Hugues was with me today for the 8th year and this time he brought new blood. Andre was along but for the first time and I hoped it would be as good as it had been. The lake was looking a little nasty upon arrival and I knew it would only get worse as the day went on. The winds were suppose to be from the SW this morning, blowing 10 to 20 knots but in actuality they were out of the NW. Waves were already 2 to 3 foot making the run to our starting location a little bumpy. I had decided to begin in an area that was slightly protected so as not to beat them up too early. With one guy on a crankbait and the other a spinnerbait, I had it covered. They were to fish for the active ones right away and I would slow them down after the fish stopped biting. Well, I really never changed them up as they were locked on plenty of fish with these presentations for well over an hour. It seemed like every time I told them three more casts, someone would hook another fish and we’d stay a little longer. Eventually I just decided to pull the plug and search for larger fish somewhere else. They had played with numbers of average fish and now I wanted them to catch a few giants! On Hugue’s very first cast in the new spot, he got crushed on the spinnerbait and was tight to a good bass. This one just beat him up and went aerial a number of times before I was able to get her in the net. As it was quite windy here, I decided to put the fish in the livewell alongside the earlier caught walleye, for pics later. This area was holding several more bass as we saw when Hugues was fighting his. There had to be about 6 others with it and they were all in the same size class. I had a good feeling about this place and decided to concentrate here a little harder. Once the spinnerbait & crankbait stopped producing, it was time for a slower presentation. Out came the jigs and it was game on! In one area I think Hugues had 5 fish on in 5 casts. Although they both lost a load of fish, they landed a bunch as well and refined their jigging skills. They realized that by slowing down their movements, they got more bites. This would come in handy in a few weeks as they were heading on a fishing trip to remote location. Any new techniques would only help them in landing more fish where they were going. We remained in this area, moving around the entire morning and part of the afternoon due to the winds. When I finally decided to leave it was about 2:00 and the lake was rolling pretty good. Fortunately the winds had switched to SW, but were blowing 20 to 30 knots now. It wasn’t going to be easy but I was going to show them another technique and with any luck we might catch a few more fish in the process. Drop shotting was next on the list and they were looking forward to giving it a try! When I finally settled in and started the drift, I realized we were going to get wet. I was slowing down the drift with the small engine and rogue waves would periodically roll over the back and onto whatever was in their way. Namely Hugues feet! He had been warned but didn’t care as today was much better than what he was use to. In the past, he had a track record of bad weather in the form of rain or electrical storms. Today was a walk in the park and the fishing was spectacular! When I finally set them up and explained the do’s & don’ts they began hitting fish. Both walleye & smallies were eating their presentations and there were lots. The last two hours of fishing had been just like the rest of the day with fish coming aboard constantly. The weather hadn’t effected the fishing. In fact, I think it fired them up as the action was all day long! I don’t really know how many fish they caught today but I do know that it was more than they had ever hoped for. With several different techniques & presentations used today, all had worked. They would be ready for their fishing trip and looking forward to using all that they had learned on this extraordinary day! After a couple more fish landed, we called it a day. I’m pretty sure neither of them would forget this "Wow" day anytime soon!!

Today was going to be an interesting one as I had three clients from all over the world. Jan was from the Netherlands, Ian the U.K. and Jaakko was from Finland. They were all in Montreal for a huge convention and wanted to try some local fishing. Everyone had fished, but with limited success back home and were hoping to catch something today. Let’s just say, I wasn’t worried! We began shortly after 7:30 and within 5 minutes Jan was into the first pike of the day. Although not big by my standards, it was plenty large by his. Pics were taken and once the fish was released, two more rods fired giving the others a shot at their own. One walleye and another pike were landed and before I could get the lines back in, a third one went off with a bass. These guys must have thought they died and went to heaven! We hadn’t been fishing for 10 minutes and already four fish had been landed. They were pumped for more and more was just what they got. For a couple of hours it was nonstop and everyone had their shot at a variety of fish. Walleye, pike, bass & perch were landed and several of the walleye were kept in the livewell for a dinner on Sunday. Seeing as they were all huge soccer fans, they wanted to have a meal with a bunch of their friends for the final game. They planned on getting a chef from one of their hotels to take care of everything and needed a few more for the dinner. I managed to stay on the fish as long as I could before they just stopped biting. Time to move on and cover more water! I jumped around from shallow to deep and contacted fish all over. We were fortunate this morning with overcast skies and a nice chop from a SW wind, but that eventually ended. Now the sun was shining and the wind had died completely causing me to raise the top once again. It was nice to be in the shade and the comfort level went way up for everyone! It didn’t seem to change the fishing either as they were still biting pretty good. Sometime after lunch I decided to change it up a bit and give them a chance to try a different technique. We were trading in the trolling rods and pulling out the drop shot rigs with a relocation. Now