I was back on the water again today with Darren for smallmouth bass. We travelled to the lake in the morning with air temps below freezing and launched when they were barely above. A minor mishap with a trailer bearing put us a little behind, but not out of commission! By 9:00 we were wetting lines and into smallies shortly afterwards. Water temps were barely 47 degrees and the air temps never hit 40 degrees as we spend the entire day in the clouds. Thankfully, the winds were light from the W/SW at less than 10 knots for most of the day. The bite was real slow today and detecting some of the takes wasn’t too easy either. Some of the bass were just mouthing the tubes while others actually ripped line from the reel when they hit. Once again, covering water proved to be the way to go as we hit one fish here and one there throughout the day. Darren even managed to have another Muskie just pick up his jig and swim it by the boat like a torpedo before it just let go. Sunshine appeared in the afternoon for a while and it felt great! With almost no wind in the sun, it felt more like 60 degrees than 40. We continued to get into more & bigger fish in a few areas and Darren began to land a few close to 5 pounds in a brief period. One small area accounted for over 10 fish and were happy to see somewhat of a concentration, finally! By 4:00 we were ready to head out and packed everything up for the long run back. At this time of year, the temperatures really drop when the day ends and the sun disappears. It was a pretty good day overall with 25 to 30 smallmouth bass landed up to almost 5 pounds. Unfortunately, there were plenty of others missed as well as lost too!!

Today I had the pleasure of fishing with Sam & Stephan for smallies once more. We began the day in the clouds with the air temps in the low 30’s and ended the day in the clouds with the air just in the upper 30’s. Today, we had it all! Winds from the west at 10 gusting to 25 knots at times. An occasional snow shower that never managed to amount to anything and bitter cold due to the clouds & winds. Thankfully, the fishing had everyone forgetting about all of this because it was on fire! Sam started the day with his 2nd or 3rd fish being one that was right around 6 pounds. What a beauty!! Unfortunately, Stephan was quite a while before he actually landed anything of his own, but eventually, overcame the problem. He got into about 8 or 10 fish in a short period of time and began to join Sam in fighting all of these smallies. It was a bit of a competition as both were trying to beat each other in the numbers game. It seemed that whenever one of them landed something, the other followed almost immediately. This went on for a while with 2.5 to 4 pounders coming aboard regularly until Sam just exploded. He took at least 10 fish in less than 30 minutes from a small area that both were casting to. Sam just had the touch as his first 5 casts were all rewarded with bass in the 3 to 4.5 pound range. He even managed to land a couple of Walleye that they took home for dinner. With this much of a lead it was going to be difficult for Steph to catch up! They both continued to land fish for the rest of the day as we just covered water picking one here and one there. Sam hooked into another Muskie on a tube that once near the boat decided to just break him off. This was to be another fish of at least 45 inches once more. By days end, there was at least 50 smallies landed once more but Sam had beaten Stephan by at least 10 fish. Oh well, there’s always next time!!

I fished with Warren & Eddie today on a local lake for smallies, once more. What a beautiful day we had thought as sunshine greeted us upon arrival. Air temps were almost 40 degrees and the water temps were 48 to 49 depending where we were. With light winds of under 10 knots from the W/SW we were going to have a spectacular day on the water. Eddie drew first blood as he managed to hook into & land the first 4 pounder of the morning. Tubes were to be the baits of choice as we were fishing real slow for these lethargic smallies in 10 to 30 feet of water. Not only did Eddie draw first blood, but second, third & even 4th. He was on fire as Warren just looked on in anticipation of his first hook-up. Most of the bass that were coming aboard were in the 3.5 to 4.5 pound range, but we were looking for bigger. Warren finally managed to get into a few of his own and both were landing bass up to 4.5 pounds. Warren even had a Muskie of 45 to 50 inched chase his tube back to the boat while he was about to make another cast. It would have been nice to get into that fish as well! Around mid morning, the sun began to disappear behind the clouds and the winds picked up a bit. They also changed direction and were now blowing 15 to 20 knots from the west. They were still hooking into some quality bass, but boat control was becoming a pain in the butt. We covered a lot of water and caught fish just about everywhere we went. The largest one of the day would have to been around 6 pounds with a few others slightly over 5 pounds as well. Overall, it was a great day with at least 50 bass landed and many more either lost or just missed all together!!

