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Gilles was with me this morning thanks to his girlfriend! She had given him a half day trip with me and today was the day. He was from France, living in Montreal but had never fished the local waters from a boat. This would be a real treat for him as I planned on giving him the grand tour!

We headed on the water shortly after 7 and due to the north winds, I opted for an early morning troll. I thought that with the waves, we might be able to stab a big walleye quickly. With only two of us in the boat, we limited our chances for hookups but were still able to get a bunch of northerns in the process. We spent about 90 minutes trolling the area but weren’t able to scratch up any of the big eyes and pulled the lines to relocate. With the winds dying down, I wanted to get him into fish and drop shotting open flats was up next.

I wasn’t quite sure how our drifts would be with this cross wind, but figured I’d give it a try. With the proper boat angle, I managed to make good drifts along the areas I wanted and he hooked multiple fish on each pass. Plenty of walleye were landed and a few good keepers went into the livewell for him to bring home tonight.

Sometime late in the morning the winds switched to a west and increased, allowing me to drift the paths I wanted. From this point on, multiple hookups were made bringing plenty of walleye into the boat. Unfortunately it was cut short quickly as our time was done. I had extended the morning slightly with the wind change, but time was up for this trip. Half days always pass by way too fast!

Gilles had experienced several different things today and caught plenty of fish in the process. He learned a few new techniques and caught pike & walleye for the first time as well. Hopefully this will open him up to future fishing while in Montreal. Maybe he’ll even come back for the sturgeon when they arrive! Another short but productive day on the water!

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Connie, her husband Rich and their two children, Sandra & Gavin were with me this afternoon. They were in from Ottawa and wanting to catch any type of fish. They were about to do just that and piles of them too!

We hit the water about noon and I headed directly to where I ended the morning trip with John. I had left the fish biting and was hoping they were still eager to eat! It didn’t take long to realize that they were here and they were still biting as we immediately had a triple. Gavin was the only one that didn’t lock up but that was alright. There were tons of fish marking and I knew it was only a matter of time. With each drift we made, multiple fish were landed and even more missed or lost. Gavin however still wasn’t on the board and beginning to feel left out. He was obviously waiting for a bigger fish because when he finally hooked one, it turned out to be a nice keeper walleye. They had hoped to bring a few fish home and this was definitely one they would be taking.

I moved around throughout the afternoon, looking for active fish and hit them everywhere we stopped. Everyone was having a great time and catching tons of fish in the process. Both Gavin & his sister Sandra managed to get some good sized northerns as well in the deep water, as an added bonus. Connie seemed plagued with the day care fish but eventually contributed to the livewell with a nice keeper near the end. We called it a day at 4:30 after the last good keeper eye and headed back to the launch to take out.

I don’t think they had expected this much action today with everyone catching so many fish. In fact, they didn’t even bring a cooler to take some of them home, after their last fishing trip. Today was a different experience all together! They had landed high numbers of fish and we culled through some of them to be able to take home a limit of nice walleye. They would be eating fresh fish tonight and remembering their great day of fishing, here in Montreal. Who could ask for anything more!

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I had the pleasure of fishing with John from North Carolina this morning. He had never caught a walleye, pike or smallie and I planned on ticking all three of the list. We met up at 7 and headed out in a really nice chop for a change and from the right direction too! Although most would shy away from open water in a wind like this, I welcomed it with open arms! Two footers are always appreciated and make for a great drift as well as a great troll.

We settled on an offshore spot right in the heart of the rollers and began drop shotting the deep, open water flats. I had figured on ticking two species off his list quickly but was surprised to see only the walleye biting in this area. Several drifts later he still had only landed walleye so I moved a ways over to see if I could lock him up there. Same thing here as one small walleye after another was brought to net! Eventually I just decided to run elsewhere to see about the pike and pulled out completely.

With lines in, we began the troll and he was into a nice northern pretty quick. Although not a really big one, it was fine with him to have actually caught another fish on his list! We kept at it as I wanted to see if we could upgrade and possible get a big walleye from this area too. Well the northern cooperated as he locked up on one of the larger ones that live here and was really happy to have this fish for a pic. Unfortunately the big eyes never showed and we eventually headed to another spot looking for a big brownie.

The first stop proved to be useless as nothing even showed! I decided to go much shallower and it was here that he managed to hook into a quality smallmouth. This was something he had hoped for and enjoyed the aerials and intense fight! Although he had caught plenty of largemouth & spotted bass back home, this was to be his first ever smallie. Not a bad starter fish indeed! Several pics later she was released and we were back at it again. Although he managed to land one other bass, smaller than the first and missed a few others, it really wasn’t on fire. I opted to finish up the last half hour in deep water looking for those schooling smallies!

We were back where we had began and this time marking more fish than previously. I had high expectations but they still didn’t want to cooperate! In the last 30 minutes he must have boated 6 or 8 fish but they were all small and we were done. We pulled the plug a little after 11:30 as he had a Taxi coming at 11:45 and I had an afternoon booking as well.

This day couldn’t have gone any better except maybe a big eye for his pics. He had managed to catch all three of the fish he wanted and some really good ones too! Let’s just say that he left on a high! Maybe with any luck the next time he gets back to Montreal it might be a little later and the sturgeon bite will be on. Only time will tell but in the mean time, he’ll be savoring the results from today for quite a while!

