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| Plugging along, and rolling up the miles... I’m beginning to feel like a long distance truck driver with a daily route. It’s pretty much the same thing everyday now. Around a 50 mile trip each day. Not really so terrible when rolling down the highway in a vehicle but a pretty good chunk of water to cover every day by boat. And that’s about what “The Trophy” has been averaging here as of late. About a 20 mile run out, about 10 miles of trolling around, and then about another 20 miles or so run back home . Day in, day out. Day after day after day... |
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| Except for the days where it was just too rough to venture that terribly far out. And that’s been happening more and more here as of late as well sadly enough. Four days out of the last eight day period have been just too nasty to fish. That’s counting todays trip, Sunday, where we stuck our nose out there and immediately came back because of heavy seas and tomorrow's trip that I’ve already cancelled due to a 3 to 5 foot forecast building to a unfishable 4 to 6 foot. Just terrible. Not very good for the bottom line when you figure that this is that part of the season where you “make it or break it” in this business. And the days that we do make this little “50 mile jaunt”, half of the proceeds seem to go straight back into the gas tank immediately before all the other bills ever even get paid. Big runs, big fuel bills and lots of wear and tear on the equipment not to mention on the operator. |
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| But on the days that we did manage to get out to these distant fishing grounds, the fishing has remained very good for us and most all of the other charter operators running out of the Ashtabula area right now. We actually had some days where “The Trophy” spent longer in transit round trip then it did to capture the Walleyes that we were seeking. We have set into a pretty repetitious daily routine now of very long leads of wire line and long Dipsey leads. Lots and lots of cranking for my guests but lots and lots of Walleyes as well. It’s an amazing world out there. There's no one little spot that anybody is working in particular right now but many miles of loosely scattered Walleyes for as far as the eye can see out there. Assuming you made that long, grueling ride that far offshore. But it is what we do. We follow the Walleyes. When they move out, we move out along with them. And then hope for fair seas to be able to get out to them and hope for somewhat reasonable fuel prices to make it all worth while. This past week or so we didn’t get too much of either. The only consolation was that the fishing out there when we managed to get out that far was good. I mean, really good. |
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| So this is it. The final few days of July. It seems like I’ve logged a million miles already this summer. And August will not be any easier for any of us. It never is. Our Walleyes usually don’t start moving back in until sometime later in September. For joy. More mileage to be racked up along with those incredible weekly checks that I will be writing to the marina for the petroleum that they will be selling me to be able to get out to this promised land. Just a endless, repetitious routine that we happen to be in right now and for the foreseeable future. Just like a truck driver. Just drive and drive. Drive right into August! See you guys down the road next week. Capt. Walt *We are entering this part of the season now where it is imperative that we get out very early in the morning. With the very clear water out there, we usually get a strong morning bite before the sun gets up too high and the action drops off significantly. WE DO NOT WANT TO MISS OUT ON THIS OPPORTUNITY ! Until further notice, we are now departing from the dock everyday at 5am sharp. Please if you have a trip scheduled, be here early and be ready to roll at such time ! Also, MAKE SURE YOU HAVE YOUR FISHING LICENSE ahead of time. There are no license sales at the marina. If you are getting just a 1 day license, make sure to get the 1 day “charter license” which only goes into effect if you actually get out and use it. Links on my website for online sales. Any questions, call me. |
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