I had the pleasure of fishing with Cotton today, all the way from the Sunshine State of Florida. We met at 7 and hit the lake almost immediately in pursuit of those scrappy smallies. The cool morning air was to soon give way to scorching heat and another high humidity day as we raced to our first location. Water temps were around 74 degrees and the air temps would climb into the 80’s by the end of the day. It didn’t seem to matter where we stopped to fish, there were bass in every location. Cotton was getting them mostly on jigs but several fell victim to a slow moving senko as well. Although there were many bass caught, I wasn’t impressed with the overall size of these fish and kept moving in search of better. The numbers were up but the size was down! Plenty of fish up to 3 pounds were landed but only a few in the 4 pound range were brought to the boat for pics. Another thing that amazed me was the overall lack of boats on the water. Today was officially the first day of the Quebec shutdown for construction and it was light. It’s usually a zoo and careful dodging of boats is the norm! Traffic seemed light but I knew it was going to change sometime during the afternoon hours. We carefully picked the areas to fish based on this and headed to some of the furthest places first just to avoid what might be coming. One of these areas had us locked up for close to 2 hours when fishing was hot. I don’t remember exactly how many Cotton landed, but there were plenty. The jig was the hot item and the bass were chewing! Once we wore out our welcome here, I thought a little drop shotting in deeper water was in order and we moved out. This was fairly new to Cotton but he caught on pretty quick. Both smallies as well as a few walleye were taken but the presentation was difficult, without much current. I normally drift along easily, but today I had to use the motor to stay vertical. A little trickier, but definitely doable! From here we shifted to an edge and began casting the same rig to deep water. We managed several more bass and a few decent walleye before calling it a day. Cotton’s ride was to pick him up at 4 and we had just enough time to travel back to the ramp. I knew it would probably be a nightmare taking out and once we arrived, saw I was right. Smallies were the target today and Cotton definitely caught his fair share of them. The largemouth from back in Florida couldn’t compare to the shear power of these feisty little footballs today. Pound for pound, definitely the strongest fighting freshwater fish on the planet! What a blast he had pounding them all day!!

Warren & his brother Shawn were with me today and what a day it was to be! We met at the lake around 7:00 and headed straight out to troll for walleye. Air temps were cooler than usual but I knew we were in for another heat wave by afternoon. It wasn’t easy fishing the zone I wanted as the NW winds had moved the floaters right into the path I was taking. Constant cleaning was needed and after a few nice fish, I decided that it wasn’t worth the trouble. I moved completely from there and tried another area where they weren’t quite as bad. It was a good choice as now we were able to troll long periods without removing the lines and the fish were biting better. It’s funny how they don’t like salad with their meals! I covered plenty of water before the reels went off and after about an hour, decided to look elsewhere. Several bass and a few walleye were caught before we jumped locations, strictly for smallies. Even here, the fish were rather lethargic as we soon found out. A number of the smaller ones were caught on tubes and senko’s but the bruisers were just cruising. There was no wind and with the lower than usual water levels, no current. It was as if we were anchored! I was going to have to get more in the main flow in order to find current and opted for another move again. I hit a deep drop close to the channel and switched them to a drop shot rig, hoping for a mix of fish from here. On my initial demonstration cast, I hooked up and started fighting a smallie from the deep. Before I could bring it boat side to be released, another boat was idling up to us. I quickly realized that we were about to be checked as they were Game Wardens! Wow, they do exist! I thought they were like snipe and just a myth here in the province of Quebec! I leaned over, lipped the bass and released it right in front of them before they pulled over to check our permits. Two of the nicest guys you’ve ever met and we talked for a bit about some of the encounters they have had recently. Turns out that the Chinese have been banged a few times out here and it’s about time! There have been several boats that they checked that were way over their possession limits as well as size. I wondered why I’ve barely seen them out lately. Hopefully they confiscated the boat and all their tackle! They could see by the way we were fishing that it wasn’t a problem here and after a short period, were on their way. It kind of gives me a better feeling knowing that someone is out there checking the poachers. Back to the task at hand and both Warren & his brother began hooking up on a few smallies. Although smaller than expected, they were still locked up and I held in this area until it just stopped. Moving along, we headed to another flat where as it turned out; we were to spend the remainder of the day. It was full and we weren’t leaving! Shawn must have gone at least 6 casts in a row locked up on bass. They both managed to catch plenty of smallies from this area and we covered it thoroughly in about 3 hours. We even left them biting and that’s not normal. It was almost 4:15 and I knew we would need time at the ramp as today was the start of the construction holidays. There were plenty of boats that had come out after lunch and they just kept coming. I guess people cut out from work a little early as the lake was like a Sunday afternoon right now. Who knows what the ramp would be like! As luck would turn out, I was amazed to find only one other boat launching and it wasn’t long before I had the boat on the trailer. Although difficult conditions were had, the slow approach turned everything around and plenty of fish were caught today. Another successful outing despite the flat, humid conditions!!

