Tom & I hit the water this morning around 10:00 A.M. We were out to have a relaxing day of trolling in hopes of catching some pike & walleye. The sun was out & the air temps were already in the 70’s making this a real nice start to the day. I don’t think the lines were in the water for more than a minute when a reel went off & Tom was reeling in the first of many fish to come. From this point on, we were into constant action for a few hours landing pike up to 8 pounds. It eventually slowed down at one point & I began trolling new water in hopes of finding more active fish. This was lucky as the next fish proved to be a walleye just under 3 pounds. Unfortunately this was our last one & all we found after were pike & 1 largemouth bass. By 3:00P.M. We decided to call it quits and headed back to the boat ramp. In the few short hours out, we had caught 15 to 20 pike & a bonus walleye. This was truly a relaxing day out!

We began the day in a miserable heavy rain that soon gave way to lighter rain & eventually only cloud. Jeff & his wife Carole & their daughter & son, Alex & Chris were on the water for their first time fishing. Not having fished before, I knew I would have to keep it simple, so we began by dragging tubes in 15 feet of water for smallies. A few bass were caught & a few others lost, but the action was real slow. I figured that trolling for pike would be easier & headed for different areas nearby. This proved to be a better choice as rods were firing off almost instantly. Everyone had chances at pike, but Chris & his dad Jeff landed the largest ones. Most of these fish were 3 to 5 pounds but a few of them were in the 8 to 10 pound class too. At one point, Chris was on fire landing one fish after another. At least 20 to 25 pike were caught in only a few short hours when we finally got on them. All in all a good day for four people who never fished before!

Today was a real treat because I was donating my time on the water for a real good cause. The “Cops & Kids” organized in Ontario at the Raisin River in Lancaster, held its 4th annual day of fishing. We were to fish with a big brother or sisters, some cops & plenty of kids. My wife Christiane joined me to help out on the boat as we had Cody & Dylan as well ass their big brother Stewart on board. Everyone caught fish in the morning before we broke for lunch. A great B.B.Q. spread was waiting for us when we returned & some of the O.P.P. officers were doing the cooking. Once we were done eating, we headed back out for a few more hours of “Catching”. It was a beautiful sunny day with very little wind making this an absolutely picture perfect day. The kids really benefited today by receiving not only a great fishing day, but also a rod & reel and tackle box as well. By 3:30P.M. It was pretty much all over & everyone was on their way home. All in all it was a great success!

John & his son joined me today on a local lake for smallmouth. The weather turned out to be a little of everything. We had mist & rain, cloud & sun, wind & calm and finished with calm & really humid. Fish were caught just about everywhere we went, but no numbers. John even managed to get into a small muskie on a spinnerbait that came off at the boat when I tried to boga it for a pic. We caught fish in as little as 1 foot of water to as deep as 15 feet. Overall, a rather tough day, but some big fish taken under a mix of conditions.

Pierre & Mike fished with me on this wet & windy day. We tried some shallow water that had produced well on Sunday only to find out that the water temps had dropped 10 degrees & were now only 63 degrees. Other than a pike or two, all the bass were gone. By now, the rain had become a miserable mist with occasional heavy rain now & then. We decided to try another area, but this time for largemouth bass instead. This turned out to be a better choice as Mike began to land several fish in the 2 to 3 pound range, mostly on soft plastics. The fish here were very lethargic with the 65-degree temps & the baits had to be almost dead sticked to get bit. Pierre wasn’t as lucky missing more strikes than hooking up. After several hours of enduring strong winds & rain, we opted for another area hoping for better smallmouth fishing. Crankbaits & spinnerbaits proved to be the lures of choice as both Pierre & Mike hooked many bass in the next couple of hours. Most of these fish were over 4 pounds making it a perfect end to the day. I’m sure that by the time we were done, there must have been at least 15 of these bronze beauties caught & released. Overall, we made out quite well under these cold front conditions and actually caught close to 25 bass!