After a very successful outing last week, Norm decided that he needed another day on the water once again. We met up early and wasted no time heading out, in pursuit of more angry smallmouth bass. The weather was quite pleasant with sunshine, no wind and temps in the 50’s to start the day. It eventually warmed up to T Shirt weather, reaching almost 70 degrees by days end. The water temps were still around 60 degrees despite the relatively cool nights lately. To add to all of this, there wasn’t even a breeze around and that made fishing even more enjoyable. As usual, there was plenty of action in the first hour and I think that Norm landed close to 10 smallies by then. He caught bass on tubes as well as spinnerbaits and nearly had his arms torn off every time they crashed into the lures. The hits were quite violent on the spinnerbaits and they usually hooked themselves when they attacked. We were trying to better Norm’s personal best smallie of 4 pounds 7 ounces and thought today would be the day. As luck wouldn’t have it, we were unable to accomplish this and he had to settle for another of the exact same size, as the largest of the day. Unlike the last trip where he actually had the fish on, several times, today he never really got a crack at one. We did see a few in the area that would have surpassed the existing one, but they had no interest in eating. There were fish caught pretty much all day long with lots of 3 & 4 pound bass and a few that were in the 4.5 pound range too. I think that the majority of his total catch today was greater than 3 pounds! What he lacked in size, he made up for in numbers as he landed so many bass that we gave up counting. It was definitely a day that he will remember for quite a while. At least until his next outing!!

I was back on the water again today with Alain & Cindy hoping for another day of successful bass fishing. We hit the water around 9:00 A.M. and headed across in relatively warm temps of 48 degrees. The air felt a little chilly without any sun, but the lack of wind made it bearable. Water temps have remained pretty stable at 59.5 degrees and really haven’t fluctuated more than a degree or two in the last few outings. Alain drew the first bass as we drifted & cast jigs to unsuspecting smallies nearby. Cindy followed up almost immediately as well with another one around 2 pounds. They both continued to catch and occasionally lose others for almost 4 hours with the bass ranging from 1.5 to 4 pounds before we relocated to another area in hopes of something larger. Here they both caught a few fish that were definitely better quality and Alain landed one that would have been around 5 pounds or better. Cindy kept hooking fish, but somehow managed to lose more than she was landing before I switched her up to a slightly stiffer rod. From that point on, she rarely missed a strike! There were plenty of bass landed by all today, but without the aid of the wind to stir them up, we were only able to get into a handful of the real big ones. Regardless of all the medium sized fish, it was still a great day on the water!

Jim & Marie were in to fish with me for the weekend and we wasted no time hitting the water. The conditions were just beautiful for a fall day with bluebird skies, sunshine, light winds & a forecasted high to reach the upper 60’s. Water temps were 58.5 and rose to just over 60 degrees in the end. Jim drew first blood with a hook up within the first minute and Marie didn’t waste any time either as she was soon to follow. I knew this was going to be another excellent day for numbers of football like smallies! There was constant action just about the entire day with a few slow periods now & then, but we were always on fish. Some of the larger ones just didn’t seem to want to bite, as we could see several just cruising around, not interested. Both Jim & Marie managed to land plenty of fish throughout the day, keeping them locked up most of the while. Jim even managed to land a nice walleye of over 3 pounds that eventually became dinner. Overall, it was a great day with many multiple hook-ups and plenty of quality sized bass landed by all! The second morning saw a slightly cooler start to the day that also turned out to be a warm one as well. Air temps reached the upper 60’s with cloud & sun and absolutely no wind at all. This made a drift quite difficult as we ended up having to cast for the bass instead. Water temps were about the same with slightly cooler water in the morning & warmer water as the day progressed. Once again the bite was down on the bottom and we dragged tube jigs all day to capture the numbers of smallies that we did. Although there were only a few really quality sized fish today, there were large quantities of bass in the 2 to 3 pound range and that made for an exciting day filled with plenty of action. Marie even managed to take a couple of bass on a spinnerbait that aggressively hammered the lure when we found a small pod of fish feeding on the surface. Overall, Jim definitely had the hot hand today as he landed pretty close to 50 or so bass by himself. Marie may not have landed that many, but she definitely held her own with high numbers as well. These two days were quite exciting & filled with constant action and for the first time, not hurricane backed. It always seems that when they join me in the fall, there is a wind being generated by some hurricane down south that has us scrambling to find fishable water. Mother Nature finally provided them with a trip that they were able to enjoy from start to finish!