Cindy & Alain joined me on the water today for a real multi species day. We headed out around 7:30 and trolled for a while, catching mostly walleye. Although there were a few smallies landed, it was the large walleye we were after! The heat wave was still upon us and the humidity was high making the temps feel a whole lot worse than they actually were. It had been a while since either of them had caught walleye and they were also looking forward to eating a few tonight. The only problem I was having was getting the slot fish to eat. It seemed that the bigger ones wanted to eat as we were releasing fish from 22 to 26 inches. Eventually we managed to get into some of the 18 inchers that I preferred and kept a few for the table. Once we had the fish we needed, I pulled out and headed somewhere else looking for smallies. A series of stops were made in the next few hours and all had fish. They managed to get into plenty of bass on a variety of soft plastics and a few exotics as well. Cindy had a nice sturgeon that battled her like the prehistoric beast it was and she couldn’t believe its strength. Alain landed another cool fish when a drum over 10 pounds ate a tube, fishing for smallies. These two were definitely a bonus and added to the fish total for today. Towards the end of the afternoon, we slid onto a huge flat where the fish were really active. Once we found them, doubles seemed to be the norm! They ended the day on a high as several big smallies were taken in a short time. Obviously the wind had them active and we were glad. Most of the day had been flat calm and a real scorcher. Even the water temps had climbed to almost 77 degrees with this heat. I don’t really know what the final count was but it was high as Cindy & Alain had caught a boat load. They both had a Grand Slam with an exotic species to complete their limit. What a great day on the lake!!

Today I had a few regulars as Hassan & his brother Sam were joined by their friend Martin for a good smallie day. We hit the lake at the crack of almost 9 and fished till about 3:30. Conditions were the first day with a semi cold front as the morning chill wasn’t the norm lately. They actually had to wear their jackets for most of the morning! The fishing was a little tough too as the water had cooled off almost 4 degrees overnight. Winds were out of the NW blowing 10 to 15 knots causing boat control to be a little difficult during our first drift. They were drop shotting over a series of bumps but I was missing the sweet spots because of the cross current movement. After about 30 minutes or so of this and only a half dozen fish, I pulled the plug and went elsewhere. We continued with the drop shotting technique in another area a few miles away but this time they were casting their presentations along a steep break. Hassan managed to get the best fish here as a long bass looking like a post spawner, fell victim to his offering. It should have weighed close to 5 pounds but barely made the four pound weight. A few more smallies were landed along with a couple of nice walleye but I still wasn’t satisfied with these results. One more move had them into fish on jigs almost instantly and we refined the water here, for the remainder of the day. Most of the fish were averaging 2 to 3 pounds but Hassan managed to pull out a few in the four pound class mixed in. I shifted between senkos and tubes and plenty of action was had by all. I don’t really know the final count of fish landed but I do know it was about 1/3 of what it could have been. These fish were really biting strange and many bass were missed on the hook set. With hot, humid and stable weather for a long period, the first cold night had them fairly lethargic for most of the day. Not one fish chased a spinnerbait and Martin threw it for quite a while! If it weren’t for the slow presentations, it could have been a very poor day for results. This gang had just witnessed the difference between active and negative fish and come out on top. A little adjustment was all that was needed to turn this day around. Overall, a very educational day for these three amigos!!

