Well Monday came and unfortunately it also came with the wrath of Mother Nature. She blew the lake up giant making for tough fishing, but Dan & I stuck it out until the end. We still managed to catch some nice ones, but the deep water smallmouth fishing was cut short when we just couldn’t continue to vertically fish in the open lake!

Today was a better day with Rick & his wife Penny as we trolled almost the entire time out. Plenty of big northerns were landed by both under the comfort of the roof. A light SW wind kept the bugs away for most part and the shade made it quite comfortable to fish. There was no need to do anything else, as pike were the primary choice of fish to catch. We did manage to get a couple of other species though, with bass & walleye coming aboard as well. Overall it was just a relaxing day of fishing!

Today was another double trip day with a morning family and an afternoon mother & son. The first half of the day saw plenty of action with pike & big walleye coming aboard by trolling. As they were hoping to take some fish home with them, I decided to relocate with a couple of hours remaining. It was here that they finally put a couple of keeper eyes in the livewell by drop shotting. Plenty of other unders were boated as well before their time was done!

Melissa & her son Levi joined me for the second part of the day and we decided to try for bass. I made a long run to an area that I was sure would produce. Within minutes of our arrival, a small one jumped off the hooks confirming that they were definitely here. For about an hour we scoured the shallow flat but were only fortunate enough to land a handful of decent sized smallies. There were plenty of others missed as well though, before we relocated again.

Our second area wasn’t much better with more lost fish here. I even saw all kinds of cruisers that just didn’t seem to want to eat! Eventually I just pulled the plug here and shifted gears completely! We were going trolling!

With the lack of wind and bright sunny skies, we were feeling the effects of the heat and the run felt great. I wasn’t sure where I was going to go but after all the boat traffic, I realized that trolling was definitely the right decision. The roof was going up!

I quickly got the lines in and soon after the first reel fired, Levi was into a keeper walleye. It was his first ever eye and worthy of a pic. The remainder of the time here provided them with plenty more action and another first. They both landed several more northerns and even had a quality double header!

Today was an interesting one to say the least. Both trips yielded nice fish with plenty of action on the troll. Although I wasn’t able to get to most of the places I wanted to fish, I still made it work.

With a full schedule again this coming week it will be nice to be out with fewer boats on the water. Nice weekends always bring out the worst and this Sunday was definitely bad! Fortunately I stayed away from the crowds and was able to fish effectively in all areas. Taking out at the ramp however was a complete $%#& show but eventually I got the job done. I can’t wait for Monday and the peace and quiet of the work week!

Jeff joined me this morning and it was looking like a great day on the water! I began by searching an area right at the start for sturgeon but was unsuccessful at locating any numbers. Not to waste any more time, I decided to head to open water for some smallies.

With overcast skies and occasional sunny spots, I made my way over to a shallow, rocky flat hoping for a few big bites. The wind wasn’t helping much as it was out of the east and messing up the current we were fishing. The fish ended up positioning themselves in different areas, but I eventually found them. Jeff hooked a smaller one casting a swim jig while I was fan casting open water with a more aggressive presentation. It was a tough early bite with the moon having just set and I soon realized that we were going to have to fish slower.

Jeff tried a bunch of things including a spybait, but most were unsuccessful. At one point I had him toss a topwater to an area that usually holds good ones and he did manage to hook into a couple. The first one crushed the bait but the second one had it in the top of his head. This showed me that they didn’t really want the lures and it was time to change to the soft plastics. At one point, we were just using the current to drift the baits with barely any movement. This gave us several more fish with the dead weight pickups. It was looking like it was going to be a slow down kind of day!

Our next spot was a little deeper and we were going to be casting drop shots for hopefully bass & walleye. Jeff nailed a bass almost immediately, but we never caught another fish. A few missed bites was all she wrote! Time for another change again!

The inactivity of everything was definitely visible as I barely saw any fish or bird movement. Usually the sturgeon are jumping everywhere but I could count on one hand the number of fish I saw breach. It was going to be a struggle for a while just to get a few bites!

