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Today was a nice change of pace as I got to target fall walleye. Darren hooked up with me after 8:30 due to family duties but it didn’t matter. The fish would wait!

We raced to our first spot and I decided to do a little trolling in order to see how they were positioned. It didn’t take long before I started marking big arches and Darren was tight to his first fish. He soon brought a healthy over to the net and after a couple of pics, we released it unharmed. I knew from this fish exactly how we were going to fish and carried on with the troll. About 10 minutes later he was locked up again and this time it was even bigger. More pics and back she went, with us resuming our search for more & bigger.

Darren was on fire today with multiple hookups and fish boated and I still hadn’t had a bite. I was even contemplating a lure change but I was in too deep and now it was personal. I was bound & determined to hook up on what I was using and eventually I set in to heaviness. I exchanged the rod with Darren and as soon as I had his in hand, we were doubled! That’s a fair trade I guess! As the fish I was fighting was smaller, I landed it quickly and went for a bigger net for his. This walleye stretched over 26 inches and turned out to be big fish of the day. It was fat and healthy and a beautiful gold color too! I took a bunch of good pics and Darren released her back to continue growing.

The balance of the day saw similar results with plenty more quality eyes being caught and some of them even made it into the livewell. More than 75% of the fish today were overs but we still managed to box a few keepers for dinner tonight. At one point we even attempted casting drop shot rigs to the fish but pulled the plug after almost an hour with just a couple of hits. These big eyes were scattered and covering water was the only way to get them to eat. Although the bites weren’t that aggressive, they were definitely noticeable if you paid attention. In fact some of them were so light that they never even got pinned. Several misses were had as some of the hits were actually pushes!

We fished until after 3:30 and landed a few more walleye before calling it a day. There may not have been a ton of fish caught today but there were definitely enough to keep us interested. The best thing was that the bulk of the catch were big! Fall is a great time to get into some of the largest fish of the year, for just about any species. These walleye were a nice change to all the bass I’ve been targeting lately and I can’t wait to get back out again. With more bookings ahead, I’m sure I can mix in a few days to fish for big eyes once again. There are still several more weeks left before we switch over to the hard water fishing and plenty of open days are available. I just hope that « Mother Nature » gives us a break with the cold & wind long enough to take advantage of the great fishing ahead!

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After three back to back cancellations due to the weather, I was back on the water again today. Scott, Manson & Corey were with me looking for more bronzebacks and hoping for some giants. I was just praying that the deep freeze didn’t send them into a lockjaw mode!

Once we broke some ice to get out to the lake, I was surprised to see that the water temps had only dropped to 48 degrees. Amazingly, we had lost just 3.5 degrees since the last time I was out!

Scott was fishing slower than usual this morning due to a rough night, but this would actually be in his favor. With overcast skies and cooler water temps, the metabolism of the bass would be reduced. Fishing slow would be the way to go! He locked up on his first cast but soon found out that it wasn’t what we were after. It was a fall fish and quickly returned to the water unharmed. Not long after however, he nailed another and this time, it was what we were after. Although not a monster, it was photo worthy and made the cut. Manson also hooked into a fish but his too wasn’t what we were after and also returned.

The fishing was definitely tough but I knew they were here and had everyone slow down their presentations in order to get bit. It paid off as several good fish were landed by each of them from the area we were in. Corey managed to hook into a few beauties, but somehow lost the biggest ones while battling them. He did however bring another good one to net before we relocated though!

I decided to cover some water in search of more fish and trolled outside edges, looking for big arches. I marked plenty but for some reason they didn’t want to chase. This would have been a great time to fish live minnows, but under the circumstances, it was out of the question! We would just have to tempt then with artificials! We moved along slowly and eventually a few of the fish I was marking began to cooperate. Manson hooked up and brought a nice one to net that was worthy of a pic. A little while later, Corey hooked into what turned out to be big fish of the day. It was definitely the quality we were after and things were finally looking up! I really thought they were going to start crushing the fish, but this wasn’t the case. Instead, they just picked at them again with one here and one there!

I moved around plenty and each place we stopped, someone hooked up. Manson eventually got into his grove and nailed several on a jig. It wasn’t easy today but the fish were all pretty good ones! Slow was definitely the word of the day and unless you were paying attention, hits were missed. With each new location someone got bit, so I decided to move often in order to keep them locked up.

The last two areas we fished for the day produced some nice fish once again, but it was tough. Corey monopolized one spot by hooking all the fish and landed 75% of his hookups. In fact his final fish of the day was a really good one and became the last pic of the day as well. We were done!

Although today may not have been one of those high number days, it was definitely another quality fish one. I expect the coming weeks to be no different with water temps constantly falling. A little sunshine may get the bass chewing better, but lately that’s not the case. Overcast days have been the norm and I know just what to expect. Slower presentations are accounting for bigger fish and that’s exactly how we’re going to continue to fish. I’ll be back out again real soon!

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After a couple of successful days prior to today with friends, I was back out with Phil for more smallie action. I began with a demonstration cast, showing him how to work the bait and was locked up immediately! It’s always nice when the fish cooperate! It didn’t take long after the release for Phil to hook up as well and I knew there would be many more. We fished the area for well over an hour and had plenty of hookups, with most being lost during the fight. I wasn’t sure what was happening but at least we landed many as well.

