Peter & his wife Justine joined me this morning on probably the worst day so far this year. We held at the dock for 15 minutes to let a system pass that showed on the radar to be clear afterwards. Well, even the radar didn’t seem to work this morning as I had to raise the top for the run when it began to pour, while idling out. The winds were out of the NE and blowing about ten knots and expected to increase terribly, later in the morning. All I could hope for was a small window where I could get them into fish! I headed back for sturgeon in hopes of another big one and anchored up. The wind was crossways against the current & twisting the boat around, so I had to right it with the aid of a drift sock. Of course the rain was still coming down so the cover remained up and made fishing a little more complicated. We were having a difficult time detecting some of the bites and smaller fish were nibbling the bait from the hooks. I had to check the lines often to ensure they were still were baited. Rain stopped cover down, rain got heavy cover up! This went on several times during the morning and was a pain in the butt, or so I thought. It wasn’t until the rain got heavy and the wind started gusting that I found out what a real pain in the butt actually was! By now with the cover up and the winds gusting 20 or more from the NE, it began to turn the boat sideways and even the sock didn’t help. The boat was bouncing so much that seeing any bites was practically impossible. Time to fish with rod in hand! I instructed them on what to do & how to detect the bite and we held on with the cover up, once again. The rains fell at times so hard that even the raindrops felt like little nibbles. I was almost getting ready to give up on any chance at getting them into a sturgeon when I felt a good bite on my rod. Seconds later I had the rod loaded and passed it off to Peter to fight. Justine had taken his rod and I slid under both, in order to reel one of them in. As soon as I started to reel, I felt another bite and locked up on a second fish. We officially had a double and they were both fighting monsters. I cleared the last line and dropped the cover in the rain to allow room for the battle. Neither one had realized just how strong these things actually were and struggled to bring them in. The battle went on for a while for both of them and I had to jockey their rods around when they kept crossing each other during the fight. Eventually Peter brought his up and I was able to get the net under the fish. Justine still had a ways to go & I was glad because I had work to do with his beast. Several pics were taken and the fish was released before Justine was able to have hers boat side. I netted hers as well and what had started out as misery was all of a sudden a celebration. A giant double header and both of them landed! I would have been happy just landing one of these dinosaurs but somehow we managed to get them both. I heaved the fish aboard and slipped it out of the net for her to hold. Although it wasn’t easy, she managed better than most men and I shot several pics before she slid it back in the water. Both fish swam away great to be fought another day! After all of this, I decided to go for some bass as Justine had never landed a smallmouth before. All they have back home are largemouth and I really wanted her to feel the power of the bronzeback! By now the winds were real ugly and the waves were getting even bigger so I headed to an area somewhat sheltered in order for them to cast. Peter had wanted to catch on top water and brought along some of his favourite lures to try. The conditions weren’t great but I thought he had a chance when I had a fish explode on a soft plastic while instructing Justine on how to fish it. She had a few takers and landed a couple on the bait and Peter also got his wish with a nice one on the surface lure. Justine missed a few on a blade bait when I switched her up in one of the areas too. These conditions really didn’t help as it was next to impossible to do anything with the wind direction we were faced with. As we only had a half day scheduled, we called the day around 12:30 right after she managed to land one more. This day was a roller coaster of everything from the weather & waves to the fishing and conditions we faced. I think under the circumstances, we fended quite well. They had both battled and landed giant sturgeon and a few smallies were caught afterwards. Justine had caught her very first smallie and now knows the difference in how these bass fight as well. I packed everything up for the run back as I wasn’t sure what to expect. We took a slight short cut to the ramp but still had to run in 3 footers all the way. Fortunately I was running directly into them and had great boat control in the Ranger. Smooth like butter, with a few lumps! Mother Nature didn’t win today, despite all her attempts to de rail us from our quest. For once, we kicked her butt!!

