After a long, disappointing tournament in Ontario, I was back on Montreal waters once again today. I actually had a double, half-day booking and fished with Eli & his son Joe in the morning. At nine years old, Joe is already a more experienced fisherman than a lot of people out there. He not only landed the largest smallmouth but also caught the most bass as well. We had a light wind from the N/NE and very hot, humid air temps of over 80 degrees by the end of the day. The water was 73 to 75 degrees in mot areas. Tube jigs & Berkley Power Jerk Shads were the ticket and the fish were really shallow. A few walleye were also taken and a huge Muskie of around 40 pounds was seen chasing one of the baits back to the boat. About 15 fish were caught this morning up to over 4 pounds. This afternoon I had the pleasure of fishing with Alex & Lorne on Lake St-Louis as well. The conditions remained pretty much the same with the wind dying out completely by mid afternoon. Presentations were the same as this morning, but the tubes were a better choice as we soon found out. Lorne hooked up on about his second cast and soon boated a bass of near 3 pounds. It was quite some time before another fish was landed and we searched a lot of water looking for them. Eventually we came back to the original area and they started to catch bass again. Alex had a hard time locking up but eventually made a great comeback landing 6 in a row. The largest fish were in the 4-pound class and the average was about 3. Close to 15 fish were caught once again this afternoon.

I fished with Max & Denis today on the Ottawa River for Largemouth Bass. The first time out there is always the hardest, but this time was an exception. Temperatures were in the upper 70’s to low 80’s, and the water temps never exceeded 70. The water was quite low for this time of the season and it was also very stained from the rains & winds. We also had a very strong W/SW wind with gusts up to 25 or more knots. This time we were glad for the wind, as the deer flies were absolutely insane. Without it, there would be no way to fish! It took quite a while to get the first bass as we found out that they were already into the summer patterns. Grass lines and plastic worms accounted for the first few hook ups and slugs caught several more afterwards. We stayed on the same type of cover and caught many more in the afternoon on Scum Frogs & Slugs. The weather began to push a storm front into our area and sent us running for the boat ramp by 5:00. All in all, a good day with about a dozen bass and some pike caught. The largest bass went just under 5 pounds and would have been more if it wasn’t all spawned out.

I went to Lake Memphremagog & fished a bass tournament today. Unfortunately, the weather was the best it has been in days and that made for lots of small fish for everyone. We managed to finish 8th out of 58 boats with a weight of just under 14 pounds for the five best smallmouth. The winner had just over 15 pounds. To say it was close would be an understatement. The day started with blue bird skis and cooler temperatures of 55 degrees. Eventually it warmed up to over 70 degrees and the winds were from the E/NE at 10 to 15 knots. The water temperatures had also dropped about 10 degrees since the middle of the week before. Water clarity was like coffee with 2 creams from all the rain we have received lately. All our better fish managed to come from open water shoals in 10 to 20 feet of water by slowly dragging tubes. Other fish were taken on jerk-baits and a few on top-water as well. Lots of fish, but not the quality I am use to on Lake Memphremagog. Oh well, there’s always tomorrow!

I fished with Nathan, his son Devin & his friend Jacob today on Lake of Two Mountains for smallmouth bass. The day started off with high winds from the N/NW at 15 to 25 knots and two to three footers greeting us in the face. I had to shoot across the bay to an island where I was able to find some shelter from this crap. Within the first couple of minutes, Jacob caught the first bass. After about an hour, he had the only 5. We changed locations a few times and everyone caught fish. Devin managed to get the largest fish, once again as he landed a 3.5-pound post spawner. The water was really cold for this time of year at 64 degrees and the air didn’t seem any warmer. Crankbaits were the only lures able to catch fish as the water looked like coffee with three creams. To say the visibility was bad would have been an understatement. Within the first two inches of the surface, a bright lure disappeared! Between the cold water and lack of visibility, we were fortunate to catch the 15 or so bass that we did. Overall, a good day!

Opening day for bass in Quebec and off to Lake St-Louis I went. I had the pleasure of fishing with Andre & his friend from Paris, Christian. Unfortunately the weather was not very nice as we had rain & heavy rain, all day. There was a small window in the afternoon for about an hour when it stopped and the fishing improved dramatically. The air temps never reached 60 degrees and he winds were from the N/NW at 15 to 20 MPH with stronger gusts at times. Basically, the weather was terrible! Even the water temps were below average at 65 degrees. Both smallmouth & largemouth were caught today using a variety of lure presentations. Shallower water slugs were used in the weeds to take the largemouth and a few were taken on a scum frog as well. The smallmouth were caught on spinnerbaits and tubes off rocky points and shoals. Amazingly, we endured all that Mother Nature had to offer, right down to the miserable windy, rainy ride back to the boat ramp in three-foot waves. What an opening day to remember!