With Christiane officially on vacation, I thought we would hit the lake for a little pleasure fishing. No early arrival, just a relaxing start to the day! The weather was hot & humid again and expected to reach into the upper 80’s with heavy winds. Walleye were going to be caught today along with plenty of smallies as well as we began in a deep area with a drop shot rig. The winds were a little difficult to get a proper line and it took a bit of time before I had it nailed down just right. Several eaters were landed in the first couple of hours and some mid size smallmouth before we hit a few other areas, solely for the bass. There were plenty of other boats on the lake today but most of them were either cruisers or sailboats and not fishermen. Although we didn’t take any pics, there were a load of decent size fish landed, just not giants! Tomorrow will be another day and hopefully several Kodak moments! Saturday had the lake pretty full with nice weather along with the start of the Quebec holidays. There were already 8 trailers in the parking lot and they were all fishermen when we arrived at 8:30. I knew I was going to have to be careful where I fished! We hit an area and tried drop shot rigs right away but weren’t able to get any eater sized walleye, just smallies of all sizes. I thought we would pull the plug on this and check a couple of areas and troll, just to cover water. Well, the walleye once again didn’t cooperate and smallmouth were caught up to almost 5 pounds instead. To say it was a zoo out there would have been too polite. It was mental out there! With high sunshine and flat calm conditions, everyone was out. Although there wasn’t really any wind, there were 2 & 3 foot waves everywhere and from every direction. The gas companies would be the only ones benefitting from today! It got so crazy out there that we threw in the towel after attempting an hour of walleye fishing. We picked up a couple of eaters and were on our way. Gotta love weekend traffic, especially when it falls in the construction holiday period!! Sunday began with a complete switch in the weather as a cold front arrived overnight. Air temps were in the low 60’s and the winds were out of the north as we began our day. After a little business out to sea, we were on our way and headed to smallmouth country. It was a nice cool morning for a change but also expected to get into the 80’s by afternoon. It didn’t take long before Christiane was locked up on a 3 pound smallie on a spinnerbait and the game was on. A few more on the blades and a quick switch to tubes had her getting hit on almost every cast afterwards. There was a lot of fish here with the north winds pushing on the rocks we were fishing and I wasn’t leaving until they stopped eating. I had to help out someone for the second time today when a troller accidently ran over his line, wrapping it around his prop. It’s always easier to get access to the prop from another boat and I lent a hand. I didn’t realize however just how bad it was until I started unraveling the mess. He must have had 30 or more yards of braid around the blades and that’s not always good. Line like this can eat through your seals and cause a water leak into the lower unit. Fortunately for him I managed to untangle the fiasco and all was well. We both headed back to fishing but only one of the boats went back to catching. Christiane was still pounding on the bass and getting snagged in the rocks from time to time as well. I had to show her how to snap the jigs out and several times, got just crushed immediately. At one point she snagged up again and was going to snap it out when the line began to move. Sturgeon hook up! This would be her first one and a 10 minute battle was in progress. Although I had a few eat the jigs this season, she wasn’t as lucky. This one was closer to the tail and double the battle! Eventually I was able to glove the dinosaur and she had another species added to her list. A few quick pics and back the beast went to where it had come. I estimated this thing at almost 25 pounds and an average one for the lake. We went back to bass fishing and kept catching for quite a while afterwards until some idiot decided to troll right over the shoal, twice! It’s amazing just how stupid some people can be and how they ever obtained a boaters card. Too bad they don’t have one for courtesy! When he did this for the second time, the fish dispersed and just shut down. I guess he couldn’t stand seeing us catching and thought he would get his too. We relocated to another area and began hitting fish once more, without any idiots bothering us this time! They were chowing on senko’s here and we were getting them good. After lunch we thought we would try for some walleye and trolled new areas once again. It looked pretty good but all we were able to come up with were more smallies and some big ones too. With the heat & humidity upon us heavily now, we decided to call it a day and head back. It wasn’t just the heat that was getting to me as the traffic was what mattered most. Boats everywhere and going in every direction! All in all a pretty good start to her vacation and tomorrow we would be on Lake Ontario looking for silver. We can’t wait!!

