Well after a well deserved day off yesterday, I was back on the water once more with Ward today looking for bigger smallies for him to battle. We opted for another lake this morning and I think we made the right choice. As with most days out, Mother Nature dictates the outcome and today was no exception. We had the morning partly cloudy with occasional sunshine and oh yeah, “Dog Pecker Knats” all around! The afternoon was slightly different with one storm system after another. We were chased off the lake twice and called it a little early due to another thunder storm right near the end of our day. Heavy cold rains with lightning had me taking refuge much closer to the shore after a float tube death this past weekend in Ontario. Although we didn’t have as many hookups as Monday, the caliber was definitely much better. Ward’s first fish to come in the boat was pushing 5 pounds! His second one was slightly bigger and the rest were all in the same class too. The morning bite was slow but the rewards were worth the wait. All quality and not quantity! Reaction baits weren’t doing it for us but by fine tuning the presentations and slowing down we were able to pick big ones here & there. Without the aid of the wind it seemed like someone had just shut off the current and nothing was moving. I actually felt like I was anchored at times! Once the storms started the fish seemed to become smaller and we weren’t able to get into anything of decent size. Three pounders were about the best we could manage and there weren’t many. I ran to many a new area just hoping to find active feeders but never really keyed in on them with these systems. Somewhere around 4:30 we decided to call it a day as thunder lurked all around us and we were both getting that uncomfortable feeling once more. Ward will just have to make a return trip later in the season if he wants to get into high numbers of these quality footballs like he saw today. Something tells me the wheels are already in motion!!

Ward was joining me today all the way from Phoenix for some incredible smallmouth bass action. We dropped the boat in shortly after 7:00 A.M in terrible conditions. The skies were black & gray and pouring down on us as we headed out on the lake. Fortunately the winds were practically non existent at least and that was a real plus. Water temps still remained at just below 75 degrees as I set the lines and waited for a rip. Floating vegetation would be our biggest problem this morning as I was back to cleaning the rods on a frequent basis. We did this for about an hour or so with only a half dozen walleye and a couple of northerns to show for our efforts and decided to try casting for smallies. I guess it was the right decision, as they were there! Unfortunately the fish weren’t very aggressive and unwilling to hit reaction baits that he was throwing. They were however taking soft plastics slowly presented and it didn’t take long to make the adjustment. The first fish however was another walleye on a senko that fell off right next to the boat, before we began getting into the bass. Finally, game on! Dark skies had made it difficult to see exactly what we were throwing to but the bass were biting. Tubes and senko’s were the baits of choice and both were working as Ward was in his glory catching these powerful fish. He even landed a few more walleye and accidently tied into a huge sturgeon that had me following the dinosaur al over for about 10 minutes. I was surprised to finally grab it by the tail and actually bring it aboard for a couple of picks. It was a long, skinny one that probably weighed close to 25 pounds and back it went to the bottom afterwards. Plenty of decent bass up to almost 4 pounds were landed by Ward in this area before we relocated again to another fish infested section of the lake. Air temps were falling with a slight north wind starting and rain was imminent as we pressed on. It took a little longer here for me to locate the schooling fish but once I did, it was another fiesta. We picked at them for quite a while as the winds blew and boat positioning was insane. I was angling in the current flows and all twisted just to keep the boat in position. It was working though and that was all that mattered as Ward kept getting into fish of all sizes. He did manage to get a few good ones that topped that scales at almost 4 pounds again and they fought like the champs they were. I thought I would try for isolated bass in other areas and jumped around to different spots looking for that real trophy. It wasn’t to happen and he had to settle with more bass in the 2.5 to 4 pound range for the remainder of the day. Oh yeah, he even locked up with another sturgeon that we were both glad the hooks came out of. Neither of us wanted to chase the beast around again! By 5 o’clock we had enough as the sun had been beaming for over an hour and it was starting to get hot again. This day was a real treat for Ward as he usually fishes for largemouth bass and smallies are so much more fun to battle. He’s in town for the remainder of this week and plans are already in motion for another day by mid week. Hopefully he can organize his schedule and enjoy another phenomenal day battling those brown bass once again. My fingers are crossed!!

I was back on a local lake once more today with Jeff & his son Dave from Calgary for another mixed bag kind of day. The winds were going to be our worst nemesis as we were faced with strong ones from the west gusting to over 25 knots at times. Waves were 2 to 3 footers with an occasional rogue thrown in for fun. Water temps were hovering around 74 degrees where we were fishing and the air temps were in the 80’s with bluebird skies & sunshine all day long. We began with soft plastics and spinnerbaits trying to entice both the active and lethargic bass at the same time. Dave managed to get into a largemouth bass of a little over 2 pounds almost immediately on a spinnerbait. This was rather strange as it was a smallie holding area and I had never seen a largie on it before. We saw several huge smallies roaming all around without showing any interest in what we were throwing and decided to relocate. Jeff hooked up on a 3 pounder while working a senko and I really thought we were going to get them good when I saw others all around. Too bad, as that was to be it for this location. We relocated once again and it was here that Jeff hooked into a real giant of a smallmouth. Unfortunately after the third jump, she threw the jig and went the other way. Many fish in the same size class were swimming in the area and I held us there just trying to get something going. There was only a couple more bass landed with several other hits before we changed it up again. This time we were going to try trolling for pike & walleye and I set the lines in hopes of at least hitting a few. After close to an hour a rod finally fired and Dave was into what I thought was a good pike only to be amazed to see that it was actually a small Muskie. You just never know! Lots of floating vegetation and high rollers made this a little more difficult than I was hoping for and we opted for another change into shallower water for some largemouth bass instead. Although it was still real windy at least we didn’t have the waves to contend with. It wasn’t long before Dave was reeling in the first bass along a weed line and his dad soon followed up with one considerably smaller. There were definitely bass here and we were going to spend the rest of the afternoon just combing this section, looking for others. Our day was about to be brought to an abrupt end as thunder started rolling in the background and I knew lightening wasn’t far behind. Safety first when it comes to electrical storms! With the boat on the trailer and us ready to go, the skies let loose and heavy rains began to fall. Timing is definitely everything! Several more rumbles and a few bolts of lightening had us realizing just how right that move actually was. Overall it was a rather slow day on the water but they had caught fish and tried many different options doing so. The Muskie was the icing on the cake and despite its size, David’s first. Hopefully we’ll get back out sometime soon and they’ll see just how good this fishery can really be!!

