Russell & his wife Rachel were back with me again today after spending several days in Quebec City. They were on the tail of their vacation and wanted another day of fishing after last week’s success. I only hoped that it would be as productive! Conditions weren’t nearly as favourable and the winds were expected to blow harder as the day went on. It was going to be a challenge!

We headed out in 2 to 3 footers at the start and went straight to an area that was holding plenty of fish. Floating weeds weren’t our friend here as they kept clinging to the lines causing constant cleaning. After 4 or 5 fishless drifts, I decided to pull the plug and try another area further away. They had both missed fish but it wasn’t easy fishing with all the weeds!

Our next stop was a little more pleasant as the waves weren’t as big. We were slightly protected from the wind, but I knew this would change! I focussed on getting them bit and wasn’t disappointed! Russell managed to catch both walleye & bass while casting a dropshot rig. He missed plenty of strikes as well but caught more than he lost! Rachel wasn’t as fortunate as she never landed anything from this spot. We decided to relocate after the bite slowed and I thought I’d teach them a vertical drift!

I headed out to open water and marked some fish deep. I set the boat in position and it didn’t take long for Rachel to hook into the first bass. She finally was able to land her first fish and soon after, she hooked into another. In less than two minutes she had boated a couple of nice smallies and I was sure there would be more!

We had been drifting for less than 20 minutes when the wind decided to pick up. I made another adjustment but it was tough for them to feel the bottom and lines were all over the place. Add to that the boat bouncing and Russell was having a hard time standing on the front deck. I had to pull the plug on this for safety reasons!

We spent the remainder of the day drifting over hard bottom areas and they both landed more fish. Bass & walleye were boated but it wasn’t easy to control the drifts along an edge. In the end I was using both the electric motor as well as the main engine just to stay where I needed. Each pass yielded fish but they were having a harder time than usual feeling the bites. Eventually they decided to end the day! I had nowhere else to go in the big waves and wasn’t moving until we were ready to head back to the dock. Time to strap everything down and prep for the run!

I realized quickly that it wasn’t going to be pretty but was confident that we would make it back safely. Most of the waves were 4 to 5 footers with an occasional set of bigger rogues just for laughs. I had picked a direction that saw us running the troughs & crests and even this was tricky. With some splashing but nothing rolling over the bow, we made it back! The most difficult part was navigating all the boarders in the water as we got closer to the ramp. I counted 10 but was sure there were even more! Most of them were lying flat in the water and difficult to see! I was just glad we made it back safe & sound and this painful day was finally over!

Mother Nature must have it out for me this year because there have been more rough days than calm ones so far. I don’t mind a good one to two foot chop for fishing but these 4 & 5 footers just aren’t fun. It definitely limits the areas I can run to and fish! Russell & Rachel had both these scenarios and definitely enjoyed the first one better. Today the lake looked more like Lake Ontario than the one I fish. Hopefully tomorrow it will lay down some and be a little more user friendly for my guests. One can only hope!

Mike and his wife Catherine joined me today for an excellent fishing outing. It started out a little slow but once the wind picked up, the bite was on fire! They caught plenty of fish on dropshot rigs and both landed their very first smallmouth bass. They also caught many, many more too! In the end the managed to bring home limits of walleye that Mike will be cleaning for a while! They’ll be eating them for a while too! Oh yeah, they both slammed with pike as the third species too!

Shamlan & Arman experienced another good day of fishing today in not so great conditions. Winds were blowing hard from the SW giving us average 3 footers! They both landed many bass & walleye in the 6 hours they fished. We ended the day around 2:00 as they wanted to see more of Montreal before they headed home. Another great day of fishing and action nonstop!

Steven and his son Nathan had a great day filled with plenty of fish. They caught walleye, bass, pike and an elusive drum on dropshot before we switched exclusively to bass. Soft plastics were used for the rest of the day and they pounded on the smallmouth. Nathan even managed a big walleye but we released it quickly due to a deep hooking. Today was a real scorcher with sunshine and zero wind and hydrating was necessary in the high humidity. The best part of the day was probably the run back to the dock as this was the coolest we were all day!

Norman and his son Daniel fished with me this morning and boated a bunch of walleye and bass. The bite was slow, but they were able to get into the fish by slowing down with a dropshot. Neither of them had much experience fishing before and fended quite well.

My afternoon party of two were quite similar in experience and we repeated the process with a dropshot technique. Tim picked up a couple of fish right away but his friend wasn’t as lucky. It took a little longer for him to get in the game. We moved around a bit, it but it was one area that we focussed most of our time drifting. Although it was loaded with fish it was also loaded with floating weeds and this made it difficult to get bit. They spent most of the time cleaning their lines!

Overall today was a good day, but between all the boat traffic and tough fishing conditions, it was a little slow. The full moon is behind us now and the fishing should improve. Warming temps will have the fish more active this week, or so I hope! They are finally beginning to move to their summer locations and a mix of deep & shallow fish should be had. Even better days to come!