Our next area also produced lots of action and a good number of bass were landed despite more losses. I wasn’t sure why and tried to make adjustments to change our landing ratio. Unfortunately throughout the day, the same thing continued to happen making it very frustrating. If we had of caught all the fish we actually had on, it would have been an absolutely unbelievable day! We did slow down a bit and upped our percentage of fish coming to the boat in the afternoon, but were still dropping a good number. Hooks were plenty sharp so I knew that wasn’t the problem! Must have been the other end of the rod I guess!

With plenty of places being fished today, we were always on fish. Although I would have liked to move around more, the number of boats on the water didn’t allow me that luxury. We could only fish places that weren’t occupied already, but still fended quite well. Big fish were landed today, but no real giants!

Despite tomorrow’s sub zero weather forecast, there will still be plenty more days that are fishable. I’m hoping that this arctic blast leaves as fast as it comes in, because I may have to cancel some of my bookings, starting this weekend. Unfortunately I have no control over the weather and safety always comes first. I’m pretty sure tomorrow will be one of those days and called on account of wind and cold. Let’s just hope that the winds drop & Saturday isn’t the same! This is football season and there’s plenty of them to be caught!

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Scott & Obie hit the water this morning with me after a cancellation last Monday. Between the winds and the rain, we had to reschedule for today. We did have both again though, but on a much smaller scale! Rains were misty and more off than on making it more comfortable to fish.

Scott got the ball rolling early when he locked up on a giant, from his first bite of the day. Nice starter fish! Although the water was still somewhat stained, the fish seemed a little more active than this past weekend. I thought they were going to crush them after seeing Scott’s fish and instructed Obie how to fish the area effectively. Soon after he was tight to one of his own and battling a nice fish as well. We fished this area thoroughly in the next hour or so and they both landed and lost several more decent bass.

I decided to cover water a bit more and ventured offshore looking for more big fish. Unfortunately all we could find were smaller than average ones and I gave up on this rather quickly. I thought I’d set them up on a steep edge next when I began marking fish and Scott nailed a good one almost immediately. They both missed a few more after and only landed about 50% of their bites before I pulled the plug on the area entirely.

The winds had increased quite a bit more and switched from the west to the N/NW blowing about 20 knots. This definitely made fishing difficult and more adjustments were needed in order to keep them on fish. I figured that the big winds and direction change might have the fish active and went shallow to give it a try. Immediately they began catching fish after fish and some real quality! Obie even landed his personal best and one of the better ones this season. We milked this area for everything it was worth until nothing wanted to bite anymore. The damage was done and we did it!

With time running out in the day I decided to try the area we began in and they managed to land another half dozen good fish before we called it a day. They also missed at least that many hits as well in the time we fished it!

Scott will be back again next week with a couple of other friends and with any luck, the weather will be as nice as it was today. He has a history of wind & rain if not snow and today was probably the nicest it’s ever been! Our luck it’ll be a blizzard and be way below freezing! I’m crossing my fingers and toes for the best!

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November 3rd & 4th 2017

Craig & Herm had an interesting 2 day trip this year, to say the least! Friday saw the day beginning with air temps in the low 50’s and heavy rain at the start. Winds were suppose to howl to over 40 knots from the west, starting early morning. It had the makings of a perfectly regular trip for these two!

The fishing was more difficult than I had expected it to be and they just picked at them for the first couple of hours. Fortunately the rains stopped fairly quickly, making fishing a whole lot more comfortable. Craig managed to nail several nice ones while Herm continued to struggle and it only got worse. The winds began to blow pretty good early afternoon and boat control was difficult at best. They were definitely working for each & every bite! I was also limited to where I could fish as the waves were pretty big all over. At least the boat traffic was light with only about 4 others on the water. I was sure it would change by tomorrow and hit all the best places today. Right around 4:00 we called the day and headed back to take out. Tomorrow would be another day and lighter winds were forecasted . This would likely bring out more boats than I wanted but we would be back regardless. Still a good day today!

Saturday morning saw us starting in below freezing temps. It had dipped to about 29 degrees overnight and frosted everything up after yesterdays rainfall. I was just glad I was able to open the compartment lids on the boat! What I wasn’t happy about were all the boats at the ramp when we arrived. More trailers were even in the parking lot as well. I think they must have launched in the dark!

We headed out without any preconceived notions of what & where we would fish. I would have to decide everything based on the boat traffic and hoped for a place or two to be able to cast.

Unlike yesterday, Herm wasted no time getting the first fish in the boat but the second one was a different story. Bites were few & far between and we were forced to fish really slow to get them. Eventually after relocating around other boats, I held in an area that was to produce multiple fish for both. Herm landed a giant and his best fish of the trip while drop shotting a deep area. It was nice to finally see a real quality bass in the net. Craig followed it up with several more good ones but none as big as the one Herm had caught.

We had made many moves already and I decided to move to an open water spot that I hadn’t fished once this fall. I was actually surprised that it wasn’t already occupied when I arrived! Craig nailed another giant on almost his first cast that topped Herm’s for the day. He followed it up with several others and another even bigger too! Daylight was getting on as I made another move and they boated several other slightly smaller fish from our last spot. By 4:00 we were once again done!

The two day trip they experienced was interesting to say the least. Water color was absolutely terrible with all the high winds and rain that we received recently. This somehow effected the fish as the numbers just weren’t there! The quality definitely was however and that’s exactly what they had wanted. They left with many nice pics of the big fish they landed. Craig will be back again next week with Steve for a little more redemption. Hopefully the fishing will be even better and the numbers of big fish will be there too! I can wait for a little redemption myself!