What a day from Hell today! Adam, Chris and Marc fished for sturgeon for the first couple of hours and unfortunately only landed a bunch of smaller ones. Despite marking several larger fish, we weren’t fortunate enough to get bit by them before the wind switched and got giant! It didn’t take long before we were in 3 footers and drifting backwards!

I pulled the plug on this area and checked a couple of other places in search of them instead. I marked a lot of fish but nothing that I wanted to set up on and decided to go for walleye instead. We were drifting open water flats in big waves but it was doable, at first! Several fish were missed or completely lost due to quick hook sets and low rods in the big waves. They should have had about 1 limit in the boat but were still at a big zero! I tossed in briefly and boated their first dinner fish! Unfortunately with each drift we made, the return back up was looking bigger and bigger. They continued to miss fish each drift but they did manage to boat a couple of bass and one walleye, eventually. I would have liked to stay on these fish but even with a drift sock out, our passes were way too fast. Along with this, the waves were ocean like and it was actually getting dangerous. It was definitely time to move!

I carefully surfed the 4 & 5 footers getting us closer to the shore and we spent the remainder of our day making multiple passes on ledges for smaller fish. It wasn’t any better here but at least we were somewhat closer to the shore! They continued to catch several more fish and unfortunately missed many more due to the conditions. It was so bad out that I had to run back for each drift, slowly ploughing the water, so as not to swamp the boat. I couldn’t go more than 10 miles per hour or everything would have taken a beating!

After making plenty of drifts and stretching it out, we unanimously agreed to call it a day! I think we had seen about enough of this roller coaster ride. Mother Nature has a strange way of protecting the waters we fish and this is about as extreme as it gets. She was cruel shortly after the start making my life more difficult than usual. All I know is when it started to blow, we were the only boat out there. I think I understand why! At least we were safe with the Ranger and managed to make it through the entire day. Less windy ones to come, I hope!

Serge & Pierre enjoyed a day filled with plenty of fish today. We began with sturgeon and they landed a load of them including some really good ones. After the last big fish, they decided that they wanted to catch some walleye for consumption and we relocated. Right on cue, the fish were there and cooperated, somewhat. A variety of techniques were used to land a load more but unfortunately most were overs and released. They did manage to get a limit though and that was a plus!

Today was a productive and effective fishing day with no shortage of action. They even caught a few bass and jumbo perch making this a slamming type of day! Great fishing day!

Rebecca and her father Eric joined me today hoping for some sturgeon. We spent the entire day anchored up and it paid off big time! Plenty of fish were landed including a few exotic ones. Thankfully there weren’t any eels today! Rebecca lucked out on her turn by landing the biggest sturgeon of the outing. I’m not sure how many were caught but it was many. Great day for sturgeon, finally!

Ramon & Isabel were in from Spain and experienced a great day of sturgeon fishing. They landed 8 good fish in a short period of time. What was supposed to be a full day turned out to be a half day outing when they called it after noon. They had a great time and wanted to grab lunch before heading back into the city. It was definitely a productive day for such a short one!

Scott & Chris were with me on this last day of the month. We were headed for sturgeon to start and hopefully the fish would cooperate. If not, I had a backup plan that included smallmouth bass!

Very little marks were seen as I idled over an area looking for the big girls. I finally saw a few and decided to stop and see if we could get a bite. It didn’t take long for the first one but it was a juvenile and Chris reeled it in. The second one acted like a big fish but didn’t have the weight. Scott fought it for a few minutes and it took a couple of long runs along with one spectacular jump beside the boat. I tailed it and gave it back to Scott to hold for a pic before the release.

We had waited a little longer and made a move before getting our next bite. This time when I set, it felt a bit heavier and Chris took the rod to do battle. Although it wasn’t a true giant, it was still a great fight with plenty of power. I also finally got to use the big net once it was beside the boat. First time this season! Chris held it for a few pics and released the male back to the water where it belonged.

We stayed a little longer hoping for another bite but it wasn’t to be. Eventually we just packed up and changed species entirely.

I had decided to try for smallies and ran to an area nearby. Both Scott & Chris managed to get into some bass here but Chris caught the largest ones with the soft plastics he was throwing. We even tried fishing deep but only saw a couple of fish from here and didn’t make a second pass. I wanted to check another area out where I had been catching shallower fish.

Once we arrived it didn’t take long for Scott to hook up. He nailed a couple of bass quickly and then it just died. A switch of baits and presentations had a few more falling victim to the offering but it was slower than I had expected. I moved slowly through the area and both guys managed to get several more quality bass before we were through.

Today may not have been the greatest day of fishing, but the quality of the bites was there. They managed to catch 3 sturgeon in only a few hours and plenty of big smallies afterwards. Hopefully the fall temps will have these fish moving in shallower in the coming weeks. October is about to begin and this is definitely a big fish month! Bring it on!