Day 2 saw a little slower start with several shakers and one decent steelhead landed in the first couple of hours. There were a couple of larger kings that peeled plenty of line off of the reels only to eventually come unpinned during the fight too. There was also another good fish that felt like it may have been in the same caliber as the 30 pounder from day one that actually bit off the fly during the fight. Cold front conditions had these fish in a real negative state and we were feeling the pain right along with them. Greg was marking plenty of good fish but they were reluctant to eat anything he set down. The highlight of the day would have had to be the steelhead we found on the surface. As the boat trolled by it I noticed that it had head down from some hardware still attached. I saw a fly, a flasher and possibly a dipsey connected and the fish was still kicking. After yesterday’s terminal tackle loss we figured any freebees would be less painful. Greg had lost several spoons, a complete dipsey, flasher fly combo and an entire 5 colors of leadcore line from several mishaps. We circled back around and I scooped up the fish as it tried to get away and removed all the tackle. Well at least he got something back! By noon we had decided to call it quits as all of us had a long drive ahead and the fish just weren’t cooperating. Oh we caught a number of shakers up to about 4 pounds (12 or so) and a nice 6 pound steelhead but the bigger salmon just didn’t want to eat properly. We were 0 for 3 on the Kings and after yesterday, it didn’t matter. I’m not even sure that Christiane would have been able to fight anything big today as she was still suffering from all the stomach bruises from the rod butts. Her arms were also in pain along with back muscles that she never knew she even had. She was a mess! Whoever said fishing was a relaxing sport obviously never battled a King! This is a real full contact sport requiring anti imflamitories along with miscellaneous painkillers just to take the edge off. We both can’t wait to get back! Talk about a pair of masochists! If you would like to enjoy some of this pain as well, feel free to give Greg a call by checking out his Website at http://www.fishing4tails.com you won’t be disappointed, just sore and that’s a great thing. Thanks again Greg for showing us a super time full of pics, memories and ibuprofen. See ya again soon!!

Well I was finally able to take Christiane to the big lake for a couple of days, so we headed out around midnight for some crazy salmon action. I really didn’t want to drag my boat to the lake this time so we hooked up with a good friend that guides there on a regular basis. I knew we would be in good hands and an extra pair of them never hurts either! We arrived at 5:00 A.M. after a long drive and met Greg just around 6 to try & get Christiane into some trout & salmon. Winds were out of the NW at around 5 to 10 knots and the waves were barely 2 footers. This was just what I was hoping for as we set the lines and waited. The first rod to fire came from one of the riggers and Christiane started with a beautiful 8 pound steelhead. The next rod went off soon after and she was battling a steelie of almost 14 pounds. Things were looking up but she still needed the king! Finally a wire line started to scream and this was the reel deal. It beat her up pretty bad but she still managed to land the salmon and after a quick pick it was immediately released. She was working her way up the ladder as this one was around 23 pounds. The next time the rod fired she wasn’t as fortunate, as this one was to live up to its name as “The King”. She was lucky though as it had hit one of the riggers and not the wire line with all the hardware. A painful & lengthy battle of over 10 minutes finally ended when the net was slipped under the 30 pound plus beast. This was definitely her personal best and almost impossible for her to hold for the pictures. She needed help! We continued to fish for several more hours all the while knowing that this fish would be tough to beat. A few more smaller ones (20 pounders) were caught before we decided to try the Abyss for a shot at some steelhead. Greg ran out to much, much deeper water and barely had the first rigger set when it popped and chrome was in the air. He knew it would be more action and that’s what he was wanting for her! Almost immediately after the first fish was netted & released another rod fired and this one put on an aerial show that had at least a dozen jumps in it. Another chunky 10 pound steelie was also released back to where she belonged. This “dog & pony show” lasted for over 2 hours with many more fish coming aboard and lost with the largest landed being a high teens Coho Salmon. Oh there were bigger as one of the kings took the reel to almost 550 feet on the counter and it started around 150. This fish had to be a real giant as it never even slowed down on the first run. Although Christiane managed to gain most of the line back, it finally came off as she neared 200. It was a heartbreaker because we never even got a chance to see how big this thing might have been before it was over. Several more steelhead and a few more Coho’s were landed & released before we decided to call it a day. The fact that her arms were ready to fall off might have had something to do with the decision as well!

