May 12th 2018

With the walleye opener yesterday, I was looking forward to getting out this morning with new clients. Marc had booked the day last December as a Christmas gift and remarkably he lucked out with the weather. We met up at 7:30 and shortly after, were on our way to the first spot looking for gold!

I set out 4 lines as Don & Darren had joined Marc giving me a chance at a full spread. Water temps weren’t great and the clarity was terrible, but I still expected to get bit. A deep to shallow troll was in order as I searched for our first bite! I trolled along and right on cue, our first one was a very short strike. With my speed so slow from the 51 degree water, it was almost inevitable! The next reel to fire was a deep diver and Darren boated the first eye of the day. It fell off in the net indicating just how lethargic they were! A chunky 20 incher soon entered the livewell after a few quick pics and the skunk was officially out!

We resumed our troll with confidence, now that we had proof they lived here! I covered water in search of warmer temps and marked many fish in the area. Unfortunately they seemed a little lock jawed and never really moved to eat. After about 10 minutes I decided to check the lines and to no surprise found a rider on one of the them. Don got to reel in an almost dead walleye of the same size that also fell off in the net. Aggressive, I think not!

We remained in this area for a couple of hours and picked up a few more pike before heading to another section of the lake. I did the same thing here with similar results and only pike to show for our efforts. Time for another move!

This next stop had the reels going almost immediately but pike and smallies were the only two species getting hooked. In fact most of the bass were jumping the hooks when they took to the air! As I didn’t want to keep hooking them, I decided to move out of the area completely and apparently away from all the fish as well. It wasn’t until I decided to relocate again that I realized there were walleye here! As I brought in the lines, one of the deep divers felt heavy and we had our third eye of the day! These fish were so lethargic that the reel never made a sound, even with an extremely light drag!

The next area close by produced nothing but bottom and I didn’t stay long. I wanted to find warmer water and headed closer to where I began. This wasn’t much better and the water color was definitely worse! Visibility was only inches with bright colored lures! We did manage to have a few more fish in the last hour or so and boated three walleye along with a few bass.

Today was definitely a challenge and we worked for each and every fish that hit! Despite the difficult fishing, there was still plenty of action throughout the day, making it a success. They managed to bring a limit of eyes home with them and reel in a decent amount of other fish.

With warmer temps ahead, the fishing will only get better and I will be out to take advantage of the bite. I plan on fishing every day with or without customers in the coming weeks! With several openings available, I hope to see some new faces along with a few regulars, as the fish start to feed. I know this week will definitely increase the water temps, triggering everything to eat. I can’t wait! Better days ahead!!

May 4th/6th 2018

Despite Mother Nature’s bad sense of humor, I was still able to salvage 2 of the 3 days this weekend! Friday’s pike opener saw a half day morning with Lusis & Dunets from Europe. Water temps were an average 44 to 45 degrees and really dirty. They managed to pick up a couple of fish in the few hours but the conditions weren’t the greatest! I was glad to get off by noon as the weather turned really bad!

Saturday was a complete cancellation as the hurricane winds during the night had us throwing in the towel before we ever began! I hope this start to the year isn’t an indication of what’s to come!

Sunday I took a road trip west and hooked up with a buddy for some great walleye action. The season opener had many others out as well but we didn’t see too many bent rods. We however landed many of these golden beauties and released almost all. A few smaller ones were harvested by Mark for one of his neighbors. On the water before 6 and off by 1 o’clock saw the 7 hours fly by! Although the water temps weren’t any better here, the deep fishing had us boating some real beauties!

Our walleye opener locally, begins this Friday and hopefully Mother Nature won’t be as cruel. We really need the daytime temps to warm up the water, getting these fish on the move. I will be out more after these two species are available for clients to catch.

Plenty of available dates in the coming weeks if anyone is interested. High number days will soon become the norm and I can’t wait! Tight Lines!!

I recently took a road trip with Christiane to fish for a different species. We spent a couple of days in New York State, looking for steelhead. It had become an annual thing, hooking up with Kevin Davis and floating the Oswego River in his drift boat. Many chances were had on both days under very difficult conditions. Low, clear water had the fish in a funky mood, but some of them did cooperate. We managed to land a good number of steelhead & rainbows on the first day and some nice browns and smaller steelhead & bows, day two. It seemed like all of the better steelhead managed to get quick releases, day two!

Regardless of how tough the fishing is, Kevin is always on top of his game. Having fished the river in all kinds of conditions, for many years, he understands their movements almost better than the fish.

