Mark was here on business and hooked up with me today, for a day of firsts. We hit the water shortly after 7 for another scorcher of an outing. I was glad to see the wind blowing when we set the lines for a troll and hoped it would stay this way. I immediately covered the same section that had produced many fish the day before, but wasn’t as fortunate. We only landed one keeper walleye and a few smallies in about an hour, before I moved around in search of better fishing. A combination of floating weeds and diminishing winds wasn’t making things easy as I trolled what seemed like miles of water. Although the reels were firing periodically, they were all bass and I decided to pull the plug entirely. If we were going to target smallmouth, we were gonna fish them by casting! I hit the next area and Mark was locked up on a spinnerbait as soon as I found the sweet spot. He pulled 3 or 4 decent fish before I changed up baits and we started throwing soft plastics to the fish. Several more nice bass were fought in the hour or so we were there but we had lost our wind. This was making the fish skittish and I made another change in location. It was quite some time before I actually got back on more fish and they weren’t many! We were picking one here and one there but covering plenty of water while doing it. The full moon and now, flat calm water made things a little difficult and I knew we would have to fish deeper. Next stop was a casting area for walleye as Mark was looking to better his first fish of the day. They were on his bucket list along with northerns and he needed pics! We casted & dragged jigs in the deeper water and managed several walleye but they were all kinda small. When he did land a nice one worthy of a pick, we had another boat move right into where he had hooked up. I may be use to this type of behavior but it was new to Mark. This guy was just passing by when he saw the net and decided to put the breaks on and come on over. Gotta love the mentality of fellow fishermen like this! Needless to say, we weren’t able to get back to where I needed and I relocated to another area close by. I thought we’d try a little drop shotting on a deep edge and Mark once again was locked up quickly. Although I was searching for walleye, we were getting bass and that was fine too! We remained here for a while, catching a number of small fish with many of them juvenile walleye and then the wind began. I was happy to see a good breeze blowing 5 to 10 knots from the SW and decided to give the troll another try. I knew that he would be getting better walleye this way if the fish cooperated and was right. First fish was over 22 inches and surely worthy of a photo! We picked at them for a while landing a combination of Walters and smallies and then it slowed down considerably. I soon found out why when the next reel started to scream. It took so much line that it could only be one thing, a lunge! Confirmation was had moments later when it appeared on the surface. It was big and lightly hooked with the tiny hooks from the walleye crankbait. I tried to get a boga grip on her but failed when she shook the final hook point loose and swam off. Too bad as Mark would have loved proof of this gator! We regrouped and returned to the troll but with limited success. A few more drive byes and a couple of smallie hits and it was time to leave. We had put in about 10 hours in the scorching heat and were fried. Tomorrow would be another day! Mark was back and looking for revenge today as we hit the lake once again around 7. I thought a change up was in order this morning and we were going to start by drop shotting. The strong west winds were blowing 10 to 15 knots and made for perfect boat control over the reefs. As with every new technique, Mark caught on quickly. Yesterday he was casting this set up and today we were fishing vertically. It didn’t take long and he was tight to an angry smallie full of strength. Several others were also caught in the short hour or so we remained here and then I hit another sweet spot. Each time I drifted along the weed edge, fish ate. I decided to try casting to them but it didn’t have the same result. I went back to drifting and Mark was hooked up again. This time however, he had a pike attached to the 2 pound bass that had eaten his bait. The pike may have been closer to ten pounds but soon let go of the fish when he realized that it was pulling back. Poor little thing was torn up from the jaws of the northern but it was still alive and swam off quickly. Another encounter from jaws! We switched up to trolling this area when the winds diminished to a light breeze and hit a few smallies again. I figured I would try for walleye again somewhere else and didn’t stay long when we only managed more bass. Mark was looking to land a northern and I knew just the place. We set the lines for another troll and within minutes he had his first ever pike. It may have only been about 3 pounds but it was a pike! I thought when the next reel went off that he had a largemouth but to both out surprise, it was the largest crappie either of us had ever see. It was almost 15.5 inches in length and really looked like a pie plate. I’ve fished this lake for over 25 years and have never seen the likes of this before. We trolled around some more, catching a few other pike and then shifted to a walleye spot, looking for dinner. I told Mark that we needed a couple of keepers for an appetizer tonight and we immediately went into search mode. It didn’t take long and there were a couple of 17 inch fish swimming in the livewell. Although we didn’t catch many, we did have what we needed and that was good enough. We still had a few hours left in the day and both thought of trolling deeper areas for bigger eyes. Off we went and I set the lines in once again, hoping that the full moon wouldn’t have them completely shut down. Our biggest nemesis was to be the floating vegetation here as the boat traffic had the lake all chewed up. There were weeds everywhere and right where I needed to be. Constant checking of the lures was needed to get the few bites we had and after a couple of hours of this hate, we only had bass to show for our efforts. One more stop casting for smallies and a few bass later, we were heading back to the dock. These were two of the toughest days I’ve had in a while but despite all this, we still managed to make it work. Mark had completed task and landed the two species he was after. Along with them, he also had many other firsts as well. Overall, a pretty good end to his business trip here in Montreal. Oh yeah, the blackened Cajun walleye weren’t bad too!!