As it was Christiane’s week off and I didn’t have clients, we decided to head out on the lake for some smallie action. The weather was a little better than yesterday’s with clear skies and slightly cooler temps of 70 degrees at the start. Winds were out of the SW at 5 to 10 knots and picked up to 15 by afternoon. Water temps were hovering between 74 & 76 degrees depending on where we were when we made the first cast. There were only a few smaller bass in the 3 pound range caught on spinnerbaits & jerkbaits before we relocated to try & find bigger & better. The next area found Christiane hooking into a 3 pound walleye but not any bass were found. Immediately we relocated again and this time it was on fire! For the next several hours we were hooking into plenty of quality bass up to and over 4 pounds on a variety of baits. Although there weren’t any real giants today, we still had a blast! Tomorrow we are off to Lake Ontario searching for some real giants and hopefully will get into them big time! Maybe even a 30 pounder or better for someone’s personal best!!

After a hateful day of rain & thunder showers yesterday I was back on the water with Hugues & his family this morning. They were on vacation & wanted to spend the day fishing for whatever wanted to bite. We launched the boat in fairly decent conditions as the air temps were in the 70’s and water temps were 73. Winds were out of the S/W at 10 to 15 knots and a good roll was on the water. As with most windy days, the floating weeds were once again going to be a problem and frequent cleaning of the rods was needed. Although it was a little slower than I was expecting, we did manage to land a decent smallie of close to 4 pounds and three walleye a little smaller. We tried casting a couple of areas for bass and only had a few follows and missed opportunities before I decided to make the long run to calmer waters. Hugue’s wife Carole and his other son Etienne decided they had enough and we dropped them at the dock before travelling to greener pastures. Hugues was fishing a spinnerbait and Olivier was throwing a soft plastic when we began fishing the new area and a few bass just hammered the blades. About 5 or 6 decent smallies up to almost 4 pounds were taken here before another relocation was in order. This was to prove to be the right decision as it didn’t take long before Hugues was into smallies on the blades once more. I managed to convince Olivier to switch to the blade as well and he too soon began hooking up. We were fishing quickly as a storm was looming in the distance that threatened to shut us down. You could tell that the fish felt it as well as they were in full throttle just crushing the lures. I tucked in closer to the main shore when I felt the rain begin and then came the thunder. It really didn’t take me too long after to make the decision to call it quits when I saw the first lightning bolt strike. Not a big fan of electricity when on the water! The shoreline was blocking the full system and as I rounded a corner to cross the main lake, I realized that I should have left 5 minutes sooner. It was a wall of water and headed straight at us! “We’re going to get wet” I said! At one point I was running solely by GPS as we crashed through the main system and eventually passed right through it to a clearing. We weren’t quite so lucky when we arrived at the ramp and found another boat attempting to take out, blocking the only spot available. If I hadn’t needed to wait over 10 minutes, we would have stayed dry. Unfortunately the storm caught up with us and when it was our turn, it was just pouring down on us again. The ramp became a river of water and the auto bilge was working overtime! Along with this monsoon were the swirling winds as well and we were glad to be off. Overall we had to cut the day a little shorter than we had wanted, but the fish had cooperated in the last couple of hours. This will definitely be a day to remember!!

Wow, a day without trolling today! Darren & I hit the water by 7 and were casting for smallies almost immediately with reaction baits. I knew it was going to be a real scorcher and without any wind, “Dog Pecker Knat” central. Air temps would surely get into the 90’s and the water would also rise above the already 75 degrees that we had. Jerkbaits, spinnerbaits and eventually soft plastics would account for all the bass today until I broke out the top-water baits. It’s not common for me to report a top water bite but today the floating vegetation was almost non existent allowing surface action too. With the high humidity lingering the smallies were on fire everywhere we fished and best of all, the boat traffic was all gone. Yesterday’s idiots were all back at work and we practically had the lake to ourselves today. Of all the baits fished throughout the day, top water & senko’s both had the best results. The smallies were definitely active and our results were showing it as double headers were the norm. Many times I would have an explosion on the surface only to have Darren thrown back in with the senko and lock up immediately. It was a win, win situation and we were going to milk it for all it was worth. Unfortunately we had to cut the day short and headed off the water sometime after 2:30 in the afternoon. Darren had to be somewhere and we called it early after pounding bass all day long. I can only imagine what the total might have been if we had of continued even longer! Oh well, no disappointment had by us today!!