If anyone is interested in wetting a line this winter for big trout, I suggest getting in touch with him for available dates. Catching steelhead & browns of this caliber in the winter, really has to be experienced. Check out his Website at catchthedrift.com and give him a call. You won’t be disappointed! Here’s a few pics of some of the fish landed and released to be caught again!

Darren is usually my last client of the season and he just may have been that one, again this year! We hooked up about 9:30 and were scheduled to fish until 2:00 for a half day outing. The walleye fishing had been excellent lately and I was sure today would be equally as good.

With similar baits on the lines, we both dropped in, hoping to up our chances of hookups. Right on cue, the first fish was pinned but unfortunately came off before it reached the boat. Definite weight on the rod indicated that it may have been a good fish! We kept at it and a little while later, Darren was tight to another. This one made it to the net and soon after into the livewell. It was a high end keeper and the skunk was officially out!

I moved around quite a bit for the first couple of hours, all the while picking at the fish. Many were landed but they weren’t eating that well as most were falling off in the net. Unlike a couple of days earlier when I almost had to perform surgery to remove the hooks! Despite the finicky hits, we still managed to hook up quite often. In fact, at one point in the afternoon we got into a good bunch and upped the numbers considerably!

With 2:00 rolling around quickly, I tried to focus on the areas that seemed to be producing rather than moving around. Some of the better fish of the day were caught by remaining in specific spots. In fact, the two best fish both came in the last 15 minute on one of these places. By the time it was all over, we were well into the double digits and managed to put a few more in the well for him to take home. Although most were overs, there weren’t any real giants unlike the previous trips.

It’s always more difficult with half days as I’m limited to what I can do. Moving around doesn’t occur as much with 4 hour days. Fortunately there were enough fish caught today to keep us interested! Although I’d like to get back out, the weather isn’t very promising. I’m still hoping for another trip this weekend before the boat goes into hibernation like a bear. Leaving the fish biting is tough but Mother Nature always has the final say. If temps remain negative for a few more days and nights, I won’t be able to launch and forced to wait for the hard water fishing. Either way, I will be wetting a line as much as I possibly can in the coming weeks. Hopefully out of my boat, in search of solid gold!

Today was undoubtedly one of the best late season outings for walleye, ever! Stephano just happened to luck into it, as he had booked several weeks back. In town on business, all the way from Italy, I had hoped for light winds and decent temps. Lately the weather has been the deciding factor in whether or not, I can even get out! Fortunately today, Mother Nature took a break and shut off the fans allowing me to actually fish comfortably.

We met up shortly after 8:00 and headed out to fish. I wasn’t sure what to expect as it had been almost two weeks since I had been on this water and many changes had occurred. The water temps at the launch were 37 degrees but I was sure the lake would be warmer. Turns out they weren’t much more but were at least 42 degrees where we were to fish.

After a quick explanation on how we were going to fish, the lines went in. Moments later, Stephano hooked up and was tight to a good walleye. He had caught them back home before, but not this size. We boated his catch and took several pics before the release. I don’t think he went 3 minutes, before he was locked up again! This one was also an eye and almost the same size. In less than 5 minutes he had already landed the two biggest walleye of his life. I knew we were in for a great day!

I had decided to fish as well and ran a second rod, hoping to bring up the numbers. As luck would have it, that’s exactly what happened! It seemed like every few minutes, one of us got hit. I didn’t need to reel anything in so immediately the rod changed hands. The whole day went like this and Stephano put an unbelievable amount of fish in the boat, including some bass & pike. He had slammed without even trying! All that was missing was a giant of an eye and I really hoped he would be the one that caught it.

We fished for almost 7 hours and boated all kinds, with the majority of them overs. In fact it was very difficult to catch keepers! I was hoping to take a late fall limit home and it took almost the entire day to fill it. Fortunately we did though and I would be having fish for dinner tonight! Stephano on the other hand had a flight to catch and wouldn’t be able to enjoy his catch. He would have to settle for the memories and many pics of the fish he landed today.

We fished right up till 2:45 before heading back to the dock to take out. He had caught fish from the time we started all the way to the end of the day. We couldn’t even remember how many were landed and that’s not a bad thing! This morning he had said that he would be happy if he caught one or two fish. I don’t think he ever imagined having a day like this!

Flying back home to Italy tonight he will have plenty of time to reflect on the day he just had. He would also have loads of pics to look at as there were many shots taken of some of his better fish. With any luck the next time he comes to Montreal for business, I’ll be getting another call. Hopefully it will be in warmer weather and somewhat earlier in the season. This way we might be able to fish for some other species and possibly one of those dinosaurs. His original trip was scheduled for October but was pushed back to today by his company. After missing out on the sturgeon I don’t think he was too disappointed with today’s results. I know I wasn’t!