they would be on their own and all I would do was try and keep them on the fish. The lack of wind was the only drawback as it almost felt like we were anchored. We were moving but real slowly over flats and patience was necessary. This was the first time they had ever used this technique and a little coaching was required. After several lost fish they seemed to get the hang of it and we kept at it for the remainder of our day. All three of them were catching fish but Jaakko definitely had the hot hand. It was like he was putting on a seminar! He must have caught 75% of the fish and most of them were walleye. They would have no problem eating fish tomorrow! I had mentioned something to the gang earlier in the day and we would be quitting at 3:00 because of it. Being giant soccer fans and having the Netherlands playing Belgium at 4:00, they took me up on the offer. We would be heading to a regular restaurant/bar of mine where they could watch the game on many big screens while eating fish and drinking beer. Who could say no to that offer? As I always like to end on a high, I decided to make one last attempt at a final fish while I packed things up. Right on cue Jaakko hooked up and he had a screamer on the line. I knew this wasn’t a walleye and then we caught a glimpse of the fish. He had hooked into a small musky around 8 pounds and it was pissed off! This would make his total for Canadian fish species five, if he landed it. After several aerials and a few good runs, I was finally able to get it in the net. This was the icing on the cake for Jaakko today! We shot a bunch of quick pics and released it unharmed to grow into the beast that it could. These guys had flown halfway around the world, never imagining fishing like this! We pulled out, headed back to my place and raced to the restaurant for the game. For the next few hours they were in their glory watching the match and Jan was elated with his team. Many drinks were drank and a great time was had by all before they headed to their hotel. They had definitely chosen the right day to go fishing and topped it off with a great meal and relaxing evening at a local watering hole. Who could ask for anything more!!

After a lengthy four days of successful musky fishing, it was nice to get back to a day of relaxation. Tom & I were headed out to see what the weather had done to the walleye and hoped for good results. With the terrible conditions each day after Monday, the water had gotten worse & worse. The lake had muddied up and the already cool water temps had fallen even more. What was 70 degrees only a week ago was now down to 67! Winds were blowing every day as well, but today they had calmed to less than 10 knots and were from the south west. Perfect conditions to catch Walters! We set the lines and decided to start with a troll to cover some water, in search of our first bite. Well it didn’t take long before I was back to locking the fish up by throttling the engine again. Two clicks from the reel and I knew they were back to their old tricks of barely firing the reel. For most of the morning this was the norm as several decent walleye and a couple of quality bass were boated. Two of the smallmouth were in the 4 pound class and another pushing 5 almost made it to the net. We even landed a couple of good pike with one going almost 10 pounds! By afternoon though, the water was finally beginning to warm and the activity showed. We were now able to hear the reels going off and the fish were acting like they should. Several nice walleye in the slot were landed and a couple of overs were returned. We fished till about 2:00 before we called it quits. I even had to raise the top due to the heat and sunshine and boy was it nice. It had to be close to 20 degrees cooler under the roof, making the scorching temps completely bearable. I can’t believe I waited so long before installing one! In less than 5 hours of fishing there were double digits of each species and nobody got hurt. We left the lake completely satisfied and both looking forward to returning real soon!!

Today had to be the hottest one so far this season! Zero wind, blazing sunshine and high heat & humidity made the temperature feel almost 40 degrees. Pascal had brought his family fishing and we set off just about 8:00 A.M. With this many people on the boat I decided to troll to avoid any accidents. With rods set, it was just a matter of time before we would hook up! Light bites were the norm lately and this morning was no different. As with previous days I found myself hitting the throttle just to lock the fish up. The first couple of hits were so subtle that even I barely heard the clicking occur. Fortunately we did manage to get several walleye, & pike up to 8 pounds in the first part of the day. After a quick bathroom break we were back to trolling and catching a few more walleye, bass & pike once again. Although some fish were biting, it really wasn’t what I had expected. After a few more hours of washing lures I decided to try elsewhere and set up for a little drop shotting. I had relocated into some really dirty water and found the temps hovering around 74 degrees. It was a huge difference from the 67 that we had been previously fishing in! The lines were still trolling while I got the rods ready and we picked up a bunch more fish while waiting. In fact, Pascal got exotic species of the day with an 8 pound lunge! When we were finally able to change presentations & the rods were in, it was game on. In the remaining couple of hours everyone had several chances at fish and many bass & walleye were caught. I don’t know exactly how many came to net but they did manage to catch a bunch. Enough that they were taking fish home for dinner tonight. By 3:00 they had endured enough heat that they were fried. We pulled the plug and headed back, calling it a day. Ironically the ramp was void of boats and I was out in an instant. Although not an excellent day by my standards they still managed to land almost 35 fish for the day. Under these conditions, they all left quite satisfied. Hopefully they will be back on a slightly cooler day, or at least one where they can all swim. Either way, it should be better all around!!