Matt, Ken and his son Eric fished with me today and they had a blast! I thought Ken had wanted walleye so I rigged all the rods with a drop shot set up and waited for them to arrive. It wasn’t until we were running out to the area to fish that I found out he would rather catch bass. I immediately hung a right turn and changed our course for shallower water and some smallies instead. I believe that Matt had one on his second cast and the others just looked on in disbelief as he battled a three pounder to the net. Both Ken & Eric were instructed on how to present the jigs and it didn’t take long before they were also joining in on the action. With the forecasted winds expected to blow from the SW at 15 to 25 knots, I wasn’t sure how much water we would be able to cover and held in this area a little longer than I normally would. Fortunately, the fish were sort of cooperating as they were hitting right until we left. Unfortunately, they were tormenting Matt as he kept dropping them or missing the strikes all together. He landed a pile of them but missed equally as many or maybe more before we left this area in pursuit of a different species. Eric had definitely fended well as he had two of the largest bass landed that would have gone over 4 pounds. Both Matt & Ken managed their fair share as well but were never able to keep the bigger ones pinned for the net. Off we went to troll for some pike and walleye and I saw that the winds had definitely increased and were now at the 20 plus knots that they were calling for. Thankfully we were in the Ranger and it just sliced through the waves like butter. No pounding the water by us but a couple of aluminum boats were really taking a shit kicking as they ran across the rollers. I set the lines and trolled the weeds with anticipation of bigger and better things to come. The first reel to scream had a northern around 5 pounds and Eric was soon reeling in his very first pike. After a few more snakes, we managed to get a walleye that would have fell in the slot at 19 inches, but they didn’t want to keep it and back she went. While catching several more northerns, Matt informed me that he had to be back at the dock by 1:00. I was expecting to be on the water until at least 4:00 and tried to convince Ken & Eric to stay out after the drop. Back at the ramp however, they realized that the waves were pretty big and opted for departure as well. I’m really not use to half days, but accepted their decision and pulled the boat out of the water. Despite the short day, the action was fast & furious for the time spent and everyone had caught enough fish to satiate their appetites. Overall, a really great day!!

Pierre, Charlie & Matt joined me today on what proved to be a rather interesting day on the lake. We met up at 7:30 under cooler air temps and a light wind from the north. Sunshine was forecasted for the day and a high of about 85 degrees would have us in another heat wave. We began trolling over one of the most productive areas just looking for a few walleye to start the ball rolling. Although I was marking plenty of fish, they just weren’t interested! This went on for about an hour before I pulled the plug on the troll and started drop shotting the same area, hoping for different results. It didn’t take long before we had a confirmation as Pierre hooked into a beautiful smallie of just under 4 pounds. Almost instantly, Charlie had a hook up as well but it came unpinned when she took to the air. I realized that these fish really weren’t looking to chase anything down and you literally had to be right on top of them in order to get bit. It was going to be a challenge with the wind from the north, but I’d make it work. By using the small engine I was able to almost back troll it at an angle, pulling it down current. Our drifts weren’t perfect but at least we were able to fish vertical and stay on top of the fish! Things were definitely working well as everyone was hooking up and several walleye were coming aboard along with plenty of smallmouth bass as well. In the next couple of hours we had multiple hookups and now had a half dozen walleye in the well for them to enjoy. The winds had even switched directions and were a light SW really helping me with the boat control. We now had a direction that coincided with the current and I was able to stay on a line that I wanted and we were catching. After a while, we decided to shift gears and try casting solely for smallmouth and made a long run to a flat that had been producing size as well as numbers. Almost immediately, they started hooking up on senkos and I realized that this was the right move. It did take some getting use to before they were able to detect the strikes properly but eventually they had it all under control. Fish were coming aboard of all sizes and everyone was catching their fair share. We hung out in this general area for the remainder of the day and just kept moving all over several flats. Plenty of smallies fell victim to these offerings and the time just flew by. Before we knew it, 4:00 rolled in and it was time to leave. The only problem was that the fish didn’t know this and they just kept hitting. One of my rules is that you never leave fish when they’re biting, so we hung in as long as they cooperated. In the next 30 minutes they just pounded on them and it was a blast. We even had several sightings of huge freshwater drum and several sturgeon in the area and I thought throwing a tube might get one to go. I pitched in towards one of the sturgeon and almost immediately felt the tick. There had been a few caught recently and most of them had eaten the tube jigs, so I wasn’t surprised when I lifted and it was on. Matt was the closest so he got to battle the beast while I went for the landing glove. I somehow had managed to hook one of the pectoral fins instead of getting it biting and Matt really had a fight on his hands. Thankfully, the fish was a little one and was less than 15 pounds, making it easier to land. A few quick picks for them and back it went to the depths where it belonged. This was definitely the way to end the day and we packed up and headed back to the ramp. They had experienced all kinds of action and caught plenty of fish today and this was just the icing on the cake! Despite the slow start, an adjustment was made changing up the entire outcome and this was all that was needed to get the ball rolling. Overall, it was a fantastic day and there were lots of fish caught to make this a day to remember!!

