Ed & his nephew Dan joined me this morning for another day of “Beat the Wind”! Upon arrival I saw that the waters looked doable and we ventured out in some pretty good waves. We were hoping to get into a sturgeon bite, but might have to settle for other species instead. Either way, we were going fishing!

It was only a couple of years ago at this time that the three of us had tried for sturgeon and settled with bass, walleye & one big toothy critter. We might have to do the same thing this year if the waves were too big to hold.

I took the long way around and decided to head in a westerly direction, right into the rollers. I just didn’t feel like getting beat up going the way I needed. Although it took a little longer, we stayed dry and didn’t take a pounding. It was definitely the right decision!

Upon arrival I thought that it could be doable and set everything up to give it a try. We would need the anchor along with the electric motor today as neither one alone would be able to keep us positioned.

After almost an hour, struggling to feel any bites, I decided to pull the plug on this and try a different area for walleye. I did have a couple of light hits, but it just wasn’t easy to detect them. We would hopefully be back later in the day!

We tried a slow troll along a deep break multiple times, but here too it wasn’t easy. We were in a cross wind and 3 footers were hitting us from the side. Different depth zones were trolled without any success and eventually we just threw in the towel. I would have to go to plan C if we were to succeed today!

Third attempt was to be a drift and dropshot for bass and walleye. I found a less painful place to do this and set up along another break. Despite marking some fish, we were unsuccessful at getting even one bite and only made a couple of drifts before quitting.

I wasn’t sure if it was an illusion or just that I wanted to get them back to sturgeon fishing, but it actually looked doable. We hadn’t ventured too far from the place I fish and the wind seemed to have switched directions just enough to give it a try. I headed back to the area and saw that the waves had definitely diminished. In fact, I was able to hold only with the electric motor and we were back in the game!

It was now late in the morning when we finally set up again and although I was marking some good fish, we weren’t able to get bit by any of the big ones. We fished for several hours with only three small ones to show for our efforts! Multiple moves to try and reposition over the giants had us only washing baits. It was not going to happen today! I needed to salvage this day and only had about an hour left to get it done. It was time for a long run!

Although the winds had changed direction, they were still pretty big when I was running. I was actually happy to see 3 footers out here as the walleye prefer a good chop where I was going. When I stopped and positioned the boat, I could see all kinds of activity with bait and walleye. I knew they were going to get bit!

It didn’t take long for Ed to bend a rod and 2 minutes into the drift he put the first keeper eye in the well. Dan wasn’t far behind also landing another high end keeper and things were beginning to come together. I only wished that I had of made the move about an hour earlier!

In the remaining time and a little extra, they managed to put a good limit of quality walleye and one jumbo perch in the livewell. One last pass with three additional fish on and we were done!

Today was a challenge to say the least, but we managed to get it done. By adjusting to the conditions, I was able to catch what we were looking for. Although the sturgeon may not have been the size I wanted to see, they were the right fish! The walleye were a nice finish to the day and always great to take home. If I had to do it all over again, I would have only changed the last hour and made it two. This way they would have likely seen another limit to go back with. Either way, I was able to get out and catch fish on a miserable, windy trip and actually salvage this one. Still a great day for fishing! Here’s a few pics from their last trip as we didn’t take any today!

James, Randall & Jack were with me this morning, on this beautiful summer like day! What was supposed to blow up big time, never even got started! The waters were a sheet of glass the entire time we were out. Great job on the weather reports guys!

We were scheduled to fish another body of water last night, but changed our minds this morning, due to the winds arriving much later. Afternoon was going to be bad but at least we would have this morning to fish for sturgeon. Randal really wanted to do battle with something big and would take any opportunity to fish for them.

We ran to the area in a light NE wind that had a 1 to 2 foot roll on the water, due to it blowing against the current. This would lessen the amount of power required to hold with the electric motor too! After cruising around, I finally settled on a decent looking area to fish. Now we would have to wait!

We had made a move due to no bites and were about to make another when I locked up on something small. As it turned out, it was a red horse sucker and not what we were looking for. The move was made and soon after setting the lines again, Randall reeled in a small sturgeon. Right species, wrong size! A few more also made their way to the boat through the morning but it was after noon when we finally received a decent bite. James was tight to a good one, but not the true giant that I had hoped for. After about 5 minutes or so, he had it in the net and a few pics were shot before the release.

