Mostly Giant Smallies

Dave would be fishing with me today and hoped to catch a bass over 6 pounds for his personal best! Another trip to one of the trophy lakes in the area and within 15 minutes after arrival, 3 smallies were boated up to 4.5 pounds. The winds were going to be a pain once again as they were blowing 10 to 20 from the E/SE. In a couple of hours of fishing there were 6 bass and 2 lakers landed with the bass being 3 to 4.5 pounds. Air temps were in the high 50’s and the water temps were in the low 50’s. I decided a move was in order and headed to another location with deep water adjacent to a flat. Another lake trout was missed and a couple of big smallies followed the lures, but no takers. In the next area however, Dave finally got his wish! He hooked into a real giant and the fight began! Even with these water temps being 48 degrees. the fish actually managed to jump a few times before she came to the net. A quick measurement of 21 inches by 16 inches put this fish right in the 6-pound category. A couple of quick pictures and back she went. We continued to fish in a few more areas and Dave caught plenty more smallies up to 5 pounds before lunch. After we finished our « Shore Lunch » we were back into fish almost immediately! With the winds getting stronger, I think this was activating the bass as Dave pounded them in the next half hour. One small area produced at least 10 fish with most of them being 4 to 5 pounds, once again. Controlling the boat in three footers without being blown onto the shore wasn’t an easy task, but we managed! Eventually I had to try something else and ran to what I thought was a sheltered area on the other side of the lake. It seemed that the wind just swirled from a different direction here and really wasn’t much different at all. Dave hooked into a fish on his first cast and realized immediately that it wasn’t a bass. It turned out to be a Salmon around 4 pounds and proceeded to go ballistic. The outcome was inevitable as it soon tore off the hook after three spectacular jumps and line screaming runs. It was too bad too, as this would have been a lovely addition to the livewell, with the laker. Another half dozen or so smallies up to 5 pounds were landed in the next short while, before we decided to call it quits. The day ended with at least 25 or 30 smallies caught & released with the average size being over 4.5 pounds. Another spectacular day to say the least!!