It seems like just yesterday when I stored the boat in preparation for a long, hard winter. Where did it go? With any luck, I will be back on the water soon enough to take advantage of the early Walleye bite. Insane days with high numbers of both walleye & sauger are short lived as the season closes abruptly by March end. Mother Nature has the upper hand here as she decides whether or not I get out in the boat. Although this winter hasn’t been the best for anyone wanting to ice fish, there are still alternatives. Open water trout & steelhead are abundant on both sides of the border and certain rivers are producing daily. Lake Ontario tributaries are easy to access for those wanting to do a little leg work and can be quite rewarding as well. This bizarre winter has kept me busy, but not in the way I had intended. Instead of mixing up the hard & soft water fishing, I have been focusing on the business at hand. Preparation of the 2012 season has had me concentrating on revamping my website. It has been long overdue! There will be several changes made to both the locations as well as the pics sections. With a variety of fish species now being targeted, it was time to advertise them all. Although bass will always be the favorite, multi species fishing has allowed me to extend the year even longer. From the novice to the experienced, there’s something for everyone to enjoy! Bookings have begun for walleye in March, trout & salmon in April/May as well as pike & walleye opening in May. When bass season opens mid June, I will be targeting all species and fishing right into December once again. Be sure to check back soon at http://www.advancedbassin.com for updates and any booking days you may require. It won’t be long before we’ll be wetting lines and hitting the open water for another great season. Enjoy a few pics from this winters fishing. Tight Lines Everyone!!

Just when I thought it was over for the year, Darren calls and wants to go back out! We hooked up at the boat ramp before 9:00 and readied for the chilly morning run. The forecast called for a high of just above freezing but it definitely wasn’t there yet! In fact, if it weren’t for the sunshine, the 28 degree temps would have been bone numbing. A lack of wind also made it feel a whole lot warmer as we raced to our first area to fish. It didn’t take long before we realized why we were here, as a chunky 3.5 pound smallie came aboard. I hadn’t been on the water since the previous week and was surprised to find the water temps about the same. A 44 degree surface water temperature had these fish somewhat active and we were about to take advantage. I was on a quest for big fish and decided that a run & gun approach was to be the game plan. We would try to hit as many areas as we could today and hold a little longer on the ones that produced quality bites. After Darren landed a few more 3 pounders, we were off to our next spot in pursuit of heaviness! Water temps were a little cooler here with 41.5 and I knew the active ones, wouldn’t be many. Although we managed to get a few, they weren’t the large ones I had hoped for and shortly after, we were on the move again. Similar results were had at the next couple of stops and we just kept searching for bigger & better. Once I found a little warmer water, we located some bigger fish. A four pounder was the first to get landed and one over 5 pounds soon followed. I thought we had hit the mother load but soon realized that we had caught the only two eaters in the area. It was a fine line today between running & gunning and fishing slow enough to take advantage of the biters from each area. Our sunshine had been blocked by a heavy cloud bank early in the morning and air temps were feeling much colder. Ice was gathering on the guides and constant cleaning was necessary. The high percentage plan was soon adjusted to a finesse approach and a major slow down. We returned to a couple of areas that had produced earlier and changed our presentations to increase hookups. This was obviously the right decision and many other fish were landed with this technique. Fish of all sizes were now falling victim and the action was picking up nicely. In one particular refined area, Darren must have landed close to 10 fish in as many casts! They were definitely here and we were going to milk it before relocating again. Eventually the bite slowed to a crawl and I was forced to shift in search of others nearby. We picked at them, but not to my satisfaction and another move was necessary. One final stop before calling it a day and we managed to get them pretty good, once again! I think there was a bunch of fish in this small area as we both landed and lost several more. I’m sure we could have stayed longer and picked at the bass until dark, but the cold air had us rethinking this option. We had managed to cheat Mother Nature into December and wanted to end on a high. It’s not too often that fishing this late occurs and we were both content to throw in the towel. Plenty of fish were caught, including a dinner walleye for Darren today and we were done. A long term look at our future weather tells me that this may not be the last time the boat gets wet. I think I will be back next week to fight again!!