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A half day booking was made for this morning through a hotel concierge, for a party of two. Turns out it became three and the third person was someone I had taken out just this week. Honas (aka John) from Czech was accompanying Tomas and his son Sebastien and conditions looked great. The winds were light from the SW and this would make for a great drift to start their day. I headed directly to a deeper area to drop shot and instructed the others on what to do. Honas had fished this technique before, so he had a good understanding. His last time out saw us in 3 footers or better and having to use two drift socks just to slow down. Today would be much easier!

A triple header was how they began their fishing day, as we managed to stumble upon a small school of walleye on the first drift. Right after the lines were back in, Honas locked up on a nice smallie and the others weren’t too far behind. Fish after fish were being hooked and some of them even managed to make it to the net while others were either lost or missed completely. This place was loaded this morning and our drift speed was perfect! I just continued to make multiple passes over different sections and they just kept hooking up. Tomas finally got his shot at fighting a nice smallie and the battle was aerial. It must have jumped 3 or 4 times, but the fish stayed pinned and finally came to the net. Everyone was having a great time and the fish were cooperating. There’s no better way to initiate someone than to constantly have them locked up!

After a couple of hours of catching all kinds of fish, they wanted to try for something bigger. Pike would be what we would be going for and trolling would be the technique used. They would love this easy method of fishing and hopefully these fish would cooperate too!

Lines were set and almost on cue the first reel fired with a good northern. Then a second one and we had our first double header! Tomas & his son Sebastien reeled in a couple of big northerns and several pics were taken before they were returned. Back at it, reels continued to fire for a while but with slightly smaller fish. Each time Honas was up, it was really small. Although bigger fish were being caught, it seemed like it was from everyone else. The bite went on for a while with good numbers of fish being caught but we were running out of time. I really wanted to get him a larger fish but it wasn’t going to happen today.

With less than an hour remaining in their morning trip, we headed back to deeper water again to drop shot. This last 45 minutes saw about ten more fish being landed and a pile more lost. A mix of bass & walleye once again and some nice ones too! All three of them had landed good numbers of fish in just a few hours of fishing and with very little down time before we were done. Tomas had a tee off time scheduled for 12:30 and we had to leave.

These last couple of weeks had seen many Czech fishermen in my boat and all from one common denominator. Peter Svoboda had brought me several new clients and I don’t think it will slow down anytime soon! All these people are connected to the hockey world and training here in Montreal during the summer. In fact, Honas will be here in Canada for an entire year training while attending school at the same time. Who knows, maybe we be seeing him in the NHL soon! All I know is that these guys love to fish and I love having them on the water catching. In the next couple of weeks I will hopefully have some of them battling giant sturgeon that will keep them coming back for more. Big fish days ahead!

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It seems that this year I only have two types of wind, giant or none! I actually thought today that I would be lucky to have something in between, but I was wrong. An early morning thunder storm passed through and by the time I was to meet my guests, it went completely flat. I had arrived almost an hour earlier than them with a nice chop on the water, but it soon disappeared. When they finally met me, the lake looked like a mirror!

Peter Svoboda was back again with Milo and his grandson Adam as well as his father. They were hoping for a similar day to the one we had a week ago. I had set everything up for drop shotting but didn’t know if we would be able to make it happen without any wind. There wasn’t very much current either making this even more difficult! Ironically on our first drift, they all locked up giving them another quad for their start. This was the second time it had happened and it was a very good sign of things to come! All of their fish were walleye but only one of them was legal and found it’s way into the livewell. We made a few more drifts hoping for others to join it but were plagued with only small ones. I shifted to another spot close by and soon found that the current was even slower here. Several more small walleye later we pulled the plug and attempted trolling nearby.

I had hoped to get Adam into a bunch of fish today but it wasn’t looking good. We covered a lot of water and relocated a few times only to come up empty and without even as much as a single rip. I even had to raise the roof when it began to rain so that everyone stayed dry. The skies showed signs of showers in a few areas and I didn’t want to go anywhere until it stopped. Eventually we were able to drop the top and made a long run to a place that I was sure would be holding some fish.

Once we arrived at our new location, it didn’t take long. I barely had time to get the four lines in and one of the reels fired giving Adam a well deserved fish to fight. Within seconds another reel went off and his father was also battling one of his own. Things were actually starting to look a whole lot better now that we were around fish! They both managed to bring their fish to net, making for a great Kodak moment! We returned them afterwards and got right back at it putting several more fish on Adam’s line. I even had to re raise the roof again, but this time it was because of the sunshine. It had become a real scorcher without any wind and we were all baking! Although the trolling bite wasn’t great, we did manage to pick at the fish here & there. Adam even landed a nice keeper walleye that joined the other one in the well. Time was passing fast and I wanted to see more action so we headed to another area and tried our luck at casting for bass.

Once we arrived, I showed everyone what to do and they began casting soft plastics to the fish. Unfortunately it didn’t last long as I noticed some bad weather off in the distance. I could see the heavy cloud masses and immediately checked the radar. There were storms coming our way and I moved to another area closer to the ramp to monitor the systems. I don’t think we were there for 3 minutes when both Milo & I saw lightning. I had thought I heard thunder earlier and now it was confirmed. We immediately packed up and raced back to the ramp to take out. I never mess with electricity while on the water! It had been a while since I opened the motor up, but this gave me a reason to go full pin! We made it back with plenty of time and I knew it was the right decision.

Although our day was cut a little short, it was still a great outing filled with lots of fish. Adam & his father had gotten to experience what the others had already done and everyone had a good time in the process. I would have liked to move around a bit more but we ran out of time due to the weather. Better safe than sorry as no fish is worth risking a life over. There’s always another day!