Ross & his wife Margaret were in Montreal on a convention and took some time to fish with me today. Not having ever fished for these species before, there would be several firsts for them. Despite the completely flat water, it was almost picture perfect too. Unfortunately for us though, the torrential rainfall from a recent storm followed by high north winds had the water really muddy. It was going to be interesting to say the least! We set the lines shortly after 7:30 and I began searching for walleye with a troll. Almost immediately one of the reels fired and when I passed it over to Ross, it was gone. The second fish to eat was a bass and he went to the air even before the reel fired. It also came unpinned and we were zero for two! Not a good start but we had all day to make up for the loss and I was confident. We trolled all over, marking plenty of fish high in the water column but very little activity was had. Time for a change and a relocation! We were off to an area that should have plenty of fish, but they would be mostly pike. After a rather cold start it would be a welcomed thing! Well we spent close to an hour all over this area and I didn’t mark much. In fact not one reel even fired and this was a first for me. I soon realized that this wasn’t working and shifted gears completely. We were headed for smallmouth and going to cast reaction baits to see if we could get bit! Ross had fished for many salt water fish before but never for smallmouth and I wanted him to experience just how hard they hit. He would be throwing a spinnerbait and hopefully getting crushed! Margaret on the other hand had barely fished before and needed a little coaching on the basics. I would have her throwing a tiny crankbait and hopefully it would work out for her as well. I gave Ross a demonstration cast with the spinnerbait and instantly got hammered. They were here and he was ready to do battle with them. I think it may have also been his first cast as well that he got hit and was into a nice chunky 3 pounder. This would continue for a while as we had no plans on leaving until they stopped biting. Margaret was just happy to be learning how to cast properly and loving the casting thing. Hooking up would only be a bonus! Well eventually she got just that and another 3 pounder went airborne ripping line off the reel. It really looked like she was going to land this fish but the tiny hooks pulled out right at the boat. She looked a little disappointed but that would change soon. Although Ross had caught several bass he was now missing most of the hits. I don’t think the fish were actually hitting to eat and short strikes were more common. Time to relocate and we made a long run to cool off. It was beginning to heat up and those damn bugs were out! By now there were a lot more boats on the water and it would only get worse. This was the start of a long weekend and many people would be cutting out of work early to extend it. Flat calm conditions would soon turn rough and the waves would be from all directions. I would take advantage of it before it got too bad. This next place looked terrible with the water color but I knew there had to be some regardless. Unfortunately they were also short striking here and Margaret landed the only bass in almost an hour. She had finally been rewarded for her casting skills and got to feel just how hard they fight. This one made it into the net and a few pics had to be taken. After a little longer in this area, I decided to pull the plug once again and change it up to trolling. The sun had been out for several hours warming the water and hopefully the fish had a changed attitude. It was still a grind but at least we had several fish hit the lures. For most of them however, I had to throttle down to lock them up. The bites were still garbage but pike & walleye were actually coming in the boat from time to time now. By covering water I was able to put the lines over several fish and managed to lock them up. I really had to monitor the lines plenty though as they weren’t firing the reels very well. On a few occasions I noticed more of a bend in the rod and sure enough, there was a fish at the end. One of them even had a walleye of almost four pounds attached! The water temps were still around 67 degrees and it really showed. When we finally pulled the lines again I decided to finish the day with a little more casting for bass. Margaret was eager to get back to what she had learned and was once again rewarded with another smallmouth. Ross too had a couple of others but the boat traffic here had the fish messed up. They weren’t too active and we called it a day after more misses. They had come all the way from Texas and caught 4 new species of fish each today and enjoyed doing it. Several new techniques were seen and used and fish were caught on all of them. I’m sure that if they ever get back to Montreal, I will be getting a call again. They thoroughly loved the lake and despite the inactivity by the fish, fended quite well. Days like these make you appreciate the easy high number ones only more. I can’t wait to get back and get even!!