Andrew & his son Alex joined me today on the first of many windy days on the water for some bass & walleye action. We launched on a local lake at 7:30 in hopes of fishing through the morning before the hurricane winds began. As usual though, the weather man was wrong once again! They had predicted a 10 to 15 knot wind from the SW in the morning and double that for the afternoon, so we took advantage on the big lake early. I don’t think we made it past 45 minutes before I was calling it and headed back to the ramp for a relocation. Although we had managed to land a couple of nice bass and lose a few more, it wasn’t easy to hold or even detect the bites in this wind. We had to get off before it got even worse and ran back in 3 to 4 footers. Thee next location at least had more current and was somewhat protected by the intense winds and felt like a whole new world. Or so I thought! We started fishing in an area that I knew held plenty of decent bass and then the gusts began. Boat control was once more a treat and every time someone hooked up, we drifted off the spot. At least there weren’t any real big rollers, just a high wind that kept pushing us around while they fished. I’m not quite sure how many fish came in the boat here but I think it was at least 15 or more before they just stopped biting all together. Time to move and off to the next area we went. By now the winds had increased to close to 25 knots and this was causing us a little more trouble than I had anticipated. Presenting the jigs properly was becoming a difficult task and in order to just feel the bottom, I had to increase their weight. By doing this though, they were caught in the bottom more than I wanted and we changed places once again. Between shifting areas and running from the nasty skies and rain, it seemed like all we did was move! I was really beginning to get frustrated, knowing that the bass were there but we just couldn’t get the baits in front of them to eat. Every place I thought we would be sheltered, it turned out we weren’t! The winds shifted 3 or 4 times during the day and went W to SW to W/NW & back to W once more before we just called it completely. It was now past 3 o’clock and no mater where we went it wasn’t easy. Chock another one up for “Mother Nature”, as she wins again! The had caught a bunch of fish under adverse conditions and overcame a skunk, so at least that accounts for something!

I had a few days off this week so I decided to call my nephew & see if he wanted to partake in some serious catching. He usually fishes from shore near his house when he has a chance and getting him back on the boat for some bass & walleye would be a nice change. Both days saw really hot weather in the 90’s and almost no wind to cool you off. Dog pecker knat central! Fortunately, the fish were biting and we managed to get into some real nice smallies and walleye up to almost 5 pounds on both outings. With the water temps still on the rise it wasn’t a surprise to see almost 75 degrees on the second day. We both couldn’t take the heat too much and cut the days short by quitting between 1 & 2 o’clock. Even at that, it was almost more than we could endure and a change in weather will be welcomed soon. Overall, a couple of pretty good outings!!

Norm & I hit the lake today without any thought of trolling, just smallies on the brain! We began shortly after 6:30 and were casting aggressive baits quickly, just covering water. The winds were up again, as it seems now that every day has at least a 20 knot blow from some direction! Fortunately, it didn’t change the fishing as a 4 pounder crushed a jerkbait and went crazy. Our air temps were in the upper 60’s but forecasted to top out somewhere in the mid 80’s by days end. Clear skies were on us almost all day as we just drifted along in hot pursuit of that 6 pound bass, still on Norm’s mind. Shortly after the first fish, Norm hit another on a spinnerbait and it was “Game On”! From that moment on, there was no looking back as several more 4 to 5 pound bass continued to crush these lures from just about every direction. Although the winds were rolling 2 & 3 footers, we didn’t care as the bass were angry and that’s all that mattered to us. Eventually we decided to do a little exploring and stumbled onto several smaller areas holding a few fish here and there until, we came upon something special. We had found a huge deep rocky flat that the fish were just stacked on. Obviously the deeper water was the place to be as the next 6 hours had us just pounding big fish. A mix of walleye and smallies all came from around 40 feet deep on Carolina rigs and other presentations almost as fast as we could get them down. It was just insane as we fished all over, isolating the key areas on every drift. By the time 4:00 rolled around, we were totally exhausted from a combination of heat, wind and of course, Smallies! Time to call it and we headed back to the ramp with a sense of euphoria about this day. We usually don’t see this type of fishing until the water cools in the fall and welcomed it for the summertime. Both of us can’t wait to get back out and pound on them once again!!

