Christiane & I hit the water late today as we were undecided whether or not the weather would be a factor. It was calling for showers and possible storms but the radar looked doable. By 10:30 we were wetting a line and attempting a few walleye of our own for the dinner table! It was really slow fishing for them and we didn’t get a bite in the first hour. I immediately pulled the plug and headed somewhere else and began drop shotting instead. Here we managed to get several good smallmouth up to 4 pounds and one tiny walleye that was returned unharmed. I thought I would give the troll another try and went back to the same area that hadn’t produced a strike earlier. Someone must have turned the light switch on because it took less than 3 minutes for the first reel to fire. Unfortunately, it was a northern, but it was action! Not long after, both reels screamed simultaneously and we were doubled up. Christiane had a decent walleye and I had a big northern that went just under 8 pounds. I reset the lines and almost immediately, another reel fired and a smallmouth went airborne. Then the other reel went off again and a walleye almost made it to the net. It came unpinned before I could get a shot at her and got an early release. As fast as this show started, it stopped. We spent the next 45 minutes without a single strike and I decided to make another move. Besides the fact that the weather was killing us with no wind, sunshine and high humidity, the fish had disappeared! This next move was definitely the right one as a reel went off as soon as the rod went in the water. Christiane was battling something big and it was staying down all the way to the boat. Big walleye I thought and I was right. I slid the net under one over 24 inches, shot a few pics and returned her back to the lake. It was this area that was to give us the best results as reels were firing constantly. A mix of walleye, pike and quality smallmouth bass were coming aboard and we had action. One of the reels went off hard and something heavy was on giving Christiane a hard time. This made me think she had been taken down into the weeds. She applied a little more pressure to try & free it and I thought she was gaining until the line started going out of the reel once again. I immediately brought in the other rod and started backing up to see if I could regain some of the lost line when she finally turned the fish and started gaining. To both our amazement, it hadn’t bogged her down in the weeds at all, it was just big! She had a decent muskie on the other end and real bonus of a fish. Eventually I was able to get the boga on her trophy and brought the muskie into the boat for a few quick pics. We hadn’t hurt the fish at all and although the release was slow, it ended in a face wash! Hateful creature! We fished a little longer after and continued to boat bass & walleye but no more bonuses. By 4:00 we had enough of this heat and just packed it in. It was definitely a good choice today as not only did she have a Grand Slam of a day but she had the bonus fish she was looking for without even trying for it. It’s amazing how much fight these fish put up when being battled on walleye gear! Overall, a great 5 hours or so of fishing on yet another scorcher of a day!!

Neil was with me today and finally taking a day off work for a little relaxation! We hit the water before 8:00 and tried a little trolling as he too wished to take a few walleye home for the table. Plenty of multi species days this summer! We set the lines and began looking for old marble eyes for close to an hour without success. A couple of small ones and a bass or two were all we had to show for our efforts so we pulled the plug. Smallies were the next target and apparently the right decision as they were biting. Neil threw a spinnerbait for a bit searching for the aggressive ones and only managed a few before I switched him up to a jig and down he went. They obviously wanted it slower because he started catching them by crawling the tube through the rocks. In the next area he went back to the spinnerbait and as luck would have it, landed a walleye on his second cast. Now there was one! A couple of smallies later he was once again switching up to another presentation as the aggressive bait bite died. Senkos were thrown and many a hookup was had. Nothing really big but a few in the 3 to 3.5 pound range and real fighters! He even managed to land a small sturgeon on a tube jig as there were a few of them feeding on the same flat. It wasn’t until we moved over to another area that he finally hooked into a bruiser and landed one of photo caliber. This thing jumped several times and put up one hell of a battle before it came close enough to be netted. It was definitely in the upper 4 pound range and after several pics, released to fight another day. Even though it may have been the only fish of that size today, all the others landed fought like champs as well! We fished a few more areas for smallies with both senkos and tubes and caught everywhere we went. I knew Neil wanted to take a few walleye home for his family so I allotted about an hour or so at the end of the day and went back to trolling. It was apparently the right choice as we were hooked up immediately. The last part of the day saw almost 10 Dore landed and he picked a few of them for dinner! By making the right moves today we were able to stay on the fish all the time and kept catching throughout. The weather was beautiful, the fish were biting and all was good! Neil couldn’t have chosen a more perfect day to get away from work and had a great ay of fishing as an added bonus. Back to the dock we went fully satisfied with the outcome of today and the walleye were definitely the icing on the cake for the day. He & his family would be eating well tonight!!

