Well, we were back on Magog again today, but primarily for perch. Both Frank & John had fished Magog for many years, but had taken some time away from the lake in the last few years and wanted to eat some more perch fillets once again. The weather was perfect for this slow jigging bite for these tasty morsels and we were happy to see it. Winds were almost non-existent at less than 5 knots and the temps were going to be in the mid 70’s. The water temps were between 59 & 62 degrees depending on where we were & the bite was on. Weed beds in open water were what we were targeting and the fish were thick! We also fished top water baits for the smalllies in the same areas and had a blast for both types of fish. Zaras & 3 inch grubs were all that was needed to catch close to 100 perch and a decent total of smallies up to almost 4 pounds during the day. With a small local tournament for bass on the lake at the same time, I was forced to fish less places than I wanted to and we still managed to catch enough bass to have won the event. All in all it was a great day on the water and with that many perch to clean, we decided to leave the water by four. It would take at least an hour to filet our catch today!!

Frank & John had caught numbers of smallmouth bass yesterday so we decided to try for some larger ones today. The weather was going to be a real beauty as temps were expected to be in the 80’s with sunshine all day long. Water temps were cooler than the big lake with most areas being around 56.5 or so degrees. Unfortunately, the winds were strong from the S/SE at 15 to 20 knots causing some larger wave action and difficult boat control. I started off with several missed strikes and then a lake trout of around 4 or 5 pounds. We saw several large smallies just cruising around, but didn’t have any success with them. In the next area, Frank hooked up with a real beauty around 5 pounds and while he was battling it, John also hooked one as well. Once they were both in the boat I realized that John’s was almost as large as Franks. A quick double photo and back to the lake they went. The rest of the day was a little slow, but there were fish being taken all over from 4 to 5.5 pounds. By the end of the day there were probably around a dozen smallies caught with plenty of others lost or missed of equal or better size. I even had another brown trout on briefly before he went into a death spiral roll and tore the hook out before I could actually get to play him. All in all a great day with good sized smallmouth of 4 pounds or better.

I was back on Magog again today for smallmouth bass with Frank & John. We began the day with high sun and warm temps that had me in a T-shirt by 9:00 AM. Little to no wind was present for most of the morning as well and it was a pleasure to be back in the heat. Water temps were almost 60 degrees but warmed even more as the day continued. The air temps didn’t really get too high and never hit 70 degrees, but it sure was better than yesterday’s cold. John got the ball rolling by getting into a few bass on tubes and both Frank & I were soon to follow. By moving around a lot we were able to hook up with many smallmouth before I decided to try some top-water. This proved to be the right choice as we were soon to find out. Everywhere we went after that, someone was tight to fish! Zara spooks and soft plastic jerk-baits accounted for the remainder of the day’s catch with the zaras being a better bet. Offshore structures seemed to be the best places as the fish were definitely larger out there. Although there wasn’t any really huge fish today, there were plenty of bass in the 3 to almost 4-pound range and surface action was great. By the end of the day there was at least 50 to 60 bass landed with an equal amount either missed or lost after hook up. A great day to be on the water it was!!!

After hitting the lake for just a few short hours yesterday afternoon with Brian for perch, I was back on the water today with a John & Joe for smallies. We started the day without any great expectations for weather due to the miserable forecast the weatherman had predicted. There was suppose to be heavy rains and severe thundershowers during midday that could actually dump hail on us, but it never occurred. We did have plenty of sunshine and some overcast periods, with strong south winds that gusted at times to over 25 knots. Air temps reached into the high 70’s but felt more like the 80’s in some areas when we were out of the winds and in sun. Water temps had dropped once again with the wind blowing most of the warm water away from the fish holding areas and into the middle of the lake. By slowly dragging tubes we were able to get into some good fish and a couple of bonus largemouth over 4 pounds. We also caught a few bass on top-water and many more on soft plastic jerk-baits almost dead sticked over deeper water. We were finally forced off the lake around 3:30 when the winds really picked up and a third system looked like it might just hit us should we have stayed much longer. The first two systems had managed to pass us by when one was far west of us and the other went far east along the mountains. If it wasn’t for the thunder and lightning in the distance, we might have stayed out a little longer but no fish is worth dying for! By days end we must have gotten into at least 50 smallies and a few largemouth up to 4 pounds. All in all a tough but good day on the water and nobody got hurt!!

Warren & Jonathan were joining me once again today for more smallie action. This time however, we were looking for larger bass and decided to try another lake in hopes of a wall hanger for the little guy. The weatherman had called for more crap for this day as well as yesterday, but as usual they were wrong once again. We had light winds from the S/W at around 5 knots with sunshine & mixed cloud cover all day. Air temp went into the low 70’s and the water temps were as high as 63 degrees in some of the areas we fished. Regardless of the almost perfect fishing conditions, fishing was actually tough. We had a few hits, follows and saw some really big bass, but Warren had the only hookup. The fish weighed in at 4 pounds 4 ounces and was a real beauty. After trying plenty of key areas on the lake without any more success, we decided to hit another lake and see if we could change our luck. Within the first 5 minutes, Jonathan had his first fish on the end of the line and soon landed one over 4 pounds. This fish really put up a fight as it was on lighter line of 6-pound test and he played it like a champ. Similar conditions were what we were faced with here as we continued looking for more big bass. In the couple of short hours we were on the lake, Jonathan landed 3 big bass on light tackle. Each of these fish were between 4 and 4.5 pounds and the largest bass he had ever battled. It was really great to take a kid fishing again and hopefully, it won’t be the last time this year. These past two days were really a pleasure seeing the little guy so intent on catching fish. He definitely has the bug!!