It had been a long time since Jay had been out fishing with me but today he finally managed to clear his schedule. Too much work and no play isn’t good for the body, unless you’re fishing that is! We didn’t get on the water too early with the cold air temps and began somewhere around 9:00 A.M. instead. I don’t think it took more than a minute for Jay to be locked up and he knew it was going to be a great day. The sky was overcast all day with absolutely no sunshine, contrary to what the weatherman had forecasted and the air temps barely reached 50 degrees at best. Fortunately for us, there was very little wind and this made conditions bearable. The water temps had fallen to just over 57 degrees and rose to only 57.5 by days end. We fished mainly tube jigs slowly on the bottom, but Jay did manage to take a few bass on a spinnerbait that hit like a freight train. There’s nothing more violent than a smallie hit on a spinnerbait in the fall! He caught fish all day with very few slow periods and that really gave him the confidence he needed to fish the jigs. I think that by the end of the day he had landed 8 or 9 bass that topped the scales above 4 pounds, but nothing above five. He also managed to catch plenty of fish between 2 & 4 pounds and this made for the best day of smallmouth bass fishing he has ever experienced. Despite the dismal weather for the day, we were able to convince several bass into biting. Oh yeah, another walleye as well! Overall, a pretty good day on the water with plenty of action to keep anyone tight lined!!

Craig & Herm accompanied me today on another outing looking for more of those giant smallmouth bass. We began the day almost in the same conditions as yesterday except for the lack of wind. Air temps were 38 degrees and the sun was shining making it feel slightly warmer, so I opted not to wear the suit this morning. The water temps had fallen to 57.5 degrees and eventually warmed up later in the day to 58.5 degrees. The winds remained light & variable and were barely noticeable until later in the afternoon with the arrival of clouds. The bite was a little slower during the morning and in some areas you practically had to dead stick the baits in order to get bit. We were catching plenty of smaller fish but the 4 pounders were few & far between. Craig caught more than Herm today, but he was also feeling slightly better as Herm was experiencing some back discomfort. It’s no fun fishing when you’re ailing! Sometime in the afternoon when the air temps reached their max, the fish seemed like they had come alive. For over 3 hours the action was tremendous and fish were being caught constantly. They were all sizes with most being 2.5 to 4 pounds. Craig did manage to catch a couple that went over 5 pounds and was thrilled to see how fat they actually were. When the action finally slowed down later on and we were only able to pick a fish here & there, we decided to pack it in and head home. There wasn’t a lack of fish caught today, just a lack of the really big ones. Overall it was still a great day to be on the water and the air temps made it even more enjoyable. Plenty of fish and even more to come!

I spent the last couple of days off just relaxing & fishing of course and was back on the water today with Scott & Manson in hot pursuit of giant smallies. It was a little chilly this morning and the first of many days to come where I decided to wear my survival suit. The air temps were barely 35 degrees and there was a slight wind of about 5 K from the N/W making it feel more like, below freezing. Fortunately, the sun was out and the air eventually warmed up to a balmy 50 degrees towards the afternoon. Water temps dropped overnight to 58 degrees but also climbed up to 59 by the end of the day. We had plenty of action all day long on both tubes and spinnerbaits as both Scott & Manson hooked up frequently and landed about 75% of their bites. Manson definitely had the luck today landing 3 fish over 5 pounds and many more 3 to 4 pounders. Scott also managed to bring aboard numbers of bass in the same size range, but just wasn’t lucky enough to get those big bites. They probably caught an equal amount of fish by the time we called the day and were both extremely satisfied with the results. The falling water temps that we will be receiving in the next few days should activate the bass on all bodies of water and I can’t wait to see what happens afterwards.

After a very successful outing last week, Norm decided that he needed another day on the water once again. We met up early and wasted no time heading out, in pursuit of more angry smallmouth bass. The weather was quite pleasant with sunshine, no wind and temps in the 50’s to start the day. It eventually warmed up to T Shirt weather, reaching almost 70 degrees by days end. The water temps were still around 60 degrees despite the relatively cool nights lately. To add to all of this, there wasn’t even a breeze around and that made fishing even more enjoyable. As usual, there was plenty of action in the first hour and I think that Norm landed close to 10 smallies by then. He caught bass on tubes as well as spinnerbaits and nearly had his arms torn off every time they crashed into the lures. The hits were quite violent on the spinnerbaits and they usually hooked themselves when they attacked. We were trying to better Norm’s personal best smallie of 4 pounds 7 ounces and thought today would be the day. As luck wouldn’t have it, we were unable to accomplish this and he had to settle for another of the exact same size, as the largest of the day. Unlike the last trip where he actually had the fish on, several times, today he never really got a crack at one. We did see a few in the area that would have surpassed the existing one, but they had no interest in eating. There were fish caught pretty much all day long with lots of 3 & 4 pound bass and a few that were in the 4.5 pound range too. I think that the majority of his total catch today was greater than 3 pounds! What he lacked in size, he made up for in numbers as he landed so many bass that we gave up counting. It was definitely a day that he will remember for quite a while. At least until his next outing!!

I was back on the water again today with Alain & Cindy hoping for another day of successful bass fishing. We hit the water around 9:00 A.M. and headed across in relatively warm temps of 48 degrees. The air felt a little chilly without any sun, but the lack of wind made it bearable. Water temps have remained pretty stable at 59.5 degrees and really haven’t fluctuated more than a degree or two in the last few outings. Alain drew the first bass as we drifted & cast jigs to unsuspecting smallies nearby. Cindy followed up almost immediately as well with another one around 2 pounds. They both continued to catch and occasionally lose others for almost 4 hours with the bass ranging from 1.5 to 4 pounds before we relocated to another area in hopes of something larger. Here they both caught a few fish that were definitely better quality and Alain landed one that would have been around 5 pounds or better. Cindy kept hooking fish, but somehow managed to lose more than she was landing before I switched her up to a slightly stiffer rod. From that point on, she rarely missed a strike! There were plenty of bass landed by all today, but without the aid of the wind to stir them up, we were only able to get into a handful of the real big ones. Regardless of all the medium sized fish, it was still a great day on the water!