Today was quite the day for missed opportunities! Mike and his group definitely had a tough time getting into fish, right from the start. Between the almost nonexistent sturgeon and light biting bass & walleye, it wasn’t easy.

We began trying for sturgeon but despite marking many when we arrived, all we could come up with was an American Eel and one freshwater drum. Oh yeah, I did have one shot at a good sturgeon but it came unpinned seconds before passing the rod off. It definitely felt heavy!

After about 5 hours of changing areas multiple times, we decided to go for something else. The open water bass & walleye were our next stop and hopefully we would salvage this day!

Immediately after getting the lines in, our first fish came aboard. Although it was big it was only a perch and tossed right back. I was marking all kinds of walleye on the bottom and was sure they would get into them pretty good. After several drifts with only missed fish, I realized this wasn’t the case! We switched to another area a little further away and I think everyone had fish on but not one of them was landed. Some of them even had multiple bites but could never get one to stick for long!

I made a couple more moves in the remaining time and the results were almost the same. One more perch was landed but all the better fish were either missed or lost reeling in. We were officially done!

To say that today was a tough day would be an understatement! The opportunities may not have been numerous but there were still many. I’m not sure what was going on but was glad that it was over. This was the toughest day so far this season and the results were not great. Hopefully by tomorrow this will all be a memory that can be forgotten. With any luck, we will turn the tables and come back with a great day again. I’ll be crossing my fingers and toes this time!

Well for the second time this week I had a cancellation! Unlike a couple of days ago however, today’s client was a flat out “No Show”! This really doesn’t sit well with me! After several unanswered texts and a phone message I left, I finally got to talk to him when I called again. He said he’d talk to his friend and call me back! Fifteen minutes later he decided to text me that they weren’t coming. He couldn’t even call me to talk! It takes a special kind of person to do this shit! Immediately he was added into a blacklist that I keep for people like this!

After rearranging my schedule for Yury today and giving him an earlier start time of 10:30, he decides that he isn’t coming at 11:00. One person’s loss is another’s gain as Christiane got to fish for the second time this week. We headed onto the water before noon and were going to try a few areas for bass this time. Hopefully this would rid me of the bad taste left in my mouth from Yury’s no show!

I decided to check out a few other places for sturgeon first and spent plenty of time just idling all over. We never even dropped the lines in as I didn’t see anything worth fishing over! Time for some bass!

I knew we weren’t going to be out long and headed to a spot I hadn’t fished in a while to toss some blades. It didn’t take long and Christiane had a big follower all the way to the boat. A little while later, I nailed a good one and thought we were into something. Unfortunately it jumped off on the way to the boat and was gone. Several yards later Christiane finally hooked into a 3 pounder and brought it to net. I knew we would get more and didn’t bother with the pics!

The conditions were great for what we were doing and I made another pass to see if we could pick up a few more quality bites. It wasn’t long before I had an answer as Christiane nailed a really good one. It fought just like a fall smallmouth should and eventually I had it in the net. This one would definitely make the cut for pics!

A number of other bass were also hooked and either landed or lost in the next hour as we covered plenty of water. I was just testing this place out and pleasantly surprised to find as many fish here as there were. I will be back with clients in the future and refine it more with several bait changes!

Neither of us wanted to get off too late and decided to hit a couple of other areas before we were done. Both of them produced fish but not the way they should have. One of them showed schooling walleye that apparently had lock jaw! I tried several drifts and changed baits a few times only to come up with nada. We did however manage to get into both bass and some pretty good sized perch!

By 3:30 we called the day and pulled off the water. Christiane was happy just to have gotten out again and even happier to have landed some nice smallies. I was glad to see some schooling fish and can’t wait to get back on them again. Overall this day started out bad but ended better! I’m still disappointed in some people but fortunately not everyone acts like this! Karma has a way of coming around and I can’t wait to see if he gets back to me for another trip. I know he won’t like how much it’ll cost him this time!

James was back with me again today along with his father Joe. We were going to attempt sturgeon fishing one more time but wouldn’t spend the day trying for them. Hopefully this time they would cooperate!

We ran to the area in a NE wind, through some pretty good rollers! Wind against current is never fun and today was one of those roller coaster rides. In fact, I even had to use a drift sock to anchor, just to keep us from getting blown up current!

Well, the sturgeon didn’t cooperate once again and all we managed to get for our time spent was a perch, a drum and one big ass catfish! I really didn’t mark very much either and it wasn’t for lack of trying. I idled all over this area and many more as well as re anchoring several times in the 3 hours we tried. Time to pull the plug while we still had plenty of day left!

I decided to switch to casting a drop shot on the first spot and despite the conditions, only managed to get a few bites. The fish were hitting weird and not getting pinned. Even the ones that actually got hooked fell off either at the boat or in the net! Another attempt at a spot close by saw similar results with only one bass coming aboard, on the very first cast.

With the winds creating giant rollers now, I crossed through the channel and second guessed my decision along the way. I wanted to hit an area that was holding some nice bass and literally surfed through the troughs and crests! It was definitely big!

