Heading off to another lake to fish for a few days with Alain & Cindy had me excited as I made the long haul this morning. I would be staying with them in their beautiful house on the lake and fishing hard for three days. Alain wanted to learn a little more about this lake and booked me for many trips this season, with these being the first three. I arrived around 8:30 and wasted no time getting the boat in the water. I ran to their place on the lake, picked them up on the dock & off we went to our first spot. I wasn’t sure what to expect but I was ready for just about anything as we started casting different lures for the smallies. For three days we would be covering the lake from tip to toe and catching bass on everything from senkos & tubes to topwater & jerkbaits. The weeds had begun to grow pretty good and it looked like the fish were setting up into their summer patterns as we were only catching small fish along the shores. I had thought that some of these fish would still be in shallow due to the spawn but was surprised to see the water above 68 degrees and the fish all gone. Although there were a couple of larger fish between 3 & 4 pounds caught close to shore, the bulk of the fish came from off shore locations with some sort of weed cover. Alain had pretty good success with a wacky rigged senko and managed to get most of his fish with this set up while Cindy caught on everything else. We were fortunate today to have had sunshine for most of the day making it quite pleasant while fishing. Although we did manage to find some nesting areas on shallow sandy flats, they all seemed to be vacant. Several fish were caught around them though making me wonder if they still remained close by. We now had an idea of what the lake was doing and were looking forward to day two! The second morning was a little different with some cloud cover and a slightly stronger wind as we headed to the first location. Alain was once again on the senko and had three fish in the boat before anyone else along an open section in the weeds. Cindy & I were fishing the deep edge to try & entice something larger but not having any luck. I moved in a little closer and saw a bunch of fish cruising all over this area and decided to hang shallow for a while. Alain had another small bass on that almost became breakfast for a rather large northern as it claimed his fish near the boat. It definitely looked to be about a 40 inch pike and the poor little bass got a few scars for his troubles. He was one of the lucky ones I guess! We spent the morning fishing off shore but shallow in weeds and stumps, catching plenty of smallies. After lunch I thought we would try some deeper ledges and found much smaller fish all over them. By ripping jerkbaits on the deep edges we were bringing piles of 1 to 2 pounders aboard with an occasional three. The weeds were definitely out producing the rocks but we continued to cast to the ledges anyway. I’m not really sure how many of these small bass we took along the cliffs but it was a lot. By 5:00 we had the makings of a storm brewing and decided to head back and take out. Timing is everything as we found out once we were ashore. We barely had enough time to get the boat covered before the skies let loose and dumped upon us. Thankfully we were back in the house and watching from inside out! The third morning was a complete opposite from the first two days as we lost the temperature. Both the water & the air had fallen drastically and now we were faced with a cold front. I had spent the two days prior in sandals and light clothing just dying of heat, but not today. We had gone from 80 plus degrees to the mid 50’s and a light drizzle. We all clothed up heavily and donned our rain gear before heading out. We also had a stiff N/W wind making it seem even chillier where we began. Water temps had dropped almost 5 degrees and were at 63.5 in the weeds. I knew this would be a tough one! Nothing was moving and seeing the openings in the weeds wasn’t easy as I held the boat in position. Both Alain & Cindy were throwing senkos but not having any luck when I hooked up on a slowly crawled tube. Yesterday’s fish had grown and now they were quality with this one being over 4 pounds. Immediately I set another rod up and let Cindy toss a tube, all the while instructing her on the drag. She had a light take on about her third cast and locked up on a beauty of a fish. This thing went to the air and I knew it was pushing 5 pounds. After several leaps and plenty of line ripping, I slid the net under an honest 4.5 pound bronzeback. This was to be the first fish of theirs worthy of a picture and I shot a few. After the release and repositioning of the boat, Cindy was locked up again. This time she battled another decent fish of around 3.5 pounds and I thought we were onto