Today was a day of pleasure fishing as my wife Christiane joined Alyssa and her dad Donny for a day on the water. The 4 of us hit the lake at the crack of 10:30 and began a troll. The weather was once again blazing with air temps hovering around 80 degrees when we began and topped out closer to 90 degrees when we ended. The winds had slowed down slightly though and were less than 20 knots for most of the time. Even the boat traffic was at a minimum and that was a surprise! Water temps had been climbing the last few days and were now above 73 degrees when we set the lines. I thought we were going to just crush them with all these things in our favor but soon found out differently. Only one drive bye and a small smallmouth landed in the first couple of hours with plenty of water being covered. Time to go casting! We switched locations and began throwing lures at an area holding plenty of smallmouth bass. Christiane had the first two smallies on but unfortunately they both came unpinned from the jerkbait. I was working with Alyssa as this was her birthday present and she managed to smack 3 or 4 in the first hour. A few others were missed or lost all together before I thought we would give the troll another go. Apparently the right move as Alyssa landed a nice walleye of around 3 pounds in the first 15 minutes. She also got into a couple of bass and a northern before another walleye ate the bait. It was a little chaotic as the lines were crossing in the winds while we tried to get the fish to the net. We did manage but not without several crossed lines though and spent a few minutes untangling the mess. This fish was all worth it though as she weighed at least 5 pounds. A few quick picks and the walleye was free to swim again. We trolled for a little longer but the winds had gotten even worse and the waves were rolling pretty good when another reel screamed. It was also a walleye and a decent one once again as Alyssa landed what was to be her last fish of the day. I tried a little longer in the shallower water and after 10 minutes started to bring in the lines. One by one I reeled them in and before I could get to the last rod the reel fired and went silent. Those damn drive byes! We almost had another fish but it just wasn’t meant to be. Although there weren’t a ton of fish landed today, we all had a good time. It was a number of years since Alyssa and her dad had been fishing so this was a perfect birthday present for her to receive. Great company, sunshine and even a few fish! Who could ask for more!!

Scott joined me for a couple of days of bass fishing before he was to fish Muskie with someone else on Sunday. We hit the water Friday morning around 7:00 and went trolling immediately. The weather looked like a winner with light winds from the N/W and air temps in the 70’s. This would all change however as the conditions were about to get worse. The winds would switch full west and intensify upwards of 25 knots. We didn’t have much luck with the troll so I decided that casting might work out better and switched locations. As luck would have it, I was right! Within minutes Scott was into several big fish but every time one got on, it just kept getting off. A couple of them were real giants too! As the weather got even worse, I decided to relocate and try for a less windy area further up the lake. Although it was blowing pretty good, it wasn’t as bad and we hung there for a few hours longer. It seemed the same wherever we went as each fish that Scott hooked into came unpinned before it could reach the boat. Bad luck I guess! Eventually he did manage to land some decent ones though and they all came on a violently fished jerkbait. We tried one last shot at trolling for walleye and were ripped off by just drive byes. We called it a day and headed out to eat instead. Tomorrow I would switch bodies of water and hopefully the luck as well! Saturday started out with a bang as the first spot produced many hits and several landed bass in a couple of hours. The winds were even worse than yesterday, blowing 20 to 30 knots from the west but at least we were somewhat sheltered where we were. Bluebird skies had all kinds of boat traffic on the water and it looked more like the vacation period rather than a Saturday. Between the boogey boarders and jet-skis it was total chaos. Add hundreds of cruisers and plenty more fishing boats and it became a total zoo. I had some deep water areas that were holding good fish but had a hard time fishing it due to boats passing from every direction. They just didn’t care which side they went by us and obviously speed wasn’t an issue either, because we rocked and rolled like we were in a washing machine. We obviously didn’t stay here for long as it was almost impossible to even stand! We tried other areas and had similar results with a few more fish and many more boats. Too bad it wasn’t the other way around! Later in the afternoon we switched to a few back channel areas and managed to get out of most of the traffic. Unfortunately we only got into smaller fish by doing this and decided to call it a day once again. The boat ramp was a real zoo also as there were people all over the place blocking the docks and drinking. Ironically the police boat signaled us out and pulled us over for a routine inspection as well. I couldn’t believe that they were that blind but obliged them with everything they needed and more. By the time we were actually out of the water and on the trailer it was close to an hour later. What a zoo! It took us all of 2 minutes to do what we needed to do before we were finally on our way. What a crazy day on the water!!