I hit the water this morning with Norm & Alison, to se if we couldn’t get into a few big smallies as Norm needed to beat his personal best. The weather was a cool 45 degrees at the start with a light S/W wind of less than 5 K. Sunshine greeted us pretty much all day long bringing the air temps into the 60’s by days end. The water temps started out at 58.5 degrees, but also warmed to just over 60 degrees before we were done. It didn’t take long before the action started and both Alison & Norm were hooking up on multiple bass in the 2 to 4 pound range. This went on for quite a while throughout the morning and then it just slowed down completely. I wasn’t sure why, but I didn’t like it! I changed up to several colours and they picked a fish here & there, but it just didn’t feel right. I had a feeling there was a higher power responsible for this and decided to relocate to another area not too far away. As luck would have it, this turned out to be the right decision. Almost immediately, Alison was into a bass on her first cast and Norm was soon to follow. There were a mixed bag of both smallmouth & largemouth bass in this area, but I was after the big smallies. Norm had a shot at 3 or more of these giants, but unfortunately they all came unpinned when they took to the air. I know that at least two of them were in the mid to upper 5 pound range as we had a great look at them during the short battle. Alison did manage to personal best hers though with a nice smallie in the upper 4-pound range and that was great to see. To all our amazement, Norm was left empty handed with about 6 chances and they all came off! We decided to run back to the other area for a little while before we called it a day and Norm hooked into a smallie within the first minute. It may not have been one of the giants he kept losing, but it was a decent fish of a couple of pounds. About the time the fish took to the air on it’s first jump, my suspicions were confirmed. There was an enormous surface explosion about 20 feet from the boat as a huge musky decided this was an easy meal and grabbed the bass crossways in its mouth. It actually looked more like a shark attack than anything else as we all stared in amazement. I’m not sure why, but the musky didn’t want to let the bass go and after a couple of minutes of battle, I was able to net the beast and bring it aboard. I quickly locked onto her with the boga to ensure everyone’s safety, fish included and to my surprise, the bass was gone and the jig was holding in the musky’s jaw. A couple of quick pics and a measurement and the 48-inch monster was released unharmed to feed another day. I told them that after this, everything else would be just downhill. We stayed for a brief period longer and soon after decided to leave for home. This was not only a productive day for bass, but an exciting one with the musky as well! It’s not too often that you get to experience this first hand and rarely do you ever end up landing the fish, especially on 10 pound line. I’m sure that all of us won’t forget this anytime soon!!

I had a full boat today as Sammy & his brother were joined by Tony & his uncle Leonardo from Belgium for some tremendous smallmouth bass action. Although we somehow managed to get a later start than I was use to, they still managed to catch a bunch of decent sized bass. The weather was a beautiful fall like day with cool air temps in the upper 50-degree range and light winds until late in the afternoon when they blew at 10 K from the west. Sunshine greeted us pretty much all day long and warmed the water to just over 60 degrees by days end as well. I really don’t remember who drew first blood with the fishing but I do know that everyone managed to catch plenty of bass to keep all happy. Sammy definitely had the hot hand as he landed the most of everyone, but not the largest. These honours were for Tony as he managed to get a smallie that was 21 inches and all of 5.5 pounds. Good thing too as he also sampled the water first hand while taking a nature break. It was like watching someone from the Polar Bear Club, but fully clothed. Thankfully, he was able to get out quickly and change before the cold set in. Love that Ranger ladder! There wasn’t really and dead periods during the day, just constant action that kept everyone on their game. Too bad there were so many fish missed or lost, as this would have been an even better day on the water. We decided to call it quits somewhere after 5:00 P.M. when the temperatures started to fall as the sun went low. Overall, it was a pretty good day with lots of action, right down to the Baptism!!