Sam, Hassan & Dave were with me today, for one more kick at the can! They wanted to get out again before the weather put them into a hibernation mode, longing for the spring thaw. We hit the water at the crack of 9 and were fishing soon after! Winds were non existent and the air temps were actually quite warm at about 50 degrees. This would not last however as the forecast called for a drop in temp with an oncoming north wind a little later. Water temps were 41.5 to 43, depending on where we were and the fish were really lethargic. So much so that on the first drift through an excellent area, no one hooked a thing. I made a couple of blind casts on the second pass and landed about 8 pounds of bass, signifying that they were definitely here! If they were to catch anything today, they were going to have to slow down and really pay attention. The bites weren’t aggressive and some of them wouldn’t even feel like a bite at all today! In frustration, I decided to move from here and try casting other area in hopes of them having better luck at hookups. Dave was the newbie in the group and ironically, he was doing better than the other two. In fact, he managed to get the first decent bass over 4 pounds landed and followed it up with another soon after. Eventually, Sam & his brother joined in and they all had the skunk out! Just when everyone was really enjoying this warm fall day, the wind picked up and the temps began to fall. In only a short time, they had gone from no jackets to bundling up with hoods. Fortunately the fish hadn’t felt the sting and were still biting, somewhat! It was difficult at best for them to detect hits and I had to inform them to slow down more and really pay attention to their baits. I’m not really sure just how many fish they missed today but I think it was about 75% of their takes. These fish were going to have to commit suicide in order for them to hook up and I wasn’t going to let that happen. It seemed like every time I made an example cast, I got bit and landed a fish. I think it was after the fifth or sixth bass that they finally caught on and began to slow down to the speed they needed. In fact, several of the bass caught were from dead sticking the jigs on the bottom! It was from this point on that the fish started coming aboard and the numbers finally started to rise. Dave even hooked into something that had us all wondering, as line began peeling off the reel. I actually had to follow the fish as it was going everywhere! After several minutes of battling the unknown, we finally saw that it was a sturgeon. It may not have been a large one but it was his first and one heck of a battle. Once landed, we took a few pics and released this prehistoric animal back to the water unharmed. They all went back to fishing and as we slid along a deeper edge, they began to hook up regularly. I’m not sure if they had caught on or if the fish just became a little more active, but something was working! Several more nice bass and even a walleye were taken from here before we shifted to another area further away. Sam had managed to land one bass that may have topped the scales over five pounds along with many others slightly smaller. In fact, everyone had caught fish from this small loaded section before we moved. They were all feeling the chill in the air, but Sam was feeling it the most. Thankfully, he was catching bass and not thinking about the cold as much from this new area! All three of them had multiple chances at fish but only caught a small percent of their actual hits. Somewhere around 2:30 there was talk of pulling the plug, but they managed to hold out a little longer before throwing in the towel. The cold had set in and they were done! In less than 6 hours of fishing, they had all managed to catch their fair share and ended the season on a high. Although today had the potential of an incredible day numbers wise, monopolizing on all the takers wasn’t in their favor. Fortunately however, they did catch a bunch and that’s all that counts! Today would make the long cold winter ahead a little less miserable. Only four more months before open water and springtime fishing, I hope!!

