Warren & I fished Lake St-Francis today and got into the fish quickly in our first location. The weatherman had called for light & variable winds with an increase by afternoon of 10 to 20 knots from the west. Guess what, they were wrong again!! The day began with the winds already 10 to 15 from the east causing a nice rolling 2-foot wave against the current direction. The cool morning air in the mid 60’s had us both putting more clothes on while on the water and once again, the water temps were near the 67-degree mark. We tucked in out of the wind and found ourselves hitting largemouth on senko’s all over the area. About 15 bass were caught in the first hour or so with a few of them around 4 pounds or better. Eventually, we were forced to try the open water for smallmouth and found the winds to be a real pain. It was hard to set up on certain areas and get a proper presentation when the winds were stronger than the current and moving us in the wrong direction. Every rock-pile we stopped to fish had huge smallmouth following our baits, but only a few were actually aggressive enough to attack. After enduring the horrible 2 to 3 footers and splashing, we decided to give up and try more shallow water in pursuit of the largemouth again. Although it was still windy in the bay, the waves weren’t a problem and fish were caught. Most of the bass were a little on the smaller side but there were a few that went between 3 & 4 pounds. We tried a couple more areas before calling it quits and finally found some smallies that were willing to cooperate. In one particular area, we saw probably 8 or 10 good-sized smallmouth and many of them actually were on the end of our lines. Nothing huge, but 3 to 4 pounds were the average and some of the others swimming were closer to 5 pounds. These fish were really strong however and even the smaller ones were acting like 4 pounders. Most of the fish today were caught on plastic baits like senko’s and flukes with slow being the ticket for presentation. All in all a good day with over 30 bass caught and plenty of others either seen or missed!!

Max & I hit the water today on St-Louis in pursuit of some smallmouth action. Flat calm water made the long run to our first spot a smooth experience. With overcast skies and storms in the distance, we weren’t too sure of our decision, but thought we would give it a try anyway. The air temps were in the 70’s with high humidity and the best water temp we had was 67 degrees. It didn’t take long before we were both into fish and we knew the decision was right. Tubes, soft plastic jerk-baits, senko’s and tiny crankbaits accounted for the action in this first area. Shallow rocky areas in current with adjacent, deep water holes held these fish and casting to them was a simple task. We had some thunder rumbling around in the distance that was coming towards us and I thought I would get closer to a sheltered shoreline nearby before it was too late. The rain came in and was heavy at times but never really transpired into the thunderstorms that I thought it might. In the afternoon, the clouds broke up and we were finally into sunshine. The fish were not really cooperating after this system passed and were short striking our jerk-baits in the shallows. What was hitting though, were the northerns and Max had no problems hooking into them. Several smaller bass were caught, but only a few fish in the 4- pound plus range were caught so we tried another area before calling it a day. A few more small walleye were caught in this area on tubes and thrown into the livewell for max to have for dinner, but the bass didn’t show for us there either. All in all, a pretty good day considering what we had to deal with in weather. There were probably close to 20 bass caught with many more missed strikes.

Andre, Jim & his daughter Corrine joined me today on St-Francis for a day of bass fishing. Within the first 5 minutes, Corrine had a nice 4-pound smallie on the end of her rod and soon in the net. Several more big fish were seen but catching them was a different story. This was to be the day of sight seeing huge smallmouth bass. The air temps were 70’s for most of the day with a wind from the N/W at 10 to 20 knots. Water temps were about 67 degrees at best with the exception of the shallower largemouth areas that were a couple of degrees warmer. We continued to fish plenty of areas throughout the day that were boulder strewn and in each and every spot, there were many smallies from 4 pounds to almost 6 pounds seen. Unfortunately, not too many were caught though as we threw senko’s, jigs, crankbaits and soft plastic jerkbaits to try and entice them. Jim managed to lock up on a nice 4 pounder with the crankbait and an even bigger one followed this fish right to the boat before dashing off. After getting frustrated enough seeing all these huge bass, we thought we would try for some shallower largemouth and made a move into the weeds. There were a lot of strikes on plastics and some of these fish were actually landed. Unfortunately they were all on the smaller size and nothing to talk about. One last stop before we were to call it and a few more small fish caught, but again they were small. Plenty of fish were seen today and a number of them were caught, but with the exception of a handful, most were rather small in size. Tough bite for the big ones!!

We were back on the water again today for the 2nd outing with the same gang, less one. Mike somehow didn’t manage to make it but Rick, Dan, & Dave arrived on time and ready to go. This day was similar to yesterday’s wind, but not quite as bad, making the fishing a little easier in certain areas. It was still blowing from the NW but only at 15 to 20 knots today! Water temps dropped overnight to just barely over 62 degrees slowing the smallies down just a bit. Air temps started in the 50’s and almost made it to 70 by the time we left the lake at 3:00. Senko’s were the only baits that caught any fish today and it wasn’t for lack of trying. We threw everything at them, but only had follows with the other baits with the exception of one bass around 4 pounds that ate a tube. The entire morning was rather slow until we switched over to largemouth and began catching them on weedlines. In a few short hours, we managed to bring the numbers up to around 25 or so bass with 75 percent being the largies. The biggest fish today would have been the smallies, but there was a couple of good largemouth up to 3.5 pounds taken on the weedline with senko’s. All in all a tougher day than yesterday for fish, but a more enjoyable one with less wind and sunshine!!

I was scheduled to fish St-Louis today with Mike, Dave, Rick & Dan, but due to the hurricane like winds, we were forced to reconsider and hit St-Francis. With the bass season still not open until tomorrow, we had to fish for pike, on the Ontario side of the lake. We did manage to get to a few areas in Quebec and caught both largemouth & smallouth up to 4.5 pounds. There were plenty of pike caught in Ontario with the largest going almost 10 pounds. Winds were the biggest problem today blowing out of the NW at 20 to 30 knots with even stronger gusts at times. This made boat control really difficult with five people on board and there were a few ugly tangles at times. We had a rainy start to the day with maximum air temps reaching almost 70 degrees, but the wind was the biggest restricting problem we had to overcome. I don’t think we found water temps that were any higher than 66 degrees in the shallowest water and most of the areas we fished were closer to 65 degrees at best. The fish were in a spawn & post spawn mode in most places, but I did actually find a few fish still looking like pre spawn. Today, we caught both pike & bass on a variety of baits like tubes, crankbaits, spinnerbaits, senko’s and soft plastic jerkbaits. You might say they were hitting anything we threw at them! By days end we had landed probably 30 or 40 bass and over a dozen northerns. There were probably at least that many either lost or just missed as well due to the strong winds. All in all a great day despite what “Mother Nature” had dished out!!