Neil was with me on the lake today, in hopes of a multi species kind of day. The weather looked like a winner with little to no wind and high heat & humidity once again. Water temps were to exceed 76 degrees with all the warm nights lately and I hoped the fish would bite. Our first attempt was a troll for some walleye to take home. After last year, Neil wanted more! His entire family dined on the tasty fillets and he hoped it would happen again. Ironically, the troll only produced big fish in the first hour or so and we were forced to relocate to another area and species. He had landed a few walleye but they were all over 22 inches along with a couple of nice smallmouth as well. The next location wasn’t much better as we were seeing all kinds of huge smallmouth just cruising. It didn’t seem to matter what we threw at them, they flat out refused! Not wanting to hang around and wait for their dinner bell to ring, I pulled the plug and switched to another area once again. We were trying to get some walleye for Neil and pulled into a casting section that just yesterday, had produced plenty. Today was a different story however as the lack of flow had them almost completely shut down. Although a few were landed, they were mostly under the slot size and returned to the lake. I moved to another spot and switched to a deep water drop shot only to have a couple of smallies eat our offerings instead. This called for drastic measures and we moved again! A longer run had us stopping on a flat for some action where we had smaller bass eating a variety of soft plastics. At least we had aggressive biters here and I thoroughly covered the entire flat. There were also a bunch of sturgeon in the area and one of them got hooked up. It’s almost every day that someone gets to tangle with these dinosaurs! I thought I’d try shallower to see if a few of the real bruisers might be feeding and was pleasantly surprised. Although not many of them actually ate, we did manage a couple that were some of the largest of the day. As with one of the other places previously fished however, most of them were just cruising around with a lack of interest. I still needed to find some walleye for Neil to bring home and decided to go back to the troll in hopes of better results. Wouldn’t you know it, fish on and it’s another over about 24 inches in length. I can’t catch a break! It’s usually not this difficult to get fish for the table and I was pretty sure the full moon had a hand in the bigger fish today. There were a few smallies hooked into as well during the troll and eventually we put a keeper in the well. It wasn’t the usual method of getting the fish however as I was pulling the lines in due to an electrical storm approaching. Oh well, at least we had one! I raced back to the boat ramp expecting to take out, but the system went north and bypassed us entirely. Once I realized that the danger was gone, we headed back out to try again. This proved to be a good decision as we managed several more walleye and 4 were in the slot. In the last 90 minutes of trolling, we landed about 8 or 10 fish and Neil would be taking some home tonight. Although a tough day by comparison, quite productive nonetheless! The fish didn’t come easy today but we managed to turn it around by slowing down presentations and fishing thoroughly. The full moon period each month is always a challenge and tends to produce big, not lots! Today was a perfect example of this and we were glad to have succeeded in the end!!

