September 11th 2017

Jeff, Nick and his father Denis were with me for sturgeon today. We headed out at 7:00 and set up in an area hoping for a few bites. Although I was marking plenty of fish, they just didn’t seem very hungry and in the first several hours, all we had to show for our efforts was a lousy rock bass!

Late in the morning, things started to turn around and they finally started to bite. The first fish unfortunately stayed pinned for about 5 seconds, before the line went slack. I reset the line and not long after, Jeff was into a nice one. Several jumps and an insane spiraling on the line shortened the length of the battle. The fish had wrapped itself tightly and Jeff reeled it right to the net. I don’t think he had more than 3 minutes fight time! It went insane while in the net after I cut the line and untangled the mess. A few quick pics and back she went no worse for wear!

I was hoping for a rotation and fortunately we got it. Nick fought and landed a smaller one and his dad also brought an even smaller one to net not long after. We had completed what we had come for and now I wanted more! Bigger was next, or so I hoped!

After a few missed strikes, Jeff set into another decent fish that seemed even bigger than his first. It too took to the air and made a couple of spectacular leaps, that made it look even larger. This one gave him a great battle! What I had thought was giant however, was only long. Once in the net I realized that the girth was much smaller than his first and although heavier, it would have been giant if it was as wide. Regardless, still a great fish and an awesome fight!

As we were now getting more bites, I thought we’d stick it out a little longer and see if we could complete another rotation. It didn’t take long and Nick was tight to his second fish after missing a couple of strikes before. Although not a beast, it was still larger than his first one and made for a great fight. His dad wasn’t as lucky however as his second fish was a drum and he wanted no part of that pic. We stayed a little longer to see if we could get him another but it never happened. Six fish but one was a junk fish. Two if you count the rock bass earlier this morning!

With less than an hour remaining in the day, we pulled the plug on the sturgeon and tried for something smaller. Walleye was what we were after and a few of them were landed. Unfortunately only one turned out to be a keeper and was eventually returned back like the others. Nick did manage to catch a decent northern though that made for an interesting fight. We all thought it was a big eye and were a little disappointed when it came to the net.

We had focussed almost all of our attention today on getting sturgeon and managed to have a pretty good day in the process. A number of bites were missed and some decent fish were landed making for a very successful day. Hopefully the next outing will be even better when I head back looking for another giant dinosaur. I know it’s just a matter of time!

Philippe was with me today along with his dad & sister Sarah. We headed directly for sturgeon as he was hoping for a big one like last year. Light winds from the SW made it easy for the anchor to hold but the bite wasn’t great. We moved several times and were always on fish, but they didn’t want to cooperate! One bite and one fish hooked was all we had and unfortunately it came off during the battle. A little disappointed, we kept at it a while longer, but that was all she wrote! More boats were moving in and we were heading out.

The next area had them casting for smallmouth bass and Philippe got it rolling with a nice chunk. His dad and sister also landed a few as we slowly moved through the area looking for a bigger bite. Philippe hooked and landed a couple more before I decided to pull the plug and head for walleye for them to be able to take home to eat.

The boat traffic was insane today and I had to pass up a couple of areas along the way due to all the boats. I finally settled on a spot as far away from the others as possible and it looked great. All three were drop shotting but after several drifts with only perch, I switched them over. They were now throwing jigs instead! I explained how to work them and made several more drifts over the fish with the same results. I couldn’t believe that they weren’t hooking up and decided to make one cast to see why. Immediately I was into a fish and it was the right species too! Unfortunately it was an over and I tossed it back. I thought they would have better success after this but only one small walleye was landed. We eventually pulled the plug here and I headed to another place for them to drop shot.

In the last couple of hours we fished two different areas and managed to pick up several more fish. Although they had a rough time getting use to the presentation and technique, they did have the bites. Philippe managed to land bass, walleye & pike while his father and sister caught perch, bass & a few walleye. I even helped them out by fishing a bit and passing off the rod when hooking up! In the end, they finally had 4 walleye in the boat that they would be taking home. Fish was on the menu for them tonight and it would be fresh!

Although the day didn’t go completely as planned, it worked out in the end and plenty of fish were caught and lost. The bite is changing slightly with the cooling temps but the fish are still active in many of the areas I fish. In the next few weeks I expect a shallower bite as the overnight temps drop more and easier fishing as well. In the mean time, I will be fishing deep, mid and shallow in order to maximize on all the zones the fish are in. Hopefully in the coming weeks, the boat traffic will diminish some making it possible to cover more areas as well. Only time will tell!

After a little break I was back on the water today with Jack & Fahib. They had booked a morning trip on line and looked forward to catching some fish. Cold front conditions weren’t going to make it easy and especially with the north winds we were receiving!

Our first stop had us drifting sideways while the current took their baits downstream. After about 20 minutes with no hits, I decided to move to another area a little further away. They doubled up almost immediately with one bass and one walleye! This area wasn’t any easier as we were still going sideways and missing all my waypoints! I decided to relocate once again as I would have a better chance of making short drifts out of the current.