Kent & his wife Megan were with me today, all the way from Colorado and looking forward to fighting just about anything. A 7:00 meet was scheduled due to possible weekend traffic and we hit the water immediately after. Winds were out of the W at 10 to 15 knots already and were expected to push 20 to 30 by the afternoon; with a slight change to the SW. Air temps would be reaching close to 90 degrees and with the humidex, a lot higher! I wasn’t sure what to expect but I knew we were going to be on fish, all day! Our first spot had a slower than usual bite going and both Kent & Megan picked at the bass for close to 2 hours before we headed into the big winds looking for more action. Kent had only caught largemouth before and being from Colorado, trout were what he targeted at most times. He hadn’t realized the shear power of the smallie and wanted more. Originally he was looking to catch a few pike & walleye but after the first bass, they went the way of the dinosaur! Tubes and senkos were once again the baits of choice and they were eating them pretty good in the second area. In only a couple of hours they had both landed and lost their fair share of these little footballs up to 3.5 pounds. There were several much larger hooked but that’s fishing! As always though, women & kids rule and today was no exception. Although Kent did catch many more than Megan, she did get the largest of the day, into the net for several pics. This fish was close to 5 pounds and quite the battle for someone not use to catching smallies before. I’m sure she will be talking about this one for a while! Kent may have been able to redeem himself several times over but they just kept coming unpinned as they took to the air. Regardless of the outcome, they both had a great time hooking plenty of acrobatic smallmouth throughout the entire day. By 4:00 I decided to pull the plug on this day and began the long run back to the dock. I knew we had been fishing in rough conditions all day with the incredible winds, but realized that we were also somewhat sheltered in the process. I hadn’t known just how protected, until I got further away in more open areas of the lake. We were now running back to the ramp in average 3 footers with an occasional 4 or 5 thrown in for good measure. I had to reduce the speed and play with the hydraulics & trim to find a comfortable speed for the boat to run, without pounding everyone & everything in the boat. Thankfully the Ranger ran without a splash on anyone and we were going with the waves! I’m pretty sure that given the opportunity to come back to Montreal, both Kent & Megan wouldn’t hesitate, after a day like this. Overall a tough condition day but we made the right choices and monopolized on the active smallies in the process!!

I had the pleasure of fishing with Laini and her two sons today for a variety of fish. Eden & Izaiah really hadn’t fished much before and were looking forward to catching and possibly taking a few home for dinner. We began around 7:30 and it didn’t take long before we were at our first spot, ready to troll. I set the lines and within 10 minutes the first reel went off and Izaiah was soon reeling in a three pound walleye. Looks like he would be putting food on the table tonight! Eden was up now and when the next fish hit, he brought in a northern of just under 5 pounds and both kids were in their glory. In the next couple of hours there were several more pike and a couple more walleye caught but the action wasn’t fast & furious. Eden’s walleye unfortunately had to be returned after a few pics as she was 22 inches and over the slot. Isaiah had landed another in the slot and now had 2 fish in the livewell for tonight’s dinner. I was hoping that another species might be a little more aggressive and decided to try for smallmouth further up the lake. We didn’t waste any time before fish were being reeled in, mostly on senkos due to the flat calm conditions. High heat & humidity with absolutely no wind at all made it a real scorcher where we were. Fortunately, the fish were biting and everyone was catching! Even Laini made a few casts and landed a smallie just under two pounds! After catching a pile of these feisty bass, they all agreed to go back to trolling and see if they could add a few more walleye to the dinner plate. With the lack of any wind and the scorching heat wave we were in, it wasn’t easy to get the fish to cooperate. We did catch a bunch, but they were mostly bass and a couple of northerns. One of the smallies was a real bruiser and almost hit the 5 pound mark. There were only two walleye landed in the last couple of hours of the day and one made it to the livewell. The other went back at almost 26 inches and well over the legal size for the Montreal region. I don’t know how many people are releasing these larger fish but in the last few weeks I have seen some big ones come aboard. I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one catching these oversize walleye but I may be the only one releasing them! Time was getting on and shortly after 4:00 we unanimously decided to call it a day. I think the temperature today hit 87 degrees and closer to 100 with the humidex! Definitely one of the hottest days so far this season! It was a tough day but a very rewarding one, as I had the pleasure of introducing two young anglers to the sport of fishing. Hopefully it won’t be the last time we get together and I look forward to fishing with them again!!