Back out again today with Bryan & Kenny for another mixed bag kinda day. They were in for a bachelor party and thankfully I had them before their event! The weather started out decent in the morning with light winds and overcast conditions. We trolled up a bunch of walleye and several smallies before we were chased off the lake by threatening thunder showers. Along with this also came strong winds from the west gusting at over 40km. Waves had increased to 3 footers and some even higher as we headed back to the ramp to wait it out. Once it seemed safe enough we hit the lake again and tried trolling where we had previous success. This wasn’t going to happen though, as there were still 3 foot rollers and the water had muddied up too bad to get bit. There were also tons of floating weeds just making it even worse! Plan B had us relocating to another section where we found ourselves getting into more pike, walleye and smallies once again. When we had enough of this trolling we shifted to a section a little further away in hopes of casting up some more bass on lighter tackle. It was here that Kenny managed to take his personal best smallie at just over 4 pounds on a spinnerbait. Bryan was also catching a few of his own on soft plastics, but having a hard time feeling the pick up in this wind. We kept moving all the while hooking a few here & there and made one last attempt at another troll back where we began before calling it a day. We had endured most everything Mother Nature had to offer and succeeded overall. The afternoon had changed from clouds & flat to high sun and big rollers from the 25 knot winds out of the west. Talk about a mixed up day! Despite these little annoyances we had endured all we could handle and were satisfied with the results. I know that these guys will have a great weekend touring all the well known establishments in Montreal during the remainder of their bachelor party stay. Something tells me that the fishing was just the start of their fun!!

Norm & Jean accompanied me on a road trip to the big O for a couple of days of phenomenal salmon fishing this morning. We departed at midnight and hit the water by 5 o’clock with high expectations for some silver beasts, but never expected what was about to come. I had planned this trip around the weather and hoped that Mother Nature wouldn’t change the forecast. We were greeted with almost no wind and mid 70 degree temps upon arrival but it would soon climb into the 90 by days end. Water temps were 67.5 degrees when we set the lines and barely a ripple was seen. I believe the wire line was the first to go off and Jean was into his first salmon ever. It was a good starter fish and a beautiful king of nearly 20 pounds. A few quick picks and a release back to the lake it went. Norm was up next and he was soon into a really nice steelhead that topped the scales at over 12 pounds. We had the makings of a multi species day even here on Lake Ontario and I couldn’t wait to see what was next to come. Well it didn’t take too long before we were landing another salmon but this time it was a great Coho in the mid teens and a third species to boot. One more king and even a nice brown trout had us completing the grand slam and we were thrilled to have accomplished this on the big pond. The area we were in didn’t seem to be producing the numbers that I was use to seeing and the spiny sea fleas were a real problem. Most of the lines were gathering big amounts of fleas, so I decided to take out and relocate to another section of the lake. Let’s just say that this was one of my best moves in a long time! Although it took a little while to zone in on the fish, I finally found the right depth and it was “Game On”! We were having constant action now and the reels were going off like crazy. Down riggers were popping, wire lines were screaming and both Jean and Norm were complaining. It seemed that the fish were just tearing them up and they didn’t have much time to rest in between. My heart bled for them too! I know at least a dozen people that would have traded places with either one of them to be in as much pain. It was like watching a comedy routine when each of them were fighting fish as lines were pulled in order to free up at least one of the sides allowing the fight to be free of tangles. Kings, cohos and steelhead were coming aboard regularly and the numbers were climbing. At one point, Norm spent at least 10 minutes battling a high 20’s king on the wire only to be laughed at by Jean when it was in the net. Apparently he was spent and his arms were burning too! Before we could release the fish the other wire rod fired and it was Jean’s turn to be laughed at. Same thing, different person! Lots of laughs and plenty of fish provided us with excitement for the remainder of the day and when it was all said and done, there must have been 35 fish landed. Just insane fishing for the first of two days on the big “O” !!! Day two started out after only about 5 hours of sleep but who could blame us after the first day. We started in the same areas and were soon fighting fish once again. Kings, cohos and steelhead again were coming in and the battles were once more a laughing experience. It seemed that neither of them wanted to take the wire rods and hoped the riggers would pop when it was their turn. Too bad because the largest fish once again came from the dipsy rods and wire lines and the pain continued. Although it wasn’t as fast & furious as yesterday, it was still satisfying to pound on these silver bullets once again. I think we lost more fish today in a half day than we had lost in an entire day yesterday. For some reason they were biting off or just getting off the lines entirely. By the time we pulled the lines around 12:30 there were over 15 fish landed but at least that many lost too. In just a day and a half 50 silver beasts managed to find their way into the boat and all were released to fight another day. We hadn’t taken too many pics as we wanted to get the fish back as soon as possible without harm. The shots we did take however were definitely worth a thousand words! Both Norm & Jean can’t wait to get back and I think it’ll bee happening real soon. You gotta love the big water silvers!!!