Darren & Dave were with me today on yet another scorcher! We got a later start than usual and headed out about 9:30 instead of the usual  7:00 Am start. I thought I’d see if the sturgeon had finally arrived and ran to where I usually see them. After idling around for a while, I finally stumbled upon a small concentration and decided to give it a try. I had brought everything I needed and moved above the area to drop the anchor. After three attempts, I finally managed to get it to hold and set the lines awaiting our first bite. After a few nibbling pests, we finally had a real taker and Dave landed a small sturgeon to start the day. A quick pick or two and right back it went. The next rod to get bit wasn’t so small. In fact, it took both of them tag teaming this beast to finally bring it to net, after a really long battle. Although Darren was first up, Dave was the one to finish the battle and I slid the giant net under the beast. I have brought many giants into the boat before but this one needed all three of us just to lift the net over the side. I won’t estimate just how much it weighed but only say that I had never seen anything this large before. Photos didn’t do it justice as both Darren & Dave tried to hold the thing for a few pics. The length & girth was just insane! To release this dinosaur they had to slide it over the side and along the rail just to get it back in the water. It took off immediately and I assume, right back to the depths below! We all needed a break after this and I just raised the roof so that we could have lunch comfortably. Eventually we wanted to get back in the water and I reset all the lines and awaited the next bite. Several hours later we had two smallies and 3 more small sturgeon to show for our efforts. Unfortunately the only large one came off in less than one minute after being hooked. Unanimously everyone agreed late in the afternoon to pull the plug and try for some bass & walleye. I re rigged the other rods and let them both drop shot in almost flat calm conditions. Without a drift going, it would be difficult. Dave managed to hook into a really good walleye almost immediately and at least I knew it could be done. Each drift seemed different as light gusts of wind from all kinds of directions changed the angle constantly. I had a hard time reading it and kept missing all my waypoints because of it. Whenever we were lucky enough to pass over the right areas, someone hooked up. Darren managed to nail a nice smallie that would have been welcomed in any tournament angler’s livewell! Several other small walleye and jumbo perch later, we finally called it quits. It was almost 7:00 and we had been on the water for just about 10 hours. The heat was pretty much unbearable without the aid of the roof but the last couple of hours saw it down due to the style of fishing we were doing. We were all fried! It turned out to be a great day with the arrival of the sturgeon and they ended it with both bass & walleye. I know the next couple of days will be bringing pretty foul weather but I will be back out none the less. Hopefully the sturgeon will cooperate once again as my clients are looking for something big and I know just where to find them. Hopefully Mother Nature will cooperate too!

Well, another postponement had me open again, so Keith & his daughter Lindsay joined me for a day on the lake. Lindsay brought along her two children, Avery & Annabelle for a great day of fishing & fun! I knew it was going to be a hot one so I informed them to bring some swim suits as I had a great place for them to cool off. We met up around 7:00 and headed out in almost flat calm conditions, with just a slight breeze out of the south. Perfect day for the kids! It had been a couple of years since Avery or Annabelle fished with me and I wanted to get them into some action. We dropped the lines in the water and began with a troll, searching for some walleye for them to take back for dinner tonight. The first reel to fire was a smallie and Annabelle was up. It fought like all smallies do and she muscled it back to the boat with a couple of other lines attached. A few pics were shot and the release had us right back in the game! Another smallie began jumping behind the boat and I knew it was attached to one of the lines. Avery was up next and struggled to bring this one to net. With a little help from me, he managed to reel it in for some pics of his own. His sister gave him a hand holding the boga as it weighed more than he could handle! Big fish, little guy! Lindsay took the next fish and fortunately it was a walleye and a legal one at that. She had managed to catch the first fish in a series of fish that they would be having for dinner tonight. I was having a hard time locating an area that the fish were active and covered plenty of water searching for them. With the lake completely flat, it didn’t help either! Dog pecker knats were upon us and it was becoming a real scorcher! We had one more reel fire a little later and despite the fact that it was a walleye, it was way over the slot and had to be released. Annabelle posed for another pic and back it went unharmed. It was at this time that I decided to move away from this area and change up completely. I was going deep and we would switch to a drop shot. I set up a bunch of rods and changed locations. The heat was really upon us now so I raised the top hoping to get some reprieve from the sun. Once I hit the deeper water, The kids wanted to swim so out they went. They cooled off in the lake for about 30 minutes before returning to the boat to resume our fishing. I got everyone set up and instructed them on how to fish this presentation and let them lose. Although I was marking fish, they just didn’t seem to be cooperating. Lindsay did manage to get a taker though and she brought to net another dinner walleye. While we were fishing this way, the wind started to pick up and each drift was different than the previous one. Not only was the speed changing but the direction was as well. It got so bad that I had to take the cover down when we couldn’t control the drifts. The top was acting like a kite and moving us along way too fast! With the cover down and wind up, we had a flurry of activity that had everyone hooking up. They managed to put a limit of walleye in the livewell and things were looking up. This brief feeding period only lasted about 45 minutes but we took advantage of it and boated a bunch of fish. Many more drifts proved almost useless as not many fish were hooked afterwards. I offered a swim again and this time everyone agreed! I ran to a mid lake sand bar and got on the electric motor so they could stand up. It was about 2.5 feet at best and a great place to get cooled. Keith joined the kids in the water for a swim and the three of them stayed in the water for quite a while. As I knew there were smallies close by, I decided to slide away a bit and make a few casts with a jig. One took and threw the hooks on a jump but showed me where the others were too. Several casts later I hooked up again and this fish had weight. I knew what had happened and showed the kids what a big fish looked like. Annabelle was still in the water with Keith and wasn’t impressed with this shark like image swimming near her. Lindsay was fighting the sturgeon as I grabbed the tail and lifted it into the boat. It was this fish’s lucky day because I removed a big lamprey from its gill area. A couple of pics from Lindsay and I released the fish, free of the parasite. Shortly afterwards, they returned to the boat and we decided to call it a day. They had a few things to do this afternoon and it was a real scorcher on the water. Everyone had a blast today catching fish and playing in a huge open water park again. I was happy to get them out for another day of F & F. Sort of like R & R but better!