I decided to try steep breaks and different lures to see if we could bring anything up. When this failed we moved up on the shallows again and began covering water. This too failed and Jeff began to slowly work a drop shot instead. To give you an idea of how inactive the fish were, after casting he answered a text without even moving his line. When he was done and started to reel, he felt weight and set on what turned out to be the best fish of the day. Thinking we might be on to something, I began making a few adjustments for the balance of the area we were fishing.

Unfortunately, our day was about to be cut short when he received a phone call and some bad news! Not to get into details, we packed everything up and headed back to take out. Unforeseen circumstances had us pulling off the water early.

The bite may have been slow this morning, but Jeff was enjoying catching bass on a new body of water. He generally fishes the upper St. Lawrence, closer to Lake Ontario and was quite familiar with river smallies. I’m sure that if it had of been anyone else in the boat today that the results would have been different. Too bad about the short day but it was the right thing to do!

Sylvie & Gilles treated their grandson, Olivier to a birthday fishing day on the water and boy did he have fun! We met up just before 11:30 for their afternoon of fishing. He wanted some pike so we headed to an area and trolled him up some good ones. I had also hoped for a walleye and we were rewarded by a really nice over as well. Things were going as planned but now he wanted to change spots and catch something else. Off we went for some smallies!

After a long run to an area, we fished it for the remainder of the day. Here he got to boat several smaller bass and a few pretty good sized sturgeon. It wasn’t fast & furious but the fish were around. We could see all kinds of bass just cruising but the lake was flat and the sky was bright. Add to that the lack of current and there was barely any movement at all. They just didn’t want to bite!

Despite the short half day, we were able to give the little guy a birthday present that he will remember for quite some time. He managed to catch 4 different species of fish and never lost interest. I think he could have gone the entire day and still had power to spare! All I know is that this was one of the best presents he could have received from anyone. You have to love grandparents as they get to spoil their grandchildren, anyway they can! I have a feeling that I just may see them again!

August 14^th 2019

Dave and his children enjoyed an interesting morning on the water today, catching a bunch of fish. They were also joined by their grandfather, making for a real family trip! Too bad Mother Nature didn’t want to cooperate though!

We headed out in a pretty good NE wind, ruling out any possible drop shotting. Wind against current doesn’t work when you’re four fishing! Although I did give trolling the area a shot, the amount of floating weeds made it almost impossible to keep the rods & lures clean. One bass in the first 30 seconds and nothing for the next 20 minutes had me making a drastic, long run. We were off to another area to try & catch some pike!

After a roller coaster of a ride, I finally set up and began covering the water in hopes of getting them some fish. It didn’t take long to see that this was the right move as several decent northerns were landed by all. Unfortunately it was cut short while untangling a little mess, when I shifted the small engine too quickly into neutral, to avoid a prop & line mishap. With the linkage popped out, I figured I would just fix it later when I was off the water. We were heading to cast for bass in another area quite far from this one now in hopes of catching some smallies!

The lake was still rolling and I had to take it slower than I would have liked, so as not beat everyone up in the process. Once we arrived, I gave a demonstration of what to do and realized I needed to start from scratch too! Little to no experience had them learning how to cast, but they caught on quickly. In no time they were hooking up and a good number of bass were landed. Zach was the last to set into a fish and it turned out to be the largest of the morning. He was casting like a champ and it was only a matter of time until he caught one. This was his reward for doing everything right and I soon netted his prize!

The morning had passed by quickly and I headed back to take out. Of course the wind had layed down considerably now and we were running in much calmer waters. Although it was still from the NE, it was definitely easier and a whole lot less bumpy!

Dave & his family enjoyed catching fish this morning but I think they really loved casting for the bass. I know Zach did because he was like a sponge, learning how to cast! Hopefully he will continue to pursue fishing and learn even more on his own, now that he understands the basics. Another good morning for fishing!