Darren was back with me again today but this time he brought a guest. His son Ethan was to be at a day camp close by at 9, so we figured, why not get him a few fish before. Ethan was all for this and after reeling in 4 nice walleye, he wanted more. Looks like Darren might have to take him out more often now as he would rather have stayed on the lake with us. After we brought the little guy back in, we headed to an area close by and tried a little drop shotting. I was pretty sure it would be a tough bite as the wind was blowing NE at 10 knots or better and opposite the current flow. I was right, the surface water was moving us upstream and the baits were going the other direction. It wasn’t easy trying to keep a vertical presentation and once I got the speed correct with the kicker, we somehow started going sideways. Although Darren did have a couple of big fish hooked, the boat control was almost impossible and I pulled the plug in frustration. This area had been putting out plenty of quality bass and I wanted more, but it wasn’t going to happen today! We headed off to another area where we would be casting to shallower fish and began tossing jigs and spinnerbaits. There were a few smaller bass landed and then Darren locked up with a real dandy. This fish was big and pissed! After an incredible fight and some spectacular jumps, I slid the net under an almost 5 pound bruiser. To no surprise, it had buddies and now I really wanted more. Unfortunately the others scattered once we landed this one and were never to be seen again. We kept moving and managed to stumble into a small pod of walleye, catching 4 nice ones, as well as another smallie. Eventually we moved off and encountered a pod of smallmouth again and Darren was locked once more. The fish looked to be another big one and I concentrated on getting it in, despite all the followers that were with her. Once in the net we realized that it was almost as big as the previous one he landed and equally as impressive. I decided to toss a spinnerbait, to try & find the group once again and just about had the rod torn from my hands by a violent strike. As expected, this fish had the pod with it and Darren almost had another beauty that tried to eat his jig, twice. These fish are like ghosts on the flats. One minute you see them and the next, they’re gone! We too were gone as I had run out of the quality stuff holding these fish and decided to try another section of the lake. We would be drop shotting in deeper water and hopefully, a mixed bag would be caught. To our surprise, these fish were all on the smaller side, but really active. I don’t know how many we caught but the largest ones were just over 2 pounds. As the day was getting on, we saw that the clouds were starting to roll in pretty good and opted for a final location change. One more smallie spot and wouldn’t you know it, a walleye came in on a jig. As were nearing the end, Darren decided to keep this slot fish and hoped for one other to take home. After a few more smallies, I switched gears and set the lines for another quick troll nearby. One walleye coming up! Five minutes or so into the troll, I checked the lines and saw we had a hitch hiker. Darren reeled in the last fish of the day and the Walter joined his friend in the well. We were getting a light mist now and I knew the weather wasn’t going to get any better. We pulled the lines and headed back to the ramp, just in time for Darren to pick Ethan up from day camp. I think Ethan told everyone at camp that he had fished this morning as he was still excited. Looks like we may have another guest more often, or at least for a couple of hours before day camp starts!!

Michel & Christiane joined me today for a little walleye & bass action. After a couple of pit stops we were on the water fishing before 8 and fighting the floating weeds once again. Air temps were to reach the mid 80’s and the water temps were hovering around 76 in the areas we were trolling. It took a little longer than I had expected but once I found them, the rods went off regularly. We even had a double header and I hadn’t had one of them, in forever! In a matter of 45 minutes we were able to land about 10 walleye and most were in the slot. Christiane had top fish with a 24 incher that made for a great pic. I was really having to work for the bites now and decided to troll outside the area hoping for a few more rips on the reels. We did manage a couple, but they were smallies and not the targeted species. Time to move to an area & cast for them! Next stop was a deep edged weed line and hopefully a few more eyes. With not much flow to the water, I had to really work hard to get the bites we had. Only 4 more walleye were landed but they were all good ones! Three of them were in the 4 to 5 pound range and nice to see. This edge has the potential for some real giants! Too bad that was all we could manage and we moved on once more. Drop shotting deeper water was next and this too was proving quite difficult as well. Without any movement in the water, the fish were holding tight and we really had to be right on top of them in order to get bit. I decided to finish off the day on a bigger flat that had been putting out plenty of smallies lately in hopes of better results. Both Christiane & Michel had their shots at several but only landed a few. These fish weren’t hammering the baits, just lightly mouthing them and not all were getting hooked. Somewhere around 3:30 we called it a day. I had fish to clean and a dinner to prepare and needed some time in order to do it. We would be having blackened, Cajun walleye on the bar b tonight! Despite the overall slow day, they still caught a bunch of fish and had a great time on the water. Oh yeah, they’d be eating some of their catch too!!