Ross was back with me again this fall and this time he brought along Jim, from a southern state. Last year, he had landed a personal best smallie of 5.4 pounds on his birthday, what would today bring? We hit the water shortly after 8:00 and as usual, were into fish immediately! Although the weather was a crisp one, the sun was shining and this made it quite comfortable. Air temps began in the mid 30’s and barely climbed over 40 degrees by days end. The water temps were somewhere around 47 or 48 degrees and the fish were active. With a light wind from the north blowing less than 5 knots, I knew they were in for a treat today. Once the learning curve passed, both Ross & Jim began to understand the difference between rocks and fish. This significantly improved their hookups! It was like a bouncing ball as it seemed like as soon as one of them locked up, the other wasn’t far behind. There were plenty of doubles in the mix today bringing the numbers way up, quickly. Jim hadn’t caught many, if any smallies before being from down south and couldn’t believe just how strong they fought. Both Ross & I explained that this wasn’t their full potential and he should try them in the summer when the water temps were higher. Nevertheless, he was more than happy to tangle with some of the finest fighting, freshwater fish that swim! We moved only a few times throughout the day as every time we stopped, we fell on piles of active bass. Never leave fish to find fish! We had found fish and were going to catch every one that bit before we up and left these areas. The morning bite was good and once the sun got up warming the air, the afternoon bite was even better. Ross may not have broken last years personal best, but he definitely had a blast trying. We fished right until 3:30, all the while catching bass until the final drift. I really don’t know how many bass were landed today but the numbers were pretty high. These fish were really active all day long and it was great to see them eating everything we threw at them. I’m sure Jim will go back home having a new favorite freshwater fish after today. Another great day to be fishing!

After several productive days of fishing walleye alone, I was back out with Daren once again. We hit the water around 8:30 under overcast skies and a howling SW wind, gusting over 25 knots. I knew boat control would be the biggest challenge today but was confident enough to attempt it nonetheless. Upon arrival to our first area, I instructed Darren on technique and let him loose. I’ve always said that I’d rather be lucky than good and what happened next, was reason why! First cast, locked up and he was battling a huge fish. I wasn’t quite sure why he couldn’t bring it up from the bottom, but once I caught a glimpse, I understood. I had started him in a decent walleye zone hoping for a few dinner keepers and wouldn’t you know it, he’s hooked a trophy eye! I eventually netted the beast and thought she might go 10 pounds and placed her on the scale for confirmation. At 9.74 pounds, she was a beauty and Darrens personal best. Several pics later she was released back to the depths from where she came and I thought it might be all downhill from that moment on. We tried holding in this area for a bit but the winds didn’t make it easy to present the offerings. After a few bass and several missed hits, we relocated and I set up somewhere else. I repositioned the boat, utilizing the horrific winds in our favor and it was game on. We were now getting into some real quality bass and they were coming in almost as fast as we could get the lines wet. There were plenty of fish in the four and high four range coming aboard and we were on them big time! For several hours we fished almost comfortably despite the grueling winds and managed to catch plenty of bass in the process. I almost thought that the wind let up at one point and shifted over to try our hand at some more walleye. I was immediately brought back to reality when we made our first casts. It was still howling! A slight adjustment on the angle and we were fishing comfortably once again. Darren managed to get into several biters but they weren’t staying pinned until one finally made it to the net. A beautiful 18 inch walleye was soon swimming in the livewell for his dinner tonight. Several casts later he hooked another giant of a fish but only managed to keep it on briefly. It was very possibly one of similar size to the starter fish he landed on his first cast of the day. Hard head shakes and sheer heaviness left us both disappointed with the end results! We went back to fishing and tried to shake it off but the not knowing was the worst. Another walleye was landed soon after and a second fish of almost equal size joined his buddy in the tank. Several more misses and a couple of smallmouth later, we relocated once again. We were back into jumbo smallies from this new spot almost immediately. We decided to work over this new area, as I was sure there was plenty of bass sulking on the bottom, in the depths below. The remainder of the day saw us just picking at them, but when one was hooked, it was a good fish. Somewhere after 3:00 we pulled the plug and called it for the day. We had highs as well as lows but despite the roller coaster ride, today was just short of phenomenal. Weather of this caliber in November should be welcomed with open arms, as it won’t be long before the hard water fishing will be the only game in town. I don’t know how much longer I will be able to milk this season but I’ll be there to the bitter end, literally! Another great day full of big bass action and a few more surprises!!