I lined up even further out this time then I did on Tuesday and just trolled out with the seas squared off on the tail. We went on to have a very good day coming up just one short of limiting out for the day and again having a few bonus Steelhead in the mix. A good day no matter what the lake conditions are! So we survived the 3 day challenge that Mother Nature threw at us and by Friday I was rewarded with a beautiful lake finally and easy fishing once again for us along with a nice early quit for me. But still all that talk of mine last week about me being all well rested up again all went out the window this past week. I am very tired and beat up after those 3 brutal days. In other words, back to normal! Lol! But hey, I have everybody's “dream job”! Or at least so I am told almost daily by most of my crews that only have to go thru this crap about maybe once a year! Lol! On a little side note, the date that I offered last week has been snatched up by somebody already. Thanks for all the calls folks. OK, that about does it for this weeks weather report, I mean, FISHING REPORT! Over and out for now...
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 4:00am to 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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