Scheduling a Lake Erie walleye charter can be frustrating. No one knows that better then Mike who has been trying to get out since last spring. It looked like it was finally going to happen. I had him scheduled for Friday. Early in the week, I looked at the weather and waves. I said to myself, not again? I called him up last Monday and said, “Mike, it looks like the end of the week could get bad and I wanted to give you a head’s up. I have Wednesday open and it looks like the best day of the week. I am retired now I can schedule charters during the week.” He said, “Let me call you back I think that will work.” He had to check with his father and father-in-law. They both are in their 70s and look like they are who you would want by your side when your in the wrong place at the wrong time. Also, there was Mike’s son, 12 year old Nick who was on summer vacation from school.
It turned out that Wednesday was the day!! They showed up and we were under way at 7:30. It didn’t take long until the rods were bending over with a combination of monster sheepshead, huge white bass and lots and lots of walleye that filled the cooler. We had our share of under-size walleye that kept us busy the whole day. The majority of those little walleye are not quite the legal limit but will be in another month and will be 18 to 20 inches next spring. There are more walleye in Lake Erie today than ever before and the perch are starting to show up as well. Three generations of Mike’s family had a banner day and Mike’s dad sent me a photo you can see on my face-book page where he said he can’t wait until next time. I was at the Avon Lake festival yesterday, our earlier scheduled Friday, and hadn’t seen the lake that rough since Hurricane Sandy made it over to Ohio. If you live anywhere near Lake Erie you know that it was like a November gale out there with waves well over 8 feet and 30 plus mile per hour winds. Better to be lucky and blessed than good!