something. I immediately rigged another rod for Alain and had them both throwing to the area that had been producing the quality bites. Cindy had only one other fish take the tube and it was a smaller 2.5 pounder. Although they both had hits, the cold water had the fish lethargic and hooking them was becoming more & more difficult. We tried several other areas with similar results until after lunch. I decided to follow a shoreline and remain in water 10 to 15 feet deep, casting to the shore. It was a flat and should hold some fish after the spawn! By ripping jerkbaits we were able to hook up with a bunch of fish, holding in about 13 feet of water. The fish weren’t really relating to anything other than occasional weeds and hard bottom. We weren’t crushing them but under the conditions, we were at least doing alright. I ran all over trying to find some activity, but every spot seemed to be the same. On out last stop, I hit a mid lake hump that topped out at 13 feet surrounded by upwards of 60 to 200 feet of water. I had caught on this bump before but not today! It was really a struggle to get anything to move, so we decided that we would. We threw in the towel and called it a day. It was an interesting three days of fishing and full of challenges, but we did have some success. With most of the fish seemingly in the post spawn mode it can only get better. In the next couple of weeks the larger bass will set up in their summer patterns and begin to school & feed. I may just have to get back again sometime soon and go for another 3 day road trip. Alain still has a bunch of days left and I can’t think of a better way to spend them. Overall we fended alright despite the difficult conditions and post spawn fish. With the delay in seasonal weather, it wouldn’t surprise me if the best fishing is just around the corner. Bring it on!!

Mike & Corey were with me today after a couple of miserable days dished out by the witch! We began the day in heavy overcast skies, the makings of rain and a good chop of 2 foot, as we ran to our first spot. Smallmouth were the target as Corey hadn’t caught one before and wanted to experience their raw power. With Mike on the crankbait & Corey on a spinnerbait, I knew someone was about to score! Although the water temps had fallen to 64 degrees and the color was a little milky, it still had a good feel. A couple of missed strikes later, Corey was officially fighting his first ever smallie and loving it too.Being use to catching walleye had him reconsidering his species of choice. The raw power of this three pound bass was like nothing he had ever experienced and like all of us, he wanted more! Both Mike and Corey landed a few others on both lures and then we shifted to another area in hopes of a little more action. It seemed the further up the lake we went, the milkier the water became, as well as colder. After being disappointed with just a few more smallies, we decided to switch up completely and do a little trolling. No more than 30 seconds into the troll two reels started screaming and we had a double. Unfortunately they were both northerns of around 4 or 5 pounds and not the walleye we were hoping for. I reset the lines and continued searching for the eyes but all we could keep catching were pike and after an hour or so, pulled the lines and relocated once more. This next area had a few reels go off but unfortunately they were smallmouth bass, making us move once again. Back to our original bass area we went and Mike hooked up on his second cast. Another chunky smallie of around 3 pounds came aboard but we just couldn’t find the real bigguns! Although there were several more, the largest would have gone just under 4 pounds before we pulled the plug and tried something new, again. They had hoped to take a few walleye home for dinner so I spent the last 90 minutes trolling for these tasty treats. I was pretty sure that if I fished a certain section of the lake that they would be able to fulfill their wish and was right. In just a couple of minutes the first reel went off and a 16 inch walleye was in the boat. It didn’t take too long after and the board line went off, but this time it was a smallie. Not what we were after and back the 3.5 pound fish went in search of more eyes! Eventually we hit the area holding and managed to put 10 or 12 walleye in the boat keeping a half dozen for the table. In just a short time they had plenty of action and a pretty good meal to look forward to this evening. By mixing it up we were able to accomplish many things today with the best being Corey’s first smallie. I’m pretty sure it won’t be his last though as Mike & Corey are already looking forward to their next outing of bass, along with some walleye for the table of course. Overall a pretty good day with plenty of action all around!!