I had them both tossing blades and James hooked up almost immediately. It was worth the run when I saw the size of his fish! Joe also hooked into something shortly after, but it turned out to be a northern. I think it was the first one I’d ever seen from here!

I made a couple of passes over the area afterwards, but we never saw another fish. Time to pick up and go elsewhere! I wasn’t sure where I was going to be able to fish in these winds but I would find somewhere to go.

I made a long run and wanted to try some deep areas that I would normally drift over but with the wind against current, it was like we were anchored. We did manage to get one small walleye casting but the fish being marked just didn’t want to move. I quickly pulled the plug here and moved on to another area.

The next location saw a couple of fish landed but just like all the other spots, it was tough! Despite marking plenty of fish under the boat at times, they just didn’t seem to want the offerings. Even with a couple of bait changes, they still wouldn’t bite!

A couple more moves were made and one or two fish were caught in each, along with a few missed strikes. Our last area was close to the take out and I decided to use the main engine to slowly go down current over the rocks. In & out of gear was necessary to ensure proper speed against the wind! Here they managed to boat 3 more walleye before we were done. I had pulled out all the stops on this difficult day!

Today was an exhausting one, both physically & mentally and I was glad it was over. We had tried so many places and only picked at the fish from each stop. The wind against current thing is never easy and today was a perfect example of its difficulty. Although fish were had, I didn’t expect to have to fish so many areas in order to make it work. I know it will get better, but hope it’s real soon! Fall fishing should be starting with the cooler nights and the fish will be biting much better, if Mother Nature can only cut me some slack. She usually waits till at least the end of October before she craps all over me. I guess she’s getting an early start this year!

A last minute cancellation this morning saw Christiane & I heading out before noon. She hasn’t had much time on the water this season with all the bookings I’ve had, but definitely lucked out today!

We began trying for a few walleye but the flat calm conditions didn’t make it easy where we were. No wind equals no current and movement was at a minimum! I was marking schools of perch and many walleye but all we could come up were the perch. One small walleye did get landed but was returned as it didn’t make the cut.

Our second spot was a little better with several smallies being caught and Christiane managed to bring in a good keeper from here as well. I also landed a walleye but it fell short and was returned.

I didn’t want to waste too much time looking for feeding fish and decided to go and try for sturgeon for a couple of hours. It would hopefully be better than the action we were having and a whole lot more relaxing too!

After idling around for a bit, I finally settled in an area where I was marking a few fish. Although not great looking, it was the best I could find! We remained here for almost 20 minutes without even a sniff before I was forced to relocate. The next area also gave up nothing as well and I began the search all over again. I finally settled on one final spot and was glad that I had, when one of the rods received a legitimate bite.

I could tell when I reared back on the fish that it wasn’t big, but it felt nice to actually set the hook on something. Christiane reeled it in with barely any fight and once we saw it beside the boat, we knew why. It was a smaller than usual sturgeon, but at least the right species!

I hadn’t had anymore bites in a while and made one final attempt at locating some fish. We were going to try for ten minutes and call it a day if nothing happened.

Just when I was getting ready to pack it up, I saw a slight twitch on the outside line. Christiane hadn’t seen anything, but I grabbed the rod regardless and waited for the next bite before setting into a little more weight. She finally had something heavier than the one she had caught earlier. I brought the other rod in and just cleaned up while she did battle with her fish.

I had noticed that this one was fighting different than most sturgeon do and once it got close enough to the boat, could see why. As it turned out, this was a big channel catfish and not what we had expected! I think it was the second biggest one that I had seen from these waters too! The boga officially registered it as 14 pounds and several pics were taken before the release. We were officially done for the day!

Without realizing it, Christiane had filled her slam with an unusual trio of fish. We had spent 4 hours on the water and had a relaxing afternoon fishing. Who knows when she will be able to get back out again as my calendar is filling up more & more each day. There’s very few openings left for the remainder of the season and I know I’ll have to disappoint many more people in the weeks to come. In the meantime however, I’ll be on the water as many days as Mother Nature will allow!

James & Dave hit the water with me this morning for what we hoped would be a great day. To our surprise, we were going to have to work much harder than we had anticipated to get the fish to bite!

We began fishing for sturgeon but after several unsuccessful hours and multiple moves, we decided to throw in the towel. The fish were all over the place but for some reason, just didn’t want to bite. Frustrating but not surprised!

After wasting so much time trying for a big bite, we finally pulled out the drop shot rods and started boating both smallies and walleye on the first couple of areas we fished. At least they were catching a few fish now, instead of washing worms like before!

Time had passed quickly and now we were heading back to shore to pick up their kids for the remaining hours in the day. Hopefully they would have better luck than their parents had this morning!

With a really full boat now, all I could do was drop shot over a few flats and hope for the best. Five kids, five rods and a whole lot of attention was needed to ensure that they caught fish. Fortunately, all of them managed to land something, thanks to the worms we had in the boat. I guess sturgeon fishing was a good idea after all!

Today may not have gone as I had hoped, but in the end some of the fish did actually bite! I had to make many adjustments and fish much slower than usual to entice the fish today. James and Dave enjoyed seeing their children all land a few fish with the biggest going to Sophia with her smallie. Thank god for live worms!