Matheo and his father Florent joined me today on another beautiful, fall outing. His dad was in from France and looking forward to fishing. Although temps were cool at the start, it warmed up nicely as the day went on. Little to no wind allowed us to anchor up for the sturgeon, but unfortunately, we were only rewarded with three smaller than usual fish. The bass bite afterwards wasn’t on fire either, but there were some really nice ones landed. A variety of baits were used to entice these fall footballs into eating. Too bad there weren’t more of them chewing instead of just looking at our offerings! I spent the last hour or so of the day trying to get a big bite, trolling for musky once again. Unfortunately, it didn’t happen, despite marking all kinds of bait and fish where we were. This is why I don’t focus entirely on these toothy critters! Regardless, it was still a great day on the water with plenty of fish and memories for them to enjoy. Hopefully many more days to come!!

After two previous cancellations, Baily and Lorenzo were finally with me today. The usual plan of attack was to start with sturgeon, move over to bass and them possibly troll for musky at the end of the day. We encountered a big fog on our way to the starting location and spent the last mile or so idling through the worst of it. The fog was so thick that I had to be careful not to run into anything or anyone! Thank God for GPS!

Eventually, we arrived and I wasted no time setting up the rods. Lorenzo reeled in the first sturgeon and although decent, it wasn’t what I was looking for. The second one however was substantially larger and he did battle with it for about 10 minutes. Plenty of pics were taken as this was definitely his personal best! Baily saw the size of this fish and didn’t want to fight anything this big. She lucked out with a smaller one a while later, when the fog finally lifted. We fished for a while longer without any more bites and thoughts of pulling the lines were on my mind. The sun was now shining and it seemed like the right time to make a move, as the bite had just died.

Smallmouth were now the target and after a quick demonstration on technique, they began to catch. Baily had the largest one from this area and it was big! They both managed to catch several good ones each and missed a bunch of other strikes too. We even had another encounter with a musky when it decided to make one of the bass his own. Baily was reeling in a bass when it just stopped and the line started going out. Tough luck for the fish as the line eventually broke and the musky just swam off with its dinner!

With a toothy predator lurking in the area we were fishing, the bite quickly died and we were forced to move to another area, nearby. Here I had them casting dropshot rigs and almost immediately landing fish. Several other bass were boated from this spot before we moved again. This last area saw some big ones once again and Lorenzo managed to get the second biggest bass of the day.

With time lapsing quickly on this beautiful sunny, windless day, I decided to make a long move and spend it trying for a musky. Unfortunately, it was not to happen today. Plenty of bait and a few good marks later, we were done! Regardless, today was a picture, perfect outing, despite the early morning fog. Numbers of good fish were landed along with one really nice sturgeon. Baily may have gotten this trip for her boyfriend’s birthday present, but they both enjoyed a great day on the water. The fish were just a bonus in their eyes, as they relaxed with another spectacular day on the water!!

Peter and Dave joined me for their annual fall outing and they had a blast. The weather was a little chilly at the start, but eventually warmed up in the end. Sturgeon was the first target and they managed to get into several nice fish before switching over to bass. Here they caught plenty of big ones on a variety of presentations. Our final quarry was to try for a musky but unfortunately. we couldn’t make it happen and ended the day with 2 out of 3 of our targeted species.

Today was another example of just how good the fall fishing can be. Both the sturgeon and bass cooperated, but the musky was a ghost to us. I’m sure that if we had more time that we might have been able to get the trifecta. Oh well, two out of three ain’t bad!!

Darren finally made it out today and we did it all! Although the winds were blowing 10 to 20 from the NE again, I decided to start with walleye, for a change. Once located, we managed to catch several good ones but it was a slow bite! The fish seemed reluctant to eat and we really had to finesse them into taking our baits. Eventually, we called it and headed somewhere to try for bass.

A long run was made to get to where I wanted to fish and this too was a challenge. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many inactive fish, trying to hit our baits. It didn’t seem to matter what we threw. I changed up many times and felt the hits or saw the boils, only to come up swinging at air. They were either hitting with closed mouths or just nipping at the lures! Eventually I found a bait that had them chomping but you really had to fish it slowly. We finally managed to get a bunch, before switching to another species as well.

Time wasn’t on our side with the day passing quickly, but I saved the last hour or so to try a musky troll. It had been a while since I had trolled, but I was confident that we could get bit! The last line had been in for less than a minute when the first reel started screaming. We were on! Darren grabbed the rod while I cleared the other line and it was game on! Not long after all the thrashing and jumping, I had her in the net. It was a beautiful, clean looking fish and a decent size too! A few quick pics later, it was released unharmed.

We resumed the troll and unfortunately never had another hit. That’s musky fishing, I guess! Darren had experienced the complete package today, saving the best for last. From walleye to bass to musky. What a day! The weather even cooperated in the end with beautiful blue skies and very little wind for a change. Who could ask for anything more!!

Leslie was back with me today and he brought a friend and his son. We met at 11:00 for a 4-hour trip and headed straight to try for sturgeon. Winds were out of the NE and blowing at 10 to 20 knots, causing a good roll on the water. Here we go again!

Upon arrival, I knew that this was going to be a challenge once again, as the boat was sideways. With the wind opposite the current direction, it had positioned us so that I had to place the rods all on one side to fish. Although not easy, I did mange to get one bite and the little guy landed his first ever sturgeon.

We had decided that we would only give sturgeon a short try and soon changed up to fish for smallmouth. Dropshotting was going to be the method and it didn’t take long before the action began. The first few fish were all big ones and the bite was good for a while. I covered plenty of water after the original area slowed and never really got into them again. On our last location, we hit another group and managed to finish the day with a bang. Lelie and Chev landed a handful more good ones, before we were done. Today may not have gone as planned but there were definitely some nice fish caught. Half days are always harder when you only have 4 hours to get it done. By splitting the time between two different species, we definitely reduced the number of fish caught. Overall, it was still a great day with absolutely beautiful weather in the end, when the wind stopped blowing. Great times were had by all!!