After a couple of not so great days with my brother in law due to the wind & weather, I was back out this weekend with Christiane hoping for redemption. We fished hard Saturday and caught a bunch of walleye & bass trolling before going solely casting for smallies. The weather was quite a bit better than the previous two days with sunshine & light N winds and the bite was definitely on. Although the floating weeds were somewhat of a problem keeping the lines clean, we still managed. Air temps went into the low 80’s and the water temps were almost 75 in most areas. Deep or shallow water didn’t matter as we caught fish in all ranges of depths today on a variety of lures and soft plastics. By 4:00 P.M. we had enough of the boat traffic and decided to call it a day. Tomorrow we would get an earlier start and try to beat all the recreational boaters that were literally all over the lake. Sunday began considerably earlier with us hitting the lake by 7:30 and into fish almost immediately. Smallies and walleye were being caught by trolling lures and the reels were firing. Best of all, I wasn’t being bombarded by pleasure crafts, yet! After catching a bunch of fish trolling we decided to go back casting lures for smallies once more and managed to get into fish immediately again. Christiane hooked into a mid four pound smallie that hit a jerkbait as soon as it hit the water. I followed up with a few fish of smaller size throwing a spinnerbait right afterwards and the fun began. For a few hours we were catching only big bass and they seemed hungry too. It was now early afternoon and the heat wave was definitely upon us but so were the boats. I went back to trolling and managed a few more walleye and pike and had a hard time with all the boats. At one point while fighting a fish, Christiane was nearly knocked into the lake when a big cruiser plowed 4 to 5 footers as it passed less than 50 feet behind us. The idiots were out in full force now! Not long after, another fool in a sailboat decided to tack right in front of us as it was passing by. It was so bad that I had to throw the motor in reverse just to keep from hitting them! This was it for me and we pulled the lines and headed in. There were too many retards for me to worry about on the lake now that the sun was out in full and I called it quits. As the last official day of the construction vacation I guess everyone was out. I’m sure there were more mishaps and I didn’t want to encounter any others myself! We pulled in the tangled lines and took the boat out of the water before something worse happened. Where were the water police today as most of them were drinking and driving around like fools? I can’t wait for Monday when the water is free & clear of all the crazies!!!

I had some free time so I decided to give my nephew a call and we hooked up for an early start to the day. Eric and I were to have a great time on the lake fishing for a variety of fish & catching them all. We began trolling for walleye and managed to put several nice ones in the boat for a dinner the following night with his father and both Christiane’s. There would be 5 of us and I knew we needed at least 5 quality fish so once we were done; it was time for the bass. The weather wasn’t perfect for fishing with a ton of floating weeds all over from the weekend traffic & high winds, but we managed anyhow. A short boat ride to the next area saw plenty of action with smallies from 2 pounds to over 4 pounds coming aboard regularly with soft plastics. Eric hadn’t used senko’s before today and although it took him a bit of time to get the hang of fishing with them, he really caught on well. Eventually he was picking up more fish than me & I was glad to see he was getting into them on almost every cast. These fish were larger than he was use to catching and definitely more than usual too! He even managed a personal best when he hooked up with a real bruiser of a blackie. At over 4 pounds it surely was one heck of a fight and eventually came to the net. We had to take a few picks on his cell phone in order to send them off to his fishing friends as they wouldn’t believe it! After a couple more on my camera she was released back to