Cole and his son Tucker joined me today, hoping to catch some new species of fish. The weather looked like it was in our favor for a change, but last night’s electrical storms might be a bit of a problem. Would the fish be willing to bite today?

We started on an offshore spot and managed to catch several fish, but mostly perch. A couple of bass were landed along with a walleye, but they weren’t very active. Although I was marking plenty of fish, they didn’t seem to want to eat! I realized quickly that I would have to move around today and jumped to another shallower place for bass. Here they boated a few but Tucker managed to catch the majority doing practically nothing. Soft plastic baits dead-sticked was the ticket for him. We called it the do-nothing technique!

I had even tried a troll for an hour that only ended up producing weeds. There were so many floaters that I spent most of my time cleaning the rods! Definitely not a productive technique today!

The last couple of hours saw us dropshotting open rock shoals and they caught a mix of walleye and bass once again. Unfortunately, the wind had picked up from the west and gotten big. Regardless, the fish were biting now and we stuck it out right to the last minute. Today was a roller coaster of activity with the fish. The storms yesterday and last night definitely had them in a bit of a funk. It took almost the entire day before they became active again. Fortunately, we moved around a lot and tried various techniques to get biters. In the end, they both had a great time and landed several fish that they had never caught before. It was a tough but rewarding day!!

Another double today saw Tyler and his mother in the morning and Gilles, his wife and grandson in the afternoon. The morning trip saw us fishing for smallies on soft plastics and although tough, they still caught some good ones. The afternoon trip was cut short due to the weather, but they still managed some nice smallies as well. We fished mostly deeper water with dropshot rigs and unfortunately more bass were lost than landed. Once the thunder and lightning rolled in, we headed off the water. Too bad too, because we left them biting!!

Another double trip today saw Andrew and Jordan in the morning and Carl and his family in the afternoon. The morning trip was more pleasant, weather wise and the afternoon was another scorcher. Both caught fish but the afternoon was definitely tougher in these conditions. Dropshotting accounted for all the bass and walleye in the morning, with Andrew getting his PB smallie. Soft plastics fished slowly was the ticket in the afternoon as we targeted smallmouth bass exclusively. It was a tough day, but many fish were either caught or lost from both trips!!

Mike and his son Nick hit the water with me this morning for a half day trip. Nick had never caught a walleye before and I was about to change that. Our first stop was a little slow to start, but he soon managed his first one. It was a good keeper and went into the livewell for later. With each drift we made, fish were being caught and it seemed like Nick was the only one getting them. He made it a point to let his father know too! He even caught a really big smallie that we unfortunately never managed to get a pic of before the release. Eventually we were forced to go to casting for the fish instead of a drift and dropshot, due to the winds laying down completely. Plenty more fish were landed in the remaining time and Mike finally had a few as well. By the time we were done, it was another scorcher out with zero wind and blazing sun once again. We were leaving at just the right time! Great morning for the eyes!!

Mary and her husband John treated their grandson Mack, to a day of fishing. The three of them enjoyed the time spent, catching both bass and walleye today. With flat calm waters, it wasn’t easy, but I made it work. Although mostly cloudy early in the trip, it soon gave way to bright sunshine and scorching heat after a little rain. We had to fish slow and deeper than usual to get the bites. In the end, they caught plenty of fish, including some really nice ones too! They even managed to take a few of them home for their dinner tonight. Overall a tough but rewarding family day!!