I was back on the lake again today for the second half of the weekend insanity. David & his son Mike met me shortly after 7 and we were on our way almost immediately. It was going to be another scorcher with humidex temps in the mid to upper 30’s. With practically no wind present, we were going to fry! The water temps had been climbing each day and were hovering at 76 plus degrees due to the extended heat wave. I wanted to get Mike into fish quickly, so we went straight into a troll for the walleye and weren’t disappointed. Within 3 minutes the first reel went off and he was battling an average 3 pounder to the net. Almost as soon as I reset the line, the other down rod went off and another decent walleye was also hooked up. It was going to be one of those mornings and I was glad that I had made the decision to troll. I was on fish and they were eating! In the hour or so that we trolled, there were about a dozen or more fish landed with the majority being walleye. Mike wanted to take a few home for his family so we livewelled 3 nice 18 inchers without any problem. David had wanted to fly fish for the smallies so I pulled the plug after a successful, short early morning bite. We were off in search of big bass and hopefully would succeed as well! In the first area, we were not as fortunate with the activity as both Mike & David were casting prime water without a touch. Mike was covering this place with a spinnerbait and David was casting a fly. Although plenty of quality bass were seen, it seemed like they were all shut down. I had one pick up a senko that dropped the bait when Mike tried to set on it. They really weren’t hungry and I wasn’t sticking around to wait for the dinner bell to ring. I slid into another area quite a ways away and hooked up on one over 3 pounds on a tube just searching. Mike was still chunking the blades and David was hauling a leech pattern hoping for a take. We sighted a few nice fish just cruising the area when a big black one swam under the boat. I instructed David to keep an eye out the back of the boat as I tried to move forward to expose her. Well as if on cue, she appeared and David carefully presented the fly for her to see. It was as if we were fishing the flats for bones because he got to see the take and it was spectacular. He was locked up on a powerful, mid four pounder and she was pissed! Several jumps and runs had him loving the fight on his 6 weight rod and so did we. I decided to net the fish once she was close enough so as not to stress her out too bad. Once the hook was removed, David got to hold his prize for a few pics and feel the weight she possessed. Definitely a solid 4.5 pound chunk! A few quick shots and off she went, back to wherever she had come from. We moved around plenty and eventually got to another section of the lake that I knew was holding only big fish. I let David out on these flats and told him where to go. He was now in the middle of the lake, wading for smallies with a fly rod. What an incredible view he must have had as he was one with the fish. Unfortunately this area turned out to be a disappointing one when he broke off a real big smallie on almost his first cast. After that, all he could do was look at them swimming around. Mike had similar results as well when he lost a four pounder on the blades. Despite plenty of fish in this area, they weren’t so fortunate with the end results. They had spooked and were now just getting out of the way. This type of fishing is more like hunting as careful boat positioning, casting and stalking is required to entice these giants to bite. One wrong move and the element of surprise is gone! We pulled out shortly after when we saw that we were fighting a losing battle and moved elsewhere. It was here that David put down the fly gear and picked up a spinning rod to begin catching some of those smallies. Both Mike & David managed to get into several fish in this area as the pre frontal system lurking in the distance had them active. Now it seemed like all the fish were eating and it was about time! Too bad this was also cut short when I decided to pull the plug here and get closer to the take out. The skies weren’t looking very good and I didn’t want to get stuck with a mad dash to the dock. We actually got a chance to drop the lines back in for a troll again and landed a half dozen nice fish in 20 minutes. Once more this was cut short as I headed to the ramp quickly, with the storm right on my tail. If it wasn’t for the fiasco at the shore I would have been able to pull the boat out in time, but you just never know what to expect. I must have been in the truck for close to 10 minutes before I took 1 minute to load it on the trailer. Nine minutes too late as the skies let lose and dumped a real big load on us in the parking lot. I got soaked despite a rain jacket while prepping the boat to roll out. Between removing the fish and packing everything up, it looked like I had fallen in the lake. Oh well, you gotta love the weekend warriors at boat ramps! Overall an interesting, tough yet productive day on the water!!