Today I had Chang and his parents on the boat, along with his brother-in-Law. His parents were in from Korea and they wanted to fish. We spent the morning dropshotting and they all caught many good fish. Bass, walleye and perch were landed in the 4-hour trip and there were plenty of them too. Although most were released, some of them were harvested for all to enjoy. The weather even held out with flat calm conditions, making it easier for them to fish. Heavy, smokey air wasn’t great however and high heat and humidity made it even worse. I was glad we were only out for a half day! Nevertheless, it was still a great fishing day!

Hudson joined me today and was flying solo, all the way from Florida. He mainly fished saltwater back home, but today he would be looking for a few new freshwater species. I was planning on making it happen, despite the foul weather forecast. Winds were supposed to start blowing big, early this morning and I was on a timeline to make it happen!

I decided to start on a spot that usually held both bass and walleye, but he was only able to get a couple of smallies. Despite multiple hits, bass were the only species he managed to catch from this first area.

I switched it up completely next and targeted sturgeon. Hudson was able to land a few before the winds kicked up so bad that we had to leave. I knew we wouldn’t have long to fish them and fortunately we got it done!

With the wind up now, I thought we’d give trolling a shot and made a long, rough run to the next location to fish. It wasn’t easy, but I made it work and he caught several decent pike. These too were on the list of never before caught fish and now he officially had a freshwater slam!

We were well into the afternoon by this time and I was running out of places to fish comfortably. I decided to make another long run to a shallow open water flat in hopes of getting a few more fish, before we called it a day. It was still blowing bigtime, but at least we weren’t in huge rollers!

The last couple of hours were spent covering the shallows and Hudson had multiple missed chances at big bass. He did manage however to catch a couple of really good ones before we were done.

The run back was more like surfing as I angled the boat towards the ramp. I’m sure that there were 4 footers or better in places and was glad to be in the Ranger again! The worst area had to be within the last quarter mile of the shore as we were plagued with wind surfers. There must have ben 30 of them going in all directions. Not easy to navigate when you’re trying to ride the waves and stay dry!

Today was a fun filled trip with multiple changes needed to make it a success. Nothing came easy as Mother Nature showed us her ugly side again. Despite all the obstacles in our path, we fended quite well and Hudson got to experience some great freshwater fishing. Just another day in paradise!

Brahm & his grandson Sam had another tough morning of fishing today. Only 1 pike for our troubles trolling and casting wasn’t much better either. Although they caught bass, they missed more than they landed. The best part of their trip was the two sturgeon they brought to the boat. Definitely not one of the better days on the water! Hopefully tomorrow will be better!

Chris and his son Mason fished with me this morning on a cool but calm day. I decided not to troll, but instead focus on dropshotting some of the deeper flats. In one area, we remained for quite a while as Chris landed both walleye and bass in numbers. Mason wasn’t as fortunate but he did manage to catch a good one and miss several others.

I wanted to get them into some bigger fish and hit an area holding sturgeon. It was here that Mason caught probably the biggest fish of his life. Once done, we returned to casting soft plastics in the shallows for bass. The remainder of their morning trip was focused on this area and a bunch more were landed by both.

Sunshine and flat calm waters were today’s forecast and for once they got it right. We returned to the ramp with a smooth ride on glass like waters. Plenty of fish were caught in the short half day trip today and some pretty good ones by both. I only hope the weather holds out a little longer as this makes fishing so much more enjoyable. I guess only time will tell!

Jim, David and his daughter Elinor joined me this morning for a four-hour trip. We were unlucky enough to have another morning where the air temps dropped overnight, but I was sure we could still get bit. I began with a troll and only received a couple of bites in the hour we tried. At least Emily managed to land her first ever northern! I switched it up soon after and headed elsewhere to cast instead. I wasn’t wasting any more time trolling this area.

I had all three dropshot a flat and Emily was the only one that managed to catch a fish. She began not knowing what to do and was soon casting on her own and hooking fish as well. I had a plan C and changed to soft plastics, moving once again. It was in here that they all started catching bass. Although everyone landed fish, Emily definitely caught the bulk of them.

One last switch for the day saw a couple of good sturgeon landed by both David and his daughter Emily before we were done. As I didn’t have an afternoon trip scheduled, I decided to stay out until noon. In the end, it was the right choice, giving them all extra time to fish.

Despite our slow start today, it all turned around when the weather warmed. I could have used a different wind direction, but still managed in the big NW that we had. I know these fish aren’t liking the cold fronts and only hope that the weather settles down for the balance of the week. It’s still too early to be having fall like conditions, but either way, I’ll still get it done!!