Opening day for bass in Quebec and off to Lake St-Louis I went. I had the pleasure of fishing with Andre & his friend from Paris, Christian. Unfortunately the weather was not very nice as we had rain & heavy rain, all day. There was a small window in the afternoon for about an hour when it stopped and the fishing improved dramatically. The air temps never reached 60 degrees and he winds were from the N/NW at 15 to 20 MPH with stronger gusts at times. Basically, the weather was terrible! Even the water temps were below average at 65 degrees. Both smallmouth & largemouth were caught today using a variety of lure presentations. Shallower water slugs were used in the weeds to take the largemouth and a few were taken on a scum frog as well. The smallmouth were caught on spinnerbaits and tubes off rocky points and shoals. Amazingly, we endured all that Mother Nature had to offer, right down to the miserable windy, rainy ride back to the boat ramp in three-foot waves. What an opening day to remember!

Another day alone on Memphremagog and fortunately no one else had to endure this miserable rainy one. I stayed in the truck at the boat ramp waiting out the first heavy down pour for about a half hour before launching the boat in a clearing. Heavy mist stayed in the air for the most part of the day with occasional rain every half hour or so. By about 1:00 in the afternoon, the real heavy stuff came in and it was relentless. The air temps were in the low 70’s with high humidity and the water temps were once again in the low 70’s in most places. I began fishing the deeper water off open structures in about 15 to 20 feet of water hoping for a couple of bigger female smallmouth and about 5 minutes into the drift, hooked up. I thought I had a good one when I set the hook and knew it was a heavy fish! Unfortunately, it turned out to be a Chain Pickerel about 4 or 5 pounds. Not what I was looking for! I managed to catch about 3 more of the same size before I gave up on the deeper water and headed shallower. The 4 to 12 foot areas had better fish as I caught several in the 3 to 4 pound size by targeting other areas similar to these. Top-water was once again a great choice for numbers, but definitely smaller fish. Close to 75 bass were caught today using a variety of techniques!

I headed to Memphremagog today and fished alone for about 9 hours. The sky was a mix of light drizzle and clouds for most of the day, but eventually became sunny & hot by the afternoon. Water temps were in the low 70’s and the air was in the high 70’s with heavy humidity once again. The winds were light & variably and the water was a little stained. Top-water was great if you were looking to catch numbers of fish in the 1 to 2 pound range. Some of the better fish in the 3 to 4 pound size were caught using slower presentations like jigs. Lots of water covered today and about 100 bass caught up to 4 pounds. Overall a great day!

Once again, I fished with Joe today on a couple of lakes. We started out on Crystal Lake in Barton and caught lots of small bass. The water temps were around 75 degrees and we had overcast skies with heavy humidity. By 11:00 we decided to head to another lake instead of hanging in with the tiny smallmouth. We arrived on the second lake by about noon and began fishing in a slight 5 to 10 MPH W/SW wind and overcast skies once more. The water temps were slightly cooler than the first lake at 68 to 70 degrees and the air temps were in the 80’s. A light drizzle soon turned into a steady rain for about 30 minutes before having thunder in the distance. About 12 bass were caught in an hour or so averaging 4 pounds apiece before we had to leave the lake from the approaching storm. Lots of miles today, but slow fishing overall.

I fished with Joe today on a couple of trophy lakes for smallmouth bass. We had a phenomenal day for both numbers as well as size. The first lake had a water temp of about 70 degrees and the air temps were in the low 80’s by the time we were done. Sun and cloud with little to no wind allowed us to fish just about everywhere on the lake. Fin-s baits on jigs accounted for the 35 or so bass on the first lake and about the same on the second lake as well. Average size to the fish would have to be around four pounds. Some were over 5 but very few were under four. The water temps on the second lake were up to 75 degrees in the warmest areas. The same presentations were used on both lakes with the same success. What an excellent day!