A cancellation, or postponement opened up today for my niece to take advantage of. Lisa brought along my two great nieces as well, Emma & Niyah for a great outing. We hooked up just after 7:30 and headed out on a perfect day. Light winds out of the east put just a little chop on the lake and I motored to a walleye zone to try and lock them up. Several passes through the key areas fired the reels 4 times and we managed a 50% hookup. Two nice walleye were landed and released in the short time we fished there. Once the sun got on the water a little better, I decided to head somewhere else so that they could cast for bass. Smallmouth were all over the area as I instructed them on how to cast and work the baits. It didn’t take long before Emma had one blow up on hers and unfortunately it got off before she could get to fight it. Not long after Niyah also had one chase her bait to the boat but it too didn’t get pinned. Lisa did however manage to hook into one and hers came to the net. I decided to put a few in the livewell for some pics later and started with hers. Shortly after, Emma hooked into one and this thing gave her quite a tussle. We managed to bring it to net eventually and it too went into the aquarium for a later photo shoot. All we had left was Niyah and it did finally happen. Hers just exploded on the bait and ripped drag out of the reel, setting the hook for her. I slid the net under the fish and it joined the others in the well. Talk of a swim was going around the boat so I took them in shallow to take a dip. I brought the boat in so shallow that even Emma was able to stand and swim. They played for over an hour before taking a lunch break in the boat and re charging. I even put the bimini top up so that we could eat in comfort. After lunch however, they immediately went back to swimming. Even Lisa got in the water and I shot a bunch of pics and a video. I took Niyah out to slightly deeper water after, as she wanted to swim more as they played in the lake. Between jumping off the boat and swimming, there was very little fishing time after the lunch break. We did manage to get in a few casts eventually and Lisa landed another nice one. A couple more fish were also caught and three or four others lost or missed on the hook set. Somewhere around 2:30 we decided to call the day and head back, but not before many more jumps off the boat into the lake! All three took advantage of this large pool and ended the day with one last dip in the lake. I’m not sure which they enjoyed more, but my money was riding on the swimming part. What was supposed to be a fishing day turned into a great day at the water park with a side of fishing. Either way, it was nice to see the kids again and show them a great day, by spending time with them on the water!

Pablo was with me this morning with Pablo Sr. & Nikita, for a little learning on a few techniques. . When I launched, there was a boat tied up to the dock waiting for others to arrive. What I found unusual was that there was only one person and two five gallon buckets with tackle also on the dock. These guys would turn out to be a group of four or five and apparently the buckets were full of minnows. I wish I had of known that earlier as I would have dumped them into the lake before they headed out! Illegal use of bait in the summer is something these people do regularly along with breaking every other rule as well. Over harvesting of fish, out of season fishing and anything else they can think of! To make matters worse, they decided to come over to where I was fishing in the middle of the lake and try to fish. I encounter this frequently and had just about enough. I blasted them while we were trolling and fortunately for them, they went away without saying a word. I usually get a “So Solly, So Solly” out of them but this time they just kept their mouths shut and went away. These guys and everyone else just like them harvest absolutely everything they catch regardless of limits and seasons and I wasn’t about to stand for them where I was fishing. In case you haven’t figured out just who I might be talking about, it’s the “Asians”! I could go on & on about them, but I won’t. With the boat leaving, I was able to resume the troll and get back to the task at hand. I moved all over the place trying to get the first bite and struggling to keep the rods clean from floaters. Eventually I managed to find a taker and the reel fired hard. Pablo was into the first fish of the day and it was a good one. They couldn’t believe how, where or what it was caught on and were learning already! A few quick pics and a release and we were back in the game. I now had something to go on and started to pattern the eyes afterwards. For the next two or three hours I was on them good and many more overs came to net. The largest was to be a 26 incher and a solid 5.5 to 6 pounds. We even had a great doubleheader  with both fish in the 5 pound range! Out of all the fish landed and there were plenty, only 1 was a keeper. The others didn’t even need to be measured as they were all huge. It was really hard to leave the area but we needed to take a bathroom break and I went back to where we launched so Nikita could use the facilities. Afterwards we headed to a distant area in search of some smallies. With the winds seemingly from the NW, I thought we would be somewhat sheltered, but I was wrong. It seemed like where we were it was blowing straight west and making things difficult. Despite all of this, they still managed to land a handful of bass before we relocated due to oncoming weather. There were storm cells everywhere & with a quick glance at the radar, I was able to move to an area where we didn’t get hit. I eventually went to a spot after and tried drop shotting but the waves were three to four footers, making it even more difficult. Somehow we managed to get it done and after the storm passed, we were able to make several successful drifts under slightly lighter winds and waves. Pablo junior really had the touch as he managed to land four walleye while the others struggled to get bit. He missed many more as well before we had to call it a day. With everything that we had thrown at us today, the fishing was much better than expected. High numbers of big walleye were landed before the weather changed and a deeper pattern produced when the system passed. I think these guys definitely leaned something about changing patterns in order to monopolize on catching more fish. Hopefully it will help them in future trips to other places they fish!!