With a half day charter scheduled for today, I decided to head out early and scout a few new areas. Brian & Shad were to hook up with me around 11 o’clock so I fished for an hour before they arrived. Several nice smallies and a few walleye were boated before I got the call. They were here and I picked them up for a day to remember! Never having caught a walleye before, I thought I would get that off their “Bucket List”. Although it took a little longer than expected, they accomplished this task in spades. I believe Shad had one over 5 pounds as he landed a 25 inch beauty. Not to be outdone, Brian also picked up a few slightly shorter as well. It seemed more difficult to catch anything in the slot but I was determined to succeed. They would be joining me for dinner and I needed a couple of fish as an appetizer. After many more overs, we finally landed the second keeper and pulled the plug on the troll. They had caught plenty of walleye and a few bonus smallies and now it was time to cast. I immediately headed to an area that had been holding some nice bass and instructed them where to throw. Soft plastics were used to entice these footballs into eating and Brian drew first blood. He wasted no time raising the bar with one in the high four pound range. It was game on and about to get ugly! The ball bounced back & forth in the next couple of hours as they both managed to land several quality smallies. I don’t know if any made it over 5 pounds, but at least four of them were close. The bass were big and they were eating! Eventually it slowed down and I knew it was time to relocate. We made our way to another area quite a distance from this one and hoped for similar results. There were a few smaller bass landed on senkos and then it happened. They doubled up on a couple of dinosaurs at the same time and landed both. What a pic this would be! Although we had seen several already, none would come to be landed before now. They continued casting over weeds and edges picking a bass here & there as we moved along. With time not on our side, I decided to hit one other area before we called it quits. Once in position, Shad locked up almost immediately on a three pounder. He brought it to the boat along with a few other friends by its side. Brian tried to pick up one of the others but they soon scattered, never to be seen again. With this action going on, another boat decided to slide in where we were and fish. Obviously he had never seen this area and thought he’d do what many others think is the way to find fish. It’s always easier to find fishermen rather than look for fish! Both Brian and Shad couldn’t believe someone would do this on such a big body of water, but for me, it’s almost a daily occurrence. I just kept fishing through and hooked up on a couple more decent fish on tubes before another boat decided to join the party. By now I had seen enough and pulled the plug completely. In only a 5 hour period they had landed a load of nice fish, both slamming for the day. The bonus for them was dining on their catch as they thoroughly enjoyed eating the walleye. What a perfect ending to a great day of fishing!!

Leonard was with me today and he brought along his two grand sons for the outing as well. Eron & Ryder were in for a real treat as this would be a slamming day once again! We hooked up at 7 and immediately proceeded into a walleye troll. As with most days, it didn’t take long before the first reel fired and Ryder was initiated into the fishing world. Unlike Eron who had been with me a couple of times before, Ryder was a newbie and it was great to see him fighting a nice eye. This was to be the first of many overs for the day and was immediately released after the pics. We were really blessed with the weather, as sunshine and 80 plus degrees were what we had. Along with the warm air temps, the water was at almost 76 degrees as well & this had the fish active. We continued with the troll for a few hours, catching a bunch of nice walleye and several smallmouth before changing the pace. This time we were to cast for bass and it didn’t take more than one, for Leonard to hook up. Although he was here for the kids, he slid a few in and got in the game. Eron was interested in learning how to cast a baitcaster and quickly adapted to the set up within minutes. I love teaching kids new things as they’re usually sponges at that age! I had him throwing a spinnerbait just to get the feel of everything but unfortunately, he had just followers. The senko was the hot ticket here as many bass fell victim to this rig. Along with the bass, several sturgeon were also taken and Eron was excited to be able to fight every last one. We moved around to several other areas and hit bass in each one! It was mostly a senko bite today but tubes also accounted for a bunch of fish too. With a few walleye in the livewell to clean, we decided to head off the lake shortly after three o’clock. The kids had to be somewhere for dinner and they would be bringing it! It sure is nice seeing our future fishermen experiencing the outdoors rather than always playing video games inside. I think everyone should take a kid fishing and initiate them into this sport, as the smiles on their faces are worth more than you can imagine! I know these two will be remembering today for quite some time. Hats off to Leonard for being a “Great Grandfather”!!

Christiane & I decided to head out mid morning and pleasure fish for a few hours. It was to be another scorcher of a day and the boat traffic would be heavy as well. Once out, we set the lines to troll up a few walleye for dinner and it didn’t take long. Despite the floaters all over the place, we managed to put what we needed for a meal on board and began our search for the bigger ones. Fish up to 26 inches fell victim to our rigs and some nice pics were had. Even a couple of jumbo smallies ate the lures and they too were captured on film. We didn’t want to stay out too long but remained on the water until sometime after 2 o’clock before running back. Although it was to be a rather short one, it was still productive. Not knowing what to expect back at the ramp, we headed in and prayed. To our utter amazement, it was empty. I was on the trailer in less than 2 minutes and we were on our way. I guess we were lucky because more boats were driving in while we were going out. Timing is definitely everything!!