Graham & Phil joined me this morning on one of the most difficult days of the season. Between the left over full moon effects, the heavy floating vegetation and the NW winds blowing 10 to 20 knots, I would have my work cut out for me today. We hit the lake shortly after 7 and I went straight to a troll. This was not the best choice however as I soon found out. I spent more time trying to dodge big patches of the floaters and cleaning lines. All we had to show for our efforts was one walleye and a drive by in 45 minutes of fishing. I slid in a little shallower, hoping to avoid some of the vegetation and managed to keep the lines wet for more than just a couple of minutes at a time. Although the fishing wasn’t much better, they did get to play with a few smallies and one big northern just under 10 pounds. Round two and off we went to another location, where we would hopefully jig up more eyes! Unfortunately, all we could come up with here was one fish, but she was a beauty. It fell on the high end of the slot and joined its buddy in the well. They had wanted to feed a party of five tonight and I would have to pick up the pace, if they were to succeed. I figured I would switch them up to drop shots and scour the depths of a steep drop next. It wasn’t great but Graham managed to get into a couple of bass and one of them was pushing 4 pounds. I think they only caught 3 or 4 fish in the time here and it was off once again! Along my route to the next location I decided to stop on a deep reef and check to see if anybody was home. It hadn’t been producing lately and I didn’t know why! First drop and Phil’s locked! They’re finally here! As it turned out however, this fish was a nice walleye around 18 inches and an addition to their menu for tonight. In about an hour or so of fishing this reef, they had plenty of action with a combination of smallies, walleye and one big northern pushing 10 pounds again. Phil even managed to catch another walleye and lost an even larger one right at the boat as well. Eventually it looked like we wore out our welcome here and I had to move again. I thought I would try shallower to see if we might be able to locate a school of feeding bass but with the dirtier than usual water in there, they only managed to get a few small ones to commit. Off we went once again and back to the deeper humps looking for more. It was definitely a slow bite as we covered plenty of nothing water and very little, holding biters. We shifted gears once again to another section of the lake and continued with the drop shot set up in deeper water. We remained here for the balance of the day and they got into the fish pretty good! Although plenty of bass were either missed or lost on the jumps, they landed more than their share as well. By moving around plenty, I was able to take advantage of the smaller groups of fish in specific areas. The drop shot was definitely the winner today and they both realized just how effective it can be. We literally had to present the rig right in their faces to get them to eat. Not much chasing today! Hopefully things are on the upswing now and I can go back to aggressively feeding fish at least part of each day!

Mark was here on business and hooked up with me today, for a day of firsts. We hit the water shortly after 7 for another scorcher of an outing. I was glad to see the wind blowing when we set the lines for a troll and hoped it would stay this way. I immediately covered the same section that had produced many fish the day before, but wasn’t as fortunate. We only landed one keeper walleye and a few smallies in about an hour, before I moved around in search of better fishing. A combination of floating weeds and diminishing winds wasn’t making things easy as I trolled what seemed like miles of water. Although the reels were firing periodically, they were all bass and I decided to pull the plug entirely. If we were going to target smallmouth, we were gonna fish them by casting! I hit the next area and Mark was locked up on a spinnerbait as soon as I found the sweet spot. He pulled 3 or 4 decent fish before I changed up baits and we started throwing soft plastics to the fish. Several more nice bass were fought in the hour or so we were there but we had lost our wind. This was making the fish skittish and I made another change in location. It was quite some time before I actually got back on more fish and they weren’t many! We were picking one here and one there but covering plenty of water while doing it. The full moon and now, flat calm water made things a little difficult and I knew we would have to fish deeper. Next stop was a casting area for walleye as Mark was looking to better his first fish of the day. They were on his bucket list along with northerns and he needed pics! We casted & dragged jigs in the deeper water and managed several walleye but they were all kinda small. When he did land a nice one worthy of a pick, we had another boat move right into where he had hooked up. I may be use to this type of behavior but it was new to Mark. This guy was just passing by when he saw the net and decided to put the breaks on and come on over. Gotta love the mentality of fellow fishermen like this! Needless to say, we weren’t able to get back to where I needed and I relocated to another area close by. I thought we’d try a little drop shotting on a deep edge and Mark once again was locked up quickly. Although I was searching for walleye, we were getting bass and that was fine too! We remained here for a while, catching a number of small fish with many of them juvenile walleye and then the wind began. I was happy to see a good breeze blowing 5 to 10 knots from the SW and decided to give the troll another try. I knew that he would be getting better walleye this way if the fish cooperated and was right. First fish was over 22 inches and surely worthy of a photo! We picked at them for a while landing a combination of Walters and smallies and then it slowed down considerably. I soon found out why when the next reel started to scream. It took so much line that it could only be one thing, a lunge! Confirmation was had moments later when it appeared on the surface. It was big and lightly hooked with the tiny hooks from the walleye crankbait. I tried to get a boga grip on her but failed when she shook the final hook point loose and swam off. Too bad as Mark would have loved proof of this gator! We regrouped and returned to the troll but with limited success. A few more drive byes and a couple of smallie hits and it was time to leave. We had put in about 10 hours in the scorching heat and were fried. Tomorrow would be another day! Mark was back