This turned out to be our last move and for obvious reasons! It was loaded and I was marking all kinds of fish and bait. Unfortunately it was pressed tightly on the bottom and getting anything to bite was tough. It didn’t get much better either, as they were both losing just about everything they hooked. For whatever reason, the fish were just coming off! I had to slow them down on their hook sets before some of them actually started coming to the boat! I think by some of the bent rods they previously had that several of their fish were pretty big! For the next few hours we made short drifts in the wrong direction, over specific areas, and they hooked several species. Perch, walleye, pike & bass all came aboard, giving both of them slams! The bite wasn’t a great one but at least now they were landing more than they were losing. I had hoped to get them into more fish than they had lost but that didn’t happen. We even tried a troll over the fish, but I knew the result before I even started! We eventually just ran out of time and after a couple more fish, headed back to take out.

The half day trips are always more difficult as inactivity usually changes at some point during full days. Today they had to endure poor wind direction and a cold front. I’m sure that by sometime this afternoon, the fish would have cooperated and actually fed. Unfortunately it was over for us and we were done. Despite the slower than usual day, they still caught a bunch of fish and had a really great time. Fahib will be heading to the eastern provinces next week and who knows, maybe he’ll catch some saltwater fish to add to the list of species he landed here in Montreal today!

David & Chris joined me this morning, for a day of multi species fishing. We started out around 7:00 and wasted no time setting up for the bigguns! Unfortunately only two small ones cooperated and we quickly decided to move to another location.

I gave trolling a shot but after about 45 minutes and only two pike to show for our efforts, I pulled the plug on this as well. We were going to try for walleye next as I was sure they would be able to catch a limit of keepers to take home!

I ran to an area that I had only fished for a couple of hours total recently and began the drift. Unfortunately there was almost no wind and what little current we had barely moved the boat. They started out with drop shotting and despite marking all kinds on the sonar, hooked only a handful of perch. One walleye was landed though that made it into the tank as a low end keeper! These fish were pressed to the bottom and not moving with the lack of flow. I decided to try something different and almost immediately hooked into what may have been the largest walleye landed this year. No pics and a quick release and I had David throwing the same presentation. I had tried a technique that worked many timed under similar conditions and apparently it was working again!

After a quick demonstration , David was landing some big walleye! His personal best came in first and a bunch more overs in the next couple of hours too. I was trying to get them a few keepers but having a difficult time keeping the big ones from eating. After several more fish, I just switched Chris up as well and rid him of the drop shot. Although he missed many fish, he did catch one and it was a good keeper. On a lighter note, his dad managed to land many more as well as a couple of really good smallies. I even hooked a northern for the second time and netted the culprit that had bitten me off a little earlier. I knew this for sure because he still had the sinker attached to the drop shot hanging out of his mouth!

The lack of wind & flow had caused us to make a few changes and the results were success! They had caught plenty of fish today with only a few minor adjustments. David had even managed a Grand Slam without even knowing it! We had remained on fish for the bulk of the afternoon and just picked at the walleye, but they were large! In the numbers of fish landed only 3 of them were keepers. What a great afternoon for giant eyes! I can’t wait to get back out and see if there’s a double digit fish in the group. Hopefully someone will find out in the coming weeks and land their personal best again. Only time will tell!

David, Hassan and his brother Sam were with me today, for their first time this season. A late start of about 9:00 saw us heading out in a pretty good chop from the NW. A quick stop for the big ones saw only one taker so we didn’t waste too much time pursuing any others. We packed it up and headed straight to a great bass spot.

The winds had increased considerably causing difficulty for them to feel the takes. Many, many missed hook sets were had by all, causing plenty of frustration. Although they did land a good number of nice bass, they probably could have boated 4 times that if they hooked everything. This streak of bad luck continued on the second area too with Sam dropping the largest fish of the day. It jumped and we all saw just how big it was and it was huge! These guys had the opportunities, but fell a little short on closing the deal!

I had remained somewhat sheltered where we were so far, but now it was time to move. We packed up and strapped everything down to make a long run into the eye of the needle. Yuup, we were heading to the middle of the lake where there was no protection from the winds!

Once I arrived, I showed them what to do as we were going to be drop shotting open flats. I had a small area that would need multiple drifts to find the fish and they were going to be short ones due to the wind speed. First drift, they hooked several big fish and only Sam was able to land his over walleye. Hassan missed a couple and dropped a heavy fish after battling it for over 30 seconds. The bad luck continued!

We were getting close to the departure time and on the last drift, they all had chances once again. Unfortunately only David was able to keep his fish pinned due to the delayed hook set. He reeled in a huge walleye that finished his day with a bang!

We called it afterwards, ran back to the ramp in big waves and were able to stay dry all the way. Gotta love the Ranger! Despite the conditions and shorter than usual day we had, there was still plenty of action for everyone. Too bad most of it ended in missed fish but some days are just like that. At lease everyone was able to catch their fair share of bass and a few bonus walleye in the end.

Cooler than usual nights now will be dropping the water temps and more fish will start to become active. Fall is definitely getting closer and that will mean big fish days, both in numbers and size. I’m sure there will still be warm days, but overall it will remain cool. Even better days ahead!