After 2 days of cancellations due to crappy weather and winds, I was back on the water this morning. Gaetan, Chantal and Michel were with me and we were going straight to a smallmouth spot. I was under the gun to get it done as the weather was going to get nasty sometime this morning. I needed to get on the fish fast!

Water color wasn’t in my favor, looking gray from 2 days of wind and rain, but I decided to give it a try regardless. Gaetan managed to hook up quite quickly and this gave me the encouragement that I needed to cover the water efficiently. He also hooked into several more before Chantal landed a few of her own. Michel managed to get hits and only temporarily had them hooked, but rebounded later on. All three of them managed to land fish this morning. It may not have ben the numbers I was hoping to see but the quality was definitely there.

We ended the morning as the winds began to get nasty and headed back to the ramp. It was a little bumpy getting there but still better than it had been the last few days out. Gaetan had wanted to get the others out before the season ended and somehow the stars aligned, allowing us to make it happen. They had both managed to land their first ever smallies and that’s all that counts. Everyone left satisfied and a little cold from the weather. Overall a good day nonetheless!

Day 2 for Stephen & Chris saw us targeting sturgeon, in the rain! We may have gotten to our starting location before it began, but it lasted the entire day. Thankfully we had some shelter under the roof. Anchoring up wasn’t easy with the NE winds, but by using a drift sock, we at least kept the boat straight. Stright sideways that is! Something must have been working because we were still able to see the bites and put 5 sturgeon in the boat. Two of them were decent size and gave both Stephen & Chris a great battle. I was surprised that we stuck it out as long as we did, but had to pull the plug shortly after 12:30 when the winds increased. They were now gusting at over 20 knots from the NE and turning the boat completely in the opposite direction. Time to pack it in!

We ran back in some good-sized waves and heavy rains. It felt great getting pelted in the face from the drops. Sort of like hail, I guess! Hell was the word of the day and three crazies had endured the wrath of Mother Nature, once again. Fortunately, our time wasn’t without reward and we all left with a sense of accomplishment. A little damp, but fully satisfied!!

Stephen & Chris wanted to catch their first sturgeon and today we were going to give it a try. Unfortunately, the winds weren’t the best, blowing out of the NE at 10 to 20 knots. Big rollers from the opposing current direction aren’t easy and we were going to have to fish with rod in hand. I really didn’t know what to expect!

The waves were so big that some of them rolled partially over the back deck while we tried to anchor. Even with a drift sock out to try and stabilize the boat angle, we still remained sideways. The wind was definitely stronger than the current today! This wasn’t going to be fun!

Stephen managed to get bit first and boated his first sturgeon minutes later. Although small, it was the right species and caught under these extreme conditions. With lines back out, Chris soon too boated his first sturgeon and now they both had another fish ticked off of their bucket list! One more sturgeon and a big catfish were also landed before we decided to call it on these fish. The waves were just too big to fish comfortably anymore and Plan B was about to come into play. We were heading for bass and slightly more sheltered waters!

It felt nice not to be rolling all over and didn’t take long before Chris was tight to a good smallie. From that point on, we were determined to remain on the bass. Fish of all sizes were landed on both hard baits as well as soft baits, throughout the afternoon. In fact, we left them biting as Chris landed another on his very last cast! This was definitely the right choice, changing to smallmouth bass!

Today was an interesting one to say the least, with the conditions that we were dealt. It was probably the toughest sturgeon fishing that I had ever experienced and I was glad we were done. By switching over to bass we salvaged the remainder of the day, making it another successful outing. They are back again tomorrow and it’s looking like we will be fishing in a monsoon. Hopefully the winds will be somewhat lighter, allowing me to at least raise the roof and remain dry. Oh well, only time will tell if Mother Nature cuts us some slack!!

Peter & Dave had a great day on the water, catching all kinds of smallmouth today. They may have not had favorable winds, but proper boat positioning allowed them to focus on key areas and remain on the fish. They had only booked a half day morning, but I stayed a little longer and ended about 12:15. It’s always hard to leave when the fish are biting! We definitely did just that as a couple of their last casts ended with fish on the line. Overall, another excellent outing with bent rods from start to finish!!

Gaspard was in from France and with me for a day of fishing today. Although we had a cold start, the weather was supposed to warm up quite nicely by mid-day. Couple that with light winds and we had the makings of a perfect fall day.

I decided to make a long run to begin and braved the ride to our first location. It didn’t take long for Gaspard to connect with his first bass, but it wouldn’t be his last. Plenty more fish were had throughout the morning. With each spot we fished, he managed to hook loads of smallies, on a variety of presentations. I just kept covering water and adding to his count!

The afternoon was similar to the morning, with some of the larger bass being landed. Gaspard was just loving the way they fought and all the strength for had for their size. This being his first time in Canada, he definitely picked the right species to catch!

As usual the time flew by, but I saved some of the day to do a little drifting for walleye. It was slower than expected but we did manage to land a few before we were done.  Although he has Zander in France, this was to be his first ever walleye landed as well.

Today was a great day on the water and many fish were caught and released. Gaspard was a pleasure to fish with and very easy to teach the new techniques he used to land all the fish. It’s always nice when you have someone that is used to fishing and understands what to do. I’m sure he’s going to remember today for years to come and so will all his fishing friends back home. They may even be a little jealous as he sent them a few pics from today while they were working. Great day for fishing!!