Josh & Denis flew in to enjoy some of our excellent smallmouth bass fishing, literally! With both of them being pilots for a large company they are fortunate enough to travel all over and occasionally take the time to fish. Just coming off another trip from catching cutthroat trout on the Snake River, they were really looking forward to getting into some of our northern smallies. The conditions were absolutely perfect this morning with flat calm waters, beautiful sunshine and cool air temps. We began over a large flat trying to get an idea of what the fish were doing. It didn’t take long to find out what they weren’t doing, eating! Several of these big footballs hit the baits but none of them stayed pinned. I made another attempt at changing baits, covering the area a second time, but it produced the same results. Time to move! The next location was somewhat better, but also slow in my opinion. Josh managed to land some good fish here but we really had to work hard at getting them. Most of the fish were just lookers! The next area was quite similar with only a few fish getting caught as well. I immediately made a long run to what I thought was going to be great spot, only to find it wasn’t. A couple of fish were landed by covering plenty of water and I knew I had to make a decision, fast. All the years of tournament fishing had me in tournament mode and under the gun to locate fish. I headed much shallower and almost immediately got them into fish. They started pounding on all kinds of smallies congested in a very small area. Josh was first to locate them and brought to net a really good one that started the ball rolling. These fish weren’t chasing but were eating if you presented the right baits from the proper direction. I tried several different angles and soon realized that they were definitely current oriented. They practically had to dead stick the baits in order to get one to commit! They milked it for every last strike before we moved on. I finally had something to go on and hit another area further away with the same results. Unfortunately the winds had picked up considerably and I was having a difficult time holding in the two & three footers. Josh continued hammering smallies of all sizes right up until I pulled the plug, because of the wind. I had planned on the big winds and left an open water area just in case. We ran to it and fished the remaining couple of hours here, catching mostly walleye. Although it was difficult, the style of fishing made it much easier on everyone. By 5:00 we were done and headed back to take out. Both Josh & Denis had experienced some great fishing while here in Montreal and I think the next time they get back to the city, I will be hearing from them again. I look forward to hooking them up on more of our big brown bass!!

Darren & his friend Gary joined me a little late this morning as we met up about 9:00. This was the third straight day with a big blow happening and I wasn’t sure if we would be able to anchor for sturgeon. In fact it was howling so bad yesterday that I had to reschedule a client! This is the way the entire season has been going with either flat calm or hurricane like winds. There’s been no in between! Well at least the anchor eventually held today, but despite all our efforts, we never really got bit. The gobies were out in full force but the sturgeon just didn’t seem to want to eat. Shortly after 12:30 we switched gears and headed to deeper, open water in search of bass & walleye. Darren hooked up first with a nice eye but it was an over and had to be released. Dave was having a difficult time getting into the drift thing but eventually caught on and hooked his first fish soon after. It turned out to be a northern though and we put it back as well. Although I was marking plenty of good fish they weren’t hooking into as many as I would have thought they should. I made multiple drifts over the area in hopes of better results but they just picked at them here & there. I even made several casts to see if it was just them and hooked a few, but missed more than I caught. The bites were terrible and the fish weren’t staying pinned for long. Throughout the afternoon over several areas, they did manage to catch a bunch but the results were definitely lower than usual. Darren finished the day off with a nice big smallie that fought like a champ. It wasn’t the largest bass, but it had plenty of attitude! They may not have caught the sturgeon that we wanted but pike, walleye, perch and bass were landed through the afternoon. By 4:15 we were done and called it a day. I was surprised that the waves were as bad as they were and cut through a 45 degree angled roll back to the ramp. It felt like ship waves and looked like 3 to 4 footers as we made the run. Darren even had several good keeper walleye to take back with him that they had both contributed to. Although a tough one, it was successful and fish were caught. More giant winds scheduled again for tomorrow! Go figure!

Giovanni was with me this morning all the way from the land down under! I wanted desperately to hook him up for sturgeon but the winds had gone big overnight and I wasn’t sure if we’d be able to get the anchor to hold. After many attempts at trying in several different locations, we had to go to plan B instead. It just wasn’t happening! We raced over to deep water and I started him out with a drop shot rig while I prepped a few other rods. His first fish was a nice smallie and also his first ever. Being from Australia he had only seen them in magazines and on fishing shows. He couldn’t believe the power they had and was thrilled to finally have one on the line. We shot a bunch of pics and released it back to grow. Giovanni wasn’t into keeping anything until I mentioned to him how good the walleye were. He asked if it would be possible to catch one and I just  laughed! I told him that if he wanted to take a limit home to his sister’s place they could all enjoy a great meal. There were at least 8 mouths to feed and he looked forward to catching his first walleye. It didn’t take long to start getting into them and in no time, there was a limit in the livewell for him to enjoy tonight. I had switched rigs and he was tossing something else and getting plenty of bites. The hooking up was the tough part in this wind and we had to really pay attention to the light bites. I moved around a lot and switched baits constantly to continue catching fish. this went on until about 2:00 when thoughts of another move back to the sturgeon occurred. The winds had switched slightly to a NW and lightened up slightly. We both agreed and ran over there to finish up the day. Luckily the anchor did hold, but unfortunately we never got bit. The gobies beat up the baits pretty good and even with several moves to get away from them, they still tormented us to death. We pulled the plug before 5:00, a little disappointed but glad of the day we had. One big fish would have been the icing on the cake but the overall success on the bass & walleye was still great. Giovanni left with a couple of new species checked off his list and a limit of walleye for his dinner tonight. I’m sure they’ll all love eating the Walters & wishing they had more!!

