Well, another postponement had me open again, so Keith & his daughter Lindsay joined me for a day on the lake. Lindsay brought along her two children, Avery & Annabelle for a great day of fishing & fun! I knew it was going to be a hot one so I informed them to bring some swim suits as I had a great place for them to cool off. We met up around 7:00 and headed out in almost flat calm conditions, with just a slight breeze out of the south. Perfect day for the kids! It had been a couple of years since Avery or Annabelle fished with me and I wanted to get them into some action. We dropped the lines in the water and began with a troll, searching for some walleye for them to take back for dinner tonight. The first reel to fire was a smallie and Annabelle was up. It fought like all smallies do and she muscled it back to the boat with a couple of other lines attached. A few pics were shot and the release had us right back in the game! Another smallie began jumping behind the boat and I knew it was attached to one of the lines. Avery was up next and struggled to bring this one to net. With a little help from me, he managed to reel it in for some pics of his own. His sister gave him a hand holding the boga as it weighed more than he could handle! Big fish, little guy! Lindsay took the next fish and fortunately it was a walleye and a legal one at that. She had managed to catch the first fish in a series of fish that they would be having for dinner tonight. I was having a hard time locating an area that the fish were active and covered plenty of water searching for them. With the lake completely flat, it didn’t help either! Dog pecker knats were upon us and it was becoming a real scorcher! We had one more reel fire a little later and despite the fact that it was a walleye, it was way over the slot and had to be released. Annabelle posed for another pic and back it went unharmed. It was at this time that I decided to move away from this area and change up completely. I was going deep and we would switch to a drop shot. I set up a bunch of rods and changed locations. The heat was really upon us now so I raised the top hoping to get some reprieve from the sun. Once I hit the deeper water, The kids wanted to swim so out they went. They cooled off in the lake for about 30 minutes before returning to the boat to resume our fishing. I got everyone set up and instructed them on how to fish this presentation and let them lose. Although I was marking fish, they just didn’t seem to be cooperating. Lindsay did manage to get a taker though and she brought to net another dinner walleye. While we were fishing this way, the wind started to pick up and each drift was different than the previous one. Not only was the speed changing but the direction was as well. It got so bad that I had to take the cover down when we couldn’t control the drifts. The top was acting like a kite and moving us along way too fast! With the cover down and wind up, we had a flurry of activity that had everyone hooking up. They managed to put a limit of walleye in the livewell and things were looking up. This brief feeding period only lasted about 45 minutes but we took advantage of it and boated a bunch of fish. Many more drifts proved almost useless as not many fish were hooked afterwards. I offered a swim again and this time everyone agreed! I ran to a mid lake sand bar and got on the electric motor so they could stand up. It was about 2.5 feet at best and a great place to get cooled. Keith joined the kids in the water for a swim and the three of them stayed in the water for quite a while. As I knew there were smallies close by, I decided to slide away a bit and make a few casts with a jig. One took and threw the hooks on a jump but showed me where the others were too. Several casts later I hooked up again and this fish had weight. I knew what had happened and showed the kids what a big fish looked like. Annabelle was still in the water with Keith and wasn’t impressed with this shark like image swimming near her. Lindsay was fighting the sturgeon as I grabbed the tail and lifted it into the boat. It was this fish’s lucky day because I removed a big lamprey from its gill area. A couple of pics from Lindsay and I released the fish, free of the parasite. Shortly afterwards, they returned to the boat and we decided to call it a day. They had a few things to do this afternoon and it was a real scorcher on the water. Everyone had a blast today catching fish and playing in a huge open water park again. I was happy to get them out for another day of F & F. Sort of like R & R but better!