and looking for revenge today as we hit the lake once again around 7. I thought a change up was in order this morning and we were going to start by drop shotting. The strong west winds were blowing 10 to 15 knots and made for perfect boat control over the reefs. As with every new technique, Mark caught on quickly. Yesterday he was casting this set up and today we were fishing vertically. It didn’t take long and he was tight to an angry smallie full of strength. Several others were also caught in the short hour or so we remained here and then I hit another sweet spot. Each time I drifted along the weed edge, fish ate. I decided to try casting to them but it didn’t have the same result. I went back to drifting and Mark was hooked up again. This time however, he had a pike attached to the 2 pound bass that had eaten his bait. The pike may have been closer to ten pounds but soon let go of the fish when he realized that it was pulling back. Poor little thing was torn up from the jaws of the northern but it was still alive and swam off quickly. Another encounter from jaws! We switched up to trolling this area when the winds diminished to a light breeze and hit a few smallies again. I figured I would try for walleye again somewhere else and didn’t stay long when we only managed more bass. Mark was looking to land a northern and I knew just the place. We set the lines for another troll and within minutes he had his first ever pike. It may have only been about 3 pounds but it was a pike! I thought when the next reel went off that he had a largemouth but to both out surprise, it was the largest crappie either of us had ever see. It was almost 15.5 inches in length and really looked like a pie plate. I’ve fished this lake for over 25 years and have never seen the likes of this before. We trolled around some more, catching a few other pike and then shifted to a walleye spot, looking for dinner. I told Mark that we needed a couple of keepers for an appetizer tonight and we immediately went into search mode. It didn’t take long and there were a couple of 17 inch fish swimming in the livewell. Although we didn’t catch many, we did have what we needed and that was good enough. We still had a few hours left in the day and both thought of trolling deeper areas for bigger eyes. Off we went and I set the lines in once again, hoping that the full moon wouldn’t have them completely shut down. Our biggest nemesis was to be the floating vegetation here as the boat traffic had the lake all chewed up. There were weeds everywhere and right where I needed to be. Constant checking of the lures was needed to get the few bites we had and after a couple of hours of this hate, we only had bass to show for our efforts. One more stop casting for smallies and a few bass later, we were heading back to the dock. These were two of the toughest days I’ve had in a while but despite all this, we still managed to make it work. Mark had completed task and landed the two species he was after. Along with them, he also had many other firsts as well. Overall, a pretty good end to his business trip here in Montreal. Oh yeah, the blackened Cajun walleye weren’t bad too!!

Neil was with me on the lake today, in hopes of a multi species kind of day. The weather looked like a winner with little to no wind and high heat & humidity once again. Water temps were to exceed 76 degrees with all the warm nights lately and I hoped the fish would bite. Our first attempt was a troll for some walleye to take home. After last year, Neil wanted more! His entire family dined on the tasty fillets and he hoped it would happen again. Ironically, the troll only produced big fish in the first hour or so and we were forced to relocate to another area and species. He had landed a few walleye but they were all over 22 inches along with a couple of nice smallmouth as well. The next location wasn’t much better as we were seeing all kinds of huge smallmouth just cruising. It didn’t seem to matter what we threw at them, they flat out refused! Not wanting to hang around and wait for their dinner bell to ring, I pulled the plug and switched to another area once again. We were trying to get some walleye for Neil and pulled into a casting section that just yesterday, had produced plenty. Today was a different story however as the lack of flow had them almost completely shut down. Although a few were landed, they were mostly under the slot size and returned to the lake. I moved to another spot and switched to a deep water drop shot only to have a couple of smallies eat our offerings instead. This called for drastic measures and we moved again! A longer run had us stopping on a flat for some action where we had smaller bass eating a variety of soft plastics. At least we had aggressive biters here and I thoroughly covered the entire flat. There were also a bunch of sturgeon in the area and one of them got hooked up. It’s almost every day that someone gets to tangle with these dinosaurs! I thought I’d try shallower to see if a few of the real bruisers might be feeding and was pleasantly surprised. Although not many of them actually ate, we did manage a couple that were some of the largest of the day. As with one of the other places previously fished however, most of them were just cruising around with a lack of interest. I still needed to find some walleye for Neil to bring home and decided to go back to the troll in hopes of better results. Wouldn’t you know it, fish on and it’s another over about 24 inches in length. I can’t catch a break! It’s usually not this difficult to get fish for the table and I was pretty sure the full moon had a hand in the bigger fish today. There were a few smallies hooked into as well during the troll and eventually we put a keeper in the well. It wasn’t the usual method of getting the fish however as I was pulling the lines in due to an electrical storm approaching. Oh well, at least we had one! I raced back to the boat ramp expecting to take out, but the system went north and bypassed us entirely. Once I realized that the danger was gone, we headed back out to try again. This proved to be a good decision as we managed several more walleye and 4 were in the slot. In the last 90 minutes of trolling, we landed about 8 or 10 fish and Neil would be taking some home tonight. Although a tough day by comparison, quite productive nonetheless! The fish didn’t come easy today but we managed to turn it around by slowing down presentations and fishing thoroughly. The full moon period each month is always a challenge and tends to produce big, not lots! Today was a perfect example of this and we were glad to have succeeded in the end!!