I woke up Saturday morning for a lake Erie walleye charter. It was 4:30 am and noticed my flag was blowing sideways from the west. I headed downstairs to track weather and winds. The wind was coming from west at 17 mph with gusts to 20. Also, on my mind, was the huge mayfly hatch which can slow the bite down as well.
I called Carly and Mark (repeat customers) and relayed that the lake was rough with 2 to 4 footers already and building. I suggested that they may want to cancel & reschedule for another day. I thought I would be going back to bed but Mark said if at all possible they would like to give it a try because their friend was in from California just for the charter. I told him I had to hold off and stay on the side of safety but I would check back with him if anything changed. I headed down to the lake and it seemed fish-able for me but pretty choppy to take customers. However, it was going to be a beautiful sunny day with no storms in the forecast.
I called Mark back and recommended that we call it off due to the chop. Mark really wanted to give it a try knowing that if it wasn’t good we could turn around and come back. Okay, let’s give it a go! We got out and set up to go with the sizable waves. It was rough one but Noah’s Ark managed 15 keepers and 50 throwbacks in about 5 hours of fishing. It turned out to be a thrilling day and the crew was awesome setting lines. netting fish, freeing tangles and just having a blast! BETTER TO BE LUCKY THAN GOOD