A cancellation, or postponement opened up today for my niece to take advantage of. Lisa brought along my two great nieces as well, Emma & Niyah for a great outing. We hooked up just after 7:30 and headed out on a perfect day. Light winds out of the east put just a little chop on the lake and I motored to a walleye zone to try and lock them up. Several passes through the key areas fired the reels 4 times and we managed a 50% hookup. Two nice walleye were landed and released in the short time we fished there. Once the sun got on the water a little better, I decided to head somewhere else so that they could cast for bass. Smallmouth were all over the area as I instructed them on how to cast and work the baits. It didn’t take long before Emma had one blow up on hers and unfortunately it got off before she could get to fight it. Not long after Niyah also had one chase her bait to the boat but it too didn’t get pinned. Lisa did however manage to hook into one and hers came to the net. I decided to put a few in the livewell for some pics later and started with hers. Shortly after, Emma hooked into one and this thing gave her quite a tussle. We managed to bring it to net eventually and it too went into the aquarium for a later photo shoot. All we had left was Niyah and it did finally happen. Hers just exploded on the bait and ripped drag out of the reel, setting the hook for her. I slid the net under the fish and it joined the others in the well. Talk of a swim was going around the boat so I took them in shallow to take a dip. I brought the boat in so shallow that even Emma was able to stand and swim. They played for over an hour before taking a lunch break in the boat and re charging. I even put the bimini top up so that we could eat in comfort. After lunch however, they immediately went back to swimming. Even Lisa got in the water and I shot a bunch of pics and a video. I took Niyah out to slightly deeper water after, as she wanted to swim more as they played in the lake. Between jumping off the boat and swimming, there was very little fishing time after the lunch break. We did manage to get in a few casts eventually and Lisa landed another nice one. A couple more fish were also caught and three or four others lost or missed on the hook set. Somewhere around 2:30 we decided to call the day and head back, but not before many more jumps off the boat into the lake! All three took advantage of this large pool and ended the day with one last dip in the lake. I’m not sure which they enjoyed more, but my money was riding on the swimming part. What was supposed to be a fishing day turned into a great day at the water park with a side of fishing. Either way, it was nice to see the kids again and show them a great day, by spending time with them on the water!

Pablo was with me this morning with Pablo Sr. & Nikita, for a little learning on a few techniques. . When I launched, there was a boat tied up to the dock waiting for others to arrive. What I found unusual was that there was only one person and two five gallon buckets with tackle also on the dock. These guys would turn out to be a group of four or five and apparently the buckets were full of minnows. I wish I had of known that earlier as I would have dumped them into the lake before they headed out! Illegal use of bait in the summer is something these people do regularly along with breaking every other rule as well. Over harvesting of fish, out of season fishing and anything else they can think of! To make matters worse, they decided to come over to where I was fishing in the middle of the lake and try to fish. I encounter this frequently and had just about enough. I blasted them while we were trolling and fortunately for them, they went away without saying a word. I usually get a « So Solly, So Solly » out of them but this time they just kept their mouths shut and went away. These guys and everyone else just like them harvest absolutely everything they catch regardless of limits and seasons and I wasn’t about to stand for them where I was fishing. In case you haven’t figured out just who I might be talking about, it’s the « Asians »! I could go on & on about them, but I won’t. With the boat leaving, I was able to resume the troll and get back to the task at hand. I moved all over the place trying to get the first bite and struggling to keep the rods clean from floaters. Eventually I managed to find a taker and the reel fired hard. Pablo was into the first fish of the day and it was a good one. They couldn’t believe how, where or what it was caught on and were learning already! A few quick pics and a release and we were back in the game. I now had something to go on and started to pattern the eyes afterwards. For the next two or three hours I was on them good and many more overs came to net. The largest was to be a 26 incher and a solid 5.5 to 6 pounds. We even had a great doubleheader  with both fish in the 5 pound range! Out of all the fish landed and there were plenty, only 1 was a keeper. The others didn’t even need to be measured as they were all huge. It was really hard to leave the area but we needed to take a bathroom break and I went back to where we launched so Nikita could use the facilities. Afterwards we headed to a distant area in search of some smallies. With the winds seemingly from the NW, I thought we would be somewhat sheltered, but I was wrong. It seemed like where we were it was blowing straight west and making things difficult. Despite all of this, they still managed to land a handful of bass before we relocated due to oncoming weather. There were storm cells everywhere & with a quick glance at the radar, I was able to move to an area where we didn’t get hit. I eventually went to a spot after and tried drop shotting but the waves were three to four footers, making it even more difficult. Somehow we managed to get it done and after the storm passed, we were able to make several successful drifts under slightly lighter winds and waves. Pablo junior really had the touch as he managed to land four walleye while the others struggled to get bit. He missed many more as well before we had to call it a day. With everything that we had thrown at us today, the fishing was much better than expected. High numbers of big walleye were landed before the weather changed and a deeper pattern produced when the system passed. I think these guys definitely leaned something about changing patterns in order to monopolize on catching more fish. Hopefully it will help them in future trips to other places they fish!!