After another successful day of bass fishing yesterday with Norm & Buddha, I was back with Glen & his wife Odile for a multi species day. We started around 8:00 and in an east wind set the lines for another troll. Although it was only blowing about 10 knots, the waves were at least two footers with the opposite direction to the current. It would prove to make the troll somewhat difficult as I was about to find out! In less than 5 minutes the board line went off and Glenn was landing his first walleye, ever. At just over 20 inches it would weigh in at 3.5 pounds and barely make the slot. In the 2 hours of fishing this area they managed to land 6 walleye, 8 pike, several bass and a crap load of quality sized perch. I thought I would try something different and headed to another area, trolling once again. Many more pike and a couple of walleye were taken in the next few hours and things were looking up. At one point, we couldn’t keep the lines in the water without the reels firing off. Definitely high numbers of pike were taken before I thought we would try something completely different and they agreed. I took them to a few areas holding big smallies and they casted a combination of lures to entice the fish. Odile managed to get a couple of the larger smallies above the 4.5 pound mark and definitely her personal best. Glen caught several of his own and a couple were also his personal best as well. When the bite slowed slightly I decided to throw senko’s and the fish began to bite once more. Both of them landed a few more decent bass on the soft plastics before we called it a day. It was the first time they had seen so many good fish in one outing and were surprised that our waters were so bountiful. To top things off, they were taking a few of the smaller walleye home with them for dinner! Overall a very successful outing indeed!!

Michel & Christiane were fishing with me today on another scorcher of a day, hoping for some great action. Water temps began the day at 67 degrees and went above 70 before we were done, in the areas we fished. Walleye were the target today and they definitely hammered them! The troll was the ticket with specific baits in only certain areas. If you ventured away, you didn’t get bit. It was that simple! We had a light chop in the morning that flattened out completely after noon, almost shutting the bite down totally. Besides all the walleye, there was also a number of larger pike that fell victim to the same lures. These were some of the larger pike of the season so far and definitely feeding quite well as their bellies showed the thickness. With the wind dying completely, out came the dog pecker knats and the torture began. We stuck it out until just after 3:00 and decided to get off the water. It had been almost 30 minutes since the last quality fish came aboard and all we had to show for our time were perch. Despite the afternoon lull they still managed to catch at least 30 walleye and a large number of big pike as well. If we were keeping all the perch they landed, there would have been enough for a huge perch fry too! All in all a great day for the walleye!!

After several successful days this week of walleye fishing, I was finally able to get after the smallmouth bass. Steph, Matt & Hassan were with me, one day after the official opener and we hoped for a high numbers day. We started shortly after 8:00 and were fishing within 30 minutes in a bay that had produced for me year after year. I was surprised to see a flotilla of cruisers that must have moored there overnight, but began none the less. Smaller profile baits were thrown and it didn’t take long before they were hooking up on the baits. Although crankbaits were working, it was the 1/8 oz. jig & grub that was the winner. Eventually two of the guys were fishing this tiny bait and only one remained on the crankbait for the more active bass. With the water over 70 degrees in the bay I knew that most of the fish had already moved away from the shallows, leaving just the smaller males to guard the newly hatched fry. Flat calm waters, high sunshine and scorching heat of over 80 degrees were beginning to take a toll on us so I decided to make a run to another area and to cool off. It was an open water shoal that had fish coming in on about every cast here and the jigs were just hammering everything. Water temps were slightly cooler at 65 degrees but the visibility remained the same at less than a couple of inches. Pollen fluff was everywhere collecting on the lines as they reeled in and eventually we shifted once more. It took a while before we were on the fish again but eventually we found them. It was apparent that there were numbers when they tripled at the same time. Although the largest may have gone three pounds, it was still a triple! I had figured that off shore was working better than the shoreline and focused my attention on similar areas for the remainder of the afternoon. To my surprise though, a strong wind from the W/NW had began and 15 to 25 knots were rolling three footers at us now. Fish were still being caught but boat control was a little more difficult for them to fish in and I had to relocate once again. This time I headed into the wind and fished a flat with a little more protection. First cast Hassan was locked up and the games began all over. By now they were all throwing the jig and everyone was once again catching. By 2:30 they had decided to call it a day and we packed it in and headed back to the ramp. Overall it was an alright day with about 65 or 70 fish being caught, just not the size I had expected. I can’t wait till the fish go summer pattern soon!!