I fished with Neil & John today on another local body of water for smallmouth bass. The conditions weren’t exactly perfect as we had strong west winds in the 25 to 30 knot range all day long. This made for very difficult boat control not to mention line control. The air temps reached a balmy 45 degrees by the end of the day, but felt more like 25 degrees with the cloudy skies and heavy winds. The water temps never exceeded 54 degrees. My deep water bite was all but impossible with these conditions as I made only one attempt at a drift. There was no way to feel the bottom until it was too late and you were in the rocks so I opted for another location. They began casting tubes to areas in the 10 to 20 foot range and Neil was soon tight to a decent smallie of about 3.5 pounds. Nice start to the day, but the best was yet to come! It was really difficult to feel anything other than the wind whistling through your ears and this was becoming a problem, feeling the takes. Eventually I was able to get the boat sideways and just drift over the areas allowing both to cast with the wind. It wasn’t perfect, but it helped! Neil definitely had the hot hand as he was catching everything that sniffed his jig. He managed to land a bunch of fish between 3 & 4 pounds before John finally got into them on his own. Once we reached a little shallower water, they were hooking up regularly but most of the fish were not staying on long enough to come to the net. They did however, both manage to land fish over 5 pounds in the next couple of hours. Neil even had one that was so bloated that it went closer to six! The wind never let up a bit through the day and this was the first time all season that I actually killed the batteries for my electric motor late in the afternoon. We took a few pictures of some of the largest bass, returned them to the water and fished a little longer. John managed to land another beauty over 4 pounds and a few smaller ones before we called it a day. This was the nicest it had gotten all day and we had to leave because of the batteries. The sun was shining and the wind had died down to a very tolerate level. Overall, it was a very difficult day with numerous hook-ups and about 30 fish landed. If it weren’t for “Mother Nature” we would have had a much better day. Oh yeah, she even snowed on us for a short while!

I had the pleasure of fishing with Jay today on another local lake for “Giant Smallies”. We headed out pretty early in anticipation of the foul weather in the forecast, for the afternoon. The morning was a chilly 45 degrees with light winds of 5 to 10 knots from the east. Overcast skies were upon us as we fished from as deep as 30 feet to as little as 5 feet. Water temps were pretty much all around 56 degrees until the rain began in the early afternoon. This actually dropped the water temps almost a degree by the end of the day. I had informed Jay that he would be into his first fish in 1 to 2 minutes max, but broke my own personal best time when he hooked up in under 30 seconds. As usual, the first one tends to catch people off guard and they usually get off before they come to net. Oh well, that’s fishing! He did manage to land a few fish in the next 15 minutes and lose several others as well. The deep water bite wasn’t great so we decided to try casting a little shallower in the 15 to 20 foot range. Almost immediately, there were fish being caught on tubes in the 2.5 to 3.5 pound range. I was looking for the real bruisers so I decided to relocate after a couple of hours hoping for a few big bites. Soon enough, we found them and 4 pounders became the norm as hooks were being set. It was just a matter of time before we were to contact what I was looking for and Jay was soon tight to one over 5 pounds on a tube jig. We continued to catch some of the larger bass on a mix of tubes and senko’s in 4 to 12 feet of water and decided to break for a short lunch. Up until now, the weather wasn’t too bad with clouds and light winds. Unfortunately, that was about to change as soon as we finished eating. From that moment on, the rain never let up! We continued to fish in a steady drizzle & heavier rain once in a while, but still managed to catch enormous smallies all afternoon long. It was miserable but at least the fish were somewhat cooperating! Many large smallies in the 4 to over 5 pound range were both landed as well as lost during the entire afternoon. By the end of the day, there were 10 fish in the livewells with none under 4 pounds. One side had 5 of them all going over 5 pounds for an amazing sac! This would have made an incredible bag for a tournament! I took several photos in a small window when the rain actually let up and all were released unharmed. Jay was the only one to suffer any injury as his hands were all beat up from trying to hold these monster smallies. At least he will have something to talk about until they heal up. All in all a good day, despite the weather. Over 25 huge smallies were landed today with many more coming off during a long distance release!!