Pablo was with me this morning with Pablo Sr. & Nikita, for a little learning on a few techniques. . When I launched, there was a boat tied up to the dock waiting for others to arrive. What I found unusual was that there was only one person and two five gallon buckets with tackle also on the dock. These guys would turn out to be a group of four or five and apparently the buckets were full of minnows. I wish I had of known that earlier as I would have dumped them into the lake before they headed out! Illegal use of bait in the summer is something these people do regularly along with breaking every other rule as well. Over harvesting of fish, out of season fishing and anything else they can think of! To make matters worse, they decided to come over to where I was fishing in the middle of the lake and try to fish. I encounter this frequently and had just about enough. I blasted them while we were trolling and fortunately for them, they went away without saying a word. I usually get a « So Solly, So Solly » out of them but this time they just kept their mouths shut and went away. These guys and everyone else just like them harvest absolutely everything they catch regardless of limits and seasons and I wasn’t about to stand for them where I was fishing. In case you haven’t figured out just who I might be talking about, it’s the « Asians »! I could go on & on about them, but I won’t. With the boat leaving, I was able to resume the troll and get back to the task at hand. I moved all over the place trying to get the first bite and struggling to keep the rods clean from floaters. Eventually I managed to find a taker and the reel fired hard. Pablo was into the first fish of the day and it was a good one. They couldn’t believe how, where or what it was caught on and were learning already! A few quick pics and a release and we were back in the game. I now had something to go on and started to pattern the eyes afterwards. For the next two or three hours I was on them good and many more overs came to net. The largest was to be a 26 incher and a solid 5.5 to 6 pounds. We even had a great doubleheader  with both fish in the 5 pound range! Out of all the fish landed and there were plenty, only 1 was a keeper. The others didn’t even need to be measured as they were all huge. It was really hard to leave the area but we needed to take a bathroom break and I went back to where we launched so Nikita could use the facilities. Afterwards we headed to a distant area in search of some smallies. With the winds seemingly from the NW, I thought we would be somewhat sheltered, but I was wrong. It seemed like where we were it was blowing straight west and making things difficult. Despite all of this, they still managed to land a handful of bass before we relocated due to oncoming weather. There were storm cells everywhere & with a quick glance at the radar, I was able to move to an area where we didn’t get hit. I eventually went to a spot after and tried drop shotting but the waves were three to four footers, making it even more difficult. Somehow we managed to get it done and after the storm passed, we were able to make several successful drifts under slightly lighter winds and waves. Pablo junior really had the touch as he managed to land four walleye while the others struggled to get bit. He missed many more as well before we had to call it a day. With everything that we had thrown at us today, the fishing was much better than expected. High numbers of big walleye were landed before the weather changed and a deeper pattern produced when the system passed. I think these guys definitely leaned something about changing patterns in order to monopolize on catching more fish. Hopefully it will help them in future trips to other places they fish!!

Today I had a family booked for an afternoon trip, so I decided to head out a little earlier and do some scouting. They would be calling around noon and I would meet them at the dock. Christiane & I fished for about 3 hours and managed to land several walleye while drop shotting that we would have for dinner tonight. Once the call came in before noon, I dropped her off and picked up the group of three. By now the winds had picked up considerably and were blowing from the NW at about 15 knots with gusts to 25. I wasn’t sure what I was going to be able to do but I knew I would get it done! Emilia & Sorin had brought their son Josh, who was interested in fishing and I wanted to make sure he had a great time. As we were 4 people in the boat, I thought I would give trolling a try and see if we could hook up on a few walleye for them to take home. The conditions were terrible with big waves from a cross direction but I managed to get one reel to fire and he landed his very first eye. It went into the livewell with the others from this morning and I reset the line to try for more. It didn’t seem like it was happening and the rough conditions made it even more difficult, so I decided to pull the rods and go for bass instead. I would have had to cover lots of water and it just didn’t seem worth it in these conditions. The next area should have been good but with wind against current, we had 3 footers everywhere. Again I ended this quickly and hoped for calmer water further away. The run wasn’t easy with the ship & cruiser waves but once we arrived, I realized that we could at least fish here. I had to instruct everyone on what to do from the basics and eventually they caught on. As this day was geared towards Josh, I focused my attention on him and it paid off. He eventually got a better understanding on how to cast and feel the take and in no time he was landing smallies on his own. Although Sorin did manage to land a nice bass, both he and his wife Emilia were watching more than they were fishing. Between videos and pictures, they were occupied most of the time! Josh on the other hand was so into this that he just kept casting and catching for the remainder of the day. He boated several really nice ones with one of them over 4 pounds too! We decided to call it quits before 5:00 after Josh landed one last fish. Although he missed many, he definitely landed his share today. Hopefully this will inspire him to continue to fish and he will learn even more. The run back was what I thought it would be with three & four footers from the NW the entire way. Once again we were back to big winds after three days of almost flat calm. Maybe one of these days we can compromise with « Mother Nature » and settle somewhere in the middle! Either way, today was a great day for Josh & his parents as he finally got his wish and landed a bunch of quality fish. They even had a good one going home with them for dinner tonight!!