Several other sturgeon were caught of decent size, but we weren’t really able to hook into anything huge today. There was one big catfish that Jack caught that made for interesting pics though!

Sometime after 1:30 they decided to switch it up and wanted to fish for something else. James had been hoping to catch bass and I rigged up the rods to try for the smallies. I started on a few bumps that soon had me moving even shallower due to the results. It was here that they managed to get into a few fish with Randall catching a jumbo perch and also nailing a pretty good pike. The bass were reluctant to eat for James as he saw only followers. We did see a few big sturgeon cruising the area that may have been why!

Time was getting on and with less than an hour remaining I decided to try for walleye instead. We moved offshore and without any wind at all, I was forced to use the electric motor in order to make the drifts. Three lines in should have been productive but nobody even had a bite! I was marking plenty of walleye on the bottom but none of them seemed to want to eat with the lack of wind. Six passes later, we were done!

It was a pleasure to fish the sturgeon in almost flat calm conditions, but I would have preferred the big winds for the walleye that were forecasted. The temps were also nice today as it felt more like late summer than mid fall. They did manage three full rotations while anchored up and in the end, James’s sturgeon proved to be the largest of the day. Jack’s catfish got the exotic species award! The bass & walleye fishing could have been better, but we really didn’t spend much time trying for them. In the end, focussing on the sturgeon proved to be the right move and maybe we should have remained on them throughout the entire day. We did leave when they were biting and that’s never a good move! Hopefully tomorrow will be an even better day!

Philippe and his wife Ghislaine joined me today in hopes of catching their first ever sturgeon. I was pretty sure they wouldn’t have a problem, but lately the size had been smaller than expected. Would this be the day that things turned around?

With very little wind at the start, I knew we wouldn’t have a problem holding with the electric motor. I set the rods quickly in an area I was marking and we began the wait.

In the first few hours we were able to land 4 sturgeon but just like usual, they were all small. I had made a few moves to get the job done and seen plenty of bigger ones on the sonar. Unfortunately it was the juveniles that bit first and we continued searching new areas in hopes of a bigger bite.

Sometime before lunch I had set up on a favourite late season spot and it wasn’t long before we got our wish! The bite was better than anything we had seen this morning and I finally felt some weight when I set the hook. This was the one we had been waiting for!

Philippe was impressed by how strong the fish fought and struggled at times just to control the beast. It made many long runs and each time he thought he was gaining, it took everything back out again. This lasted for close to 15 minutes before he was to see why. When the fish finally appeared, both of them were in awe at its size. This was a true monster! It was extremely long and going to be a challenge for him to hold!

After laying the tarp out I heaved the sturgeon aboard and now they were really shocked at just how big it really was. I had to lift the fish up and place it on his lap in order to get any pics. We shot quickly and torpedoed it back immediately afterwards. Now I wanted more!

We were all set up and having lunch when Ghislaine was interrupted by another bite. Fortunately for her, it wasn’t a giant and didn’t take too long to land. We were soon once again disturbed by another fish that actually turned into a double and both of them had to stop eating in order to fight the fish. No time to eat when the fish are biting! One was small and the other was in the teens but they were all great fighters.

We remained in the area fishing sturgeon up until about 1:30 with only one other small fish landed. They had hoped to try for walleye and I packed everything up to make the run. With the winds completely still, I knew it wouldn’t be an easy task and would likely need the electric motor just to get any movement at all.

With a couple of drop shot rods in the water, I slowly moved over the area and Philippe set into a good fish. Once in the net, I realized that it was over the slot and needed to be returned. He landed another fish soon after too but this one was a jumbo perch and gladly retained it for his dinner. We had made a couple of short passes over the area before Ghislaine also connected with a nice eye. Hers was a high end keeper and they were both happy to keep this one as well.

We didn’t stay much longer before they decided to call it a day. They had a great time catching plenty of sturgeon including a true giant and were done. They would be going home with dinner for tonight as well.

Today was a great one all around and especially the weather. For a change I wasn’t fishing in gale force winds or monsoon like rain. It was actually a pleasure to be on the water and definitely made my life much easier all around. Now if they could deliver two of these in a row I would be even happier! Who knows what tomorrow will bring!

I had another double trip day today with Philippe, Simon & Sasha in the morning and Val in the afternoon. I would be under the gun to get the job done in short 4 hour spans but would try my best to put everyone on fish!