This was the third and final day this week that Doc was with me and I wasn’t sure what to expect. He had caught some big fish the last couple of days. Could he manage more this time out? The weather was suppose to get bad before mid day with rotating winds from several directions, ending in a big SE. I didn’t want to wait for them to arrive so I headed out in hopes of more big fish. As usual, we set up and waited for one of these sturgeon to bite. Although it did take a little while longer this morning, we got bit. Doc was locked up on another giant and loving every minute of it! I don’t think it jumped but the fight was really a strong battle that lasted almost 10 minutes once again. Another average fish was soon netted, photographed and immediately released.  We were officially on the board! We went right back it and baited up one more time in hopes of something larger. The conditions were almost perfect with flat calm and overcast skies but for some reason the fish didn’t seem very active. Right about the time I was about to relocate, I felt a pick up and was tight to another good one. Doc was really getting to like fighting these things and enjoyed the aerials as much as the hard fights. Who doesn’t like big heavies? After about 5 minutes or so, we were able to get it into the net and a quick release was made. Doc already had plenty of big fish pics and this was just another average one. I decided to relocate and found some fish further away, dropping anchor once again. This time when the rod dipped, Doc was into a catfish. It may not have been a big one but it was definitely one of the nicest looking ones. Several shots and another release. We managed to get a few other fish during the morning that included a bass, a walleye and another big, ugly cat. After lunch sometime, Doc saw the rod on his side getting bit and lifted with a firm hookset. In the beginning it was fighting alright and then it turned and began taking line like it wasn’t going to stop. I had to unpin the anchor rope and drift down in order to regain some of the lost line. Even at this, it was still ripping it off the reel pretty good. I had thoughts of a fouled fish but wasn’t sure. When it finally breached, I realized why. It was large and definitely hooked properly. This was an epic battle that took almost 15 minutes . I filmed it for Doc in hopes of another jump, but it never happened. I did get some good coverage of the fish alongside the boat and it was really long! Eventually I netted it and we brought in aboard for more pics. Doc wanted to measure the fish and had brought along an IGFA ruler just for this reason.  We couldn’t believe its length and it had a really good girth as well. Definitely the one we wanted to complete his three days of giants. Doc shot all kinds of pics showing its size in hopes of submitting it to IGFA for a release record. We also took several pics for us after and released it back with difficulty. It was really heavy! In hindsight, we should have pulled the plug, but we reset the lines instead. In the next hour or so we had plenty of false strikes and possible a real one or two but came up empty. When we finally decided to leave, it was because of the weather. The rain was starting to come in and I headed to a bass & walleye spot to finish up the day. We pounded on the fish here and Doc managed to get into some really nice smallies as well as quality eyes before we ended the day. The rain had been on & off and fell hard at times but we endured. In fact we had endured all three days of excellent fishing on this mix up week. What had been scheduled for one type of fishing had turned out better than he could have expected. He not only got to catch something different for a change but they were giants! He also had a blast catching all kinds of bass & walleye each day as we winded down from the big heavies. I know he will want more the next time he’s here and with any luck, I’ll have another day or two available for him to fish. Perfect conditions and an excellent end to his confused week of fishing!!

Iliya & Pasha were with me this morning on yet another beautiful day. They really didn’t care if they caught anything, so I brought them to Jurassic Park for a few dinosaurs! Pasha battled the first fish and it was a beast. It jumped a couple of times and really pulled line. As many times as he reeled it to the boat, it took him back out every time. This battle lasted close to 15 minutes before we were able to bring it to net. When I Did, I informed him that the easy part was over and now it was time for the difficult task of holding it for the pics. He struggled to lift it from the tarp after it crapped all over the damn thing and left skid marks over itself too. Quite the messy ordeal! Eventually he did manage to hold it for a few shots but due to the angle, they were all belly photos. This fish was fat! After the release Ilyia was up next and he somehow managed to land a juvenile sturgeon under ten pounds. We tossed it back and he was still up due to the fact that it was a whole lot smaller than his friends earlier. The next fish was another giant and now Pasha had the last laugh as he got to watch someone else endure the pain he had before. I think this fish was landed in under 10 minutes but between the jumps and line ripping, it felt like more to Ilyia. They had both managed to land really big fish and I decided to take them for something smaller to be able to bring home. We hit another walleye area and almost immediately after an instruction they were both locked up. They had never caught walleye before and I explained to them how good they were to eat. They pounded on them for the remaining part of an hour and released most after they had one limit. They started the day out by thinking they wouldn’t catch anything and both managed to land huge fish as well as some for the table. We called it a day before noon and I took them back to await my afternoon customer. Something tells me that after today I might just be seeing more of Ilyia as he resides in Montreal. Pasha however lives in Russia and the only time I’ll see him again is the next time he comes to visit. Either way, everyone had a great time and I’m sure I will see them both sometime in the near future!