I met up with Richard and Mark today at the boat ramp and began fishing before 8:00. Mark wanted to take a few walleye home today so I thought I would get a quick start and try early. We were going to have another heat wave, so fishing for walleye early was a better choice! Within an hour, we had managed to land about a half dozen and kept a few of the smaller eaters for him. Richard was happy to be done as he never really enjoyed trolling let alone walleye. Ironically, he wanted to try his hand at a muskie and we went trolling for them. I guess we tried for another hour without any luck before we pulled the lines and relocated again. This time he wanted to try casting for them instead so I re rigged the rods and had them casting weeds for these creatures. Another hour with only one follow and we were once more relocating and changing species! Smallies were the target this time and now I was in my element! We immediately headed to a flat loaded with bass and the game was on. Senkos were thrown and bass were being caught by both and all was good. This went on for over an hour or so before it slowed and we relocated again. More smallies but slower than usual had us staying for only a short period here and now we were contemplating a largemouth move. After re rigging a few of the rods we were casting deep in the weeds in pursuit for old bucket head! The winds were blowing pretty hard, but we were somewhat sheltered where we were as I demonstrated the technique needed for these bass. Mark had been thrown to the lions today. As a novice, he had only fished a couple of times in his life. It seemed that as soon as he became comfortable with one technique, we pulled the plug and gave him a new challenge. This time, it would be no different! I made one or two casts through the weeds with a soft plastic and was immediately locked up on a high four. Now they were pumped and really got into it! Richard was throwing a frog and Mark took over the rod I had and we went to work on the entire area hoping for a few more bites. Well, it was a tough go as there was only one more bass around 3.5 pounds and a beaver fish caught in the two hours we spent here. The day was getting on and I thought if they wanted to catch a few more fish, I was going to have to change up again and take them for smallies. Off we went to another area and they started throwing tubes for these brownies. In the last 45 minutes or so, they managed to get a handful of bass each and all was good. At least until some idiot cut between us & the shore and drove right over the rocks we were fishing, full throttle. If I was closer, I would have hit him in the head with the jig! After this, all went south and the fish just shut down causing us to leave. Some people!! Despite all the changes and moving around, we had a pretty good day. It was filled with plenty of action and variety, both technique and species. Talk about a crash course in fishing!

Eric & Stephanie accompanied me today on the water and it was a turkey shoot! We started the day in light winds trolling for walleye and they were on fire. From 8:30 till shortly after 10:00 we had constant action as one after the other came aboard. I think that there were over 15 good fish landed and several others lost in the process. With the sun now getting high and the winds practically gone, we relocated to another area and a different species. Bass were now the target and tubes were the weapons of choice. Eric was looking forward to getting into some smallmouth action and it didn’t take long. We were in an area that had been consistently producing some large fish, but today they were all small to medium. Stephanie was even getting into the game despite her fear of fish and contributing to the numbers of fish being landed. Compared to the start of the day, she had made tremendous strides and was now actually fishing herself! We relocated a few times and caught everywhere we went but not the size I was expecting. By 3:00 we called it a day and headed back to take out. I was going to have to clean several fish for them and needed some time to get it done. Despite the slow bass fishing, the walleye bite was a huge accomplishment and that’s why they were here. They wanted to eat some walleye and were able to take a few home for the table. Although a shorter day than usual, a productive one!!

I had managed to hold off on bookings this week so that Christiane could have several days on the water during her week off and just fish. We were on the water almost every day for at least some time but the high heat & humidity had us cutting most days rather short. Temps were consistently in the 80’s and winds were light to non existent throughout. Dog pecker knats were everywhere and we died out there in the scorching heat. Despite all of this, the fishing still remained good and she caught plenty of bass & walleye daily. Most of the fish were average in size and didn’t require any picks but there were a few that that did. A couple of smallies in the high fours and some 24 to 26 inch walleye that were returned to grow were shot but not all made it to the report. It was a great week to be on vacation!