We headed out in a pretty good rain that lasted most of the morning and almost no wind. I was going to anchor up for sturgeon with these guys, looking for a few big ones! The plan was to fish most of the morning for them and then try for bass the remainder their time. It’s always a risk switching species when you’re limited to time!

With 4 rods in the water I was sure we would get hit quickly and was right. The bite was light but with no wind, easy to detect in the rod holders. We were immediately on the board with a small fish! For the next few hours we waited and were rewarded with several more juvenile sturgeon. The guys even had a double and one triple header as I didn’t reel in the other lines when they were hooked up. These fish were on fire and I was sure we would have seen something big if we stayed. After one more fish and less than an hour remaining, we packed up and headed to fish for bass.

I tried getting them into some fish in an area that produced great, less than 1 week earlier. We made a couple of drifts in a cross wind that never produced and I decided to make a move. With these winds I thought an open water flat would be a great choice but soon found out it had no wind there. Our drifts were so slow that it felt like we were anchored!

Time ran out quickly and after a couple of failed attempts, we were done. I almost wish that we had of remained on the sturgeon, but you just never know! I headed back to exchange passengers and was back on the water in minutes.

Val had requested bass and I decided to bring him somewhere else due to our previous results. I attempted fishing rock piles in slightly deeper water but without even a bite. Once I slid in shallower however, he managed to catch a couple of good bass and I thought things were about to explode. Unfortunately they were the only two fish that bit! We remained here searching for more bass but the low light and overcast conditions didn’t make it any easier.

Several other moves and attempts at getting into fish were all similar and I tried various spots and techniques just to get something going. In one area while dragging a jig, he even managed to foul hook a sturgeon that had us thinking, big walleye! Things just weren’t going as planned and I was making adjustments constantly. We were even running out of time by now and in a last ditch effort, we headed to open water looking for a few walleye.

The winds had picked up late in the afternoon and we thought it would work in our favour to catch him dinner. With fish marking on the bottom, we made several drifts over them and only managed one. A few others were lost and some hits missed but they just didn’t want to bite. I switched baits a few times but the results were always the same. We were done!

The bite today didn’t go as planned, but at least the sturgeon seemed active. Many of them were landed, just not the giants that I am use to seeing at this time of the year! I almost wish we had of fished for them all day with the way they were acting. The bass & walleye definitely weren’t aggressive, at least where we were! Some bites were had but with all the places we fished, I expected much more. The water temps are still falling and with the cold rain from the last couple of days, they may have gone back deeper. I expect the sun to activate the shallow bite soon, if we ever actually get to see it. Hopefully in the next few days things will change. If not, I will be spending a lot more time in deeper water for the fall biters! Only time will tell!

I’m not sure if it was due to the rain or the fact that it was a week day, but there were definitely fewer boats out today! Scott, Manny & Cory joined me for their annual fishing trip, looking for some big bass bites. Although we began in overcast skies, we all knew it wouldn’t last. It was going to rain on our parade today!

Our first stop should have put plenty of fish in the boat but they struggled just to get bit. Cory managed a couple of nice ones while the others never even had a sniff. After way too long without seeing any fish, I made a move to shallow water and it was here that a couple more quality fish were finally landed. Unfortunately that was all she wrote!

The fishing was definitely much slower than I had expected, but with one more move, it soon turned around. Both Cory & Scott were catching bass but Manny was still having a hard time getting his first legit bite. He did however go three casts in a row with fall fish on his line! The other two brought in several good ones apiece, but I really needed to get Manny into some fish of his own. Time for another move!

With the rain falling pretty good now, I decided that a drift in deeper water would probably be the easiest method and set up where I knew there would be fish. The first several passes yielded some decent fish and a couple of really good ones, but it was Manny’s second fish that would make his trip. It was a true giant of a bass and likely the largest one for my boat this season. He was finally on the board and had lunker of the day! We continued to fish with this method for a while and they kept catching fish. When it finally stopped producing, I made another move and repeated the results once again. It was definitely the right choice of fishing for this wet day!

With the afternoon hours passing fast, we jumped around between casting and drifting and plenty more fish were landed. I think it was Cory however that managed to catch the most, but Scott rallied with several big ones right at the end. We eventually called it after he landed one more fish and headed back in the rain.

These guys are no strangers to bad weather and have endured much colder temps with similar conditions in the past. Today was just a bit of a struggle however with fewer fish than we expected in many of the spots. They definitely worked much harder than usual, but in the end the results were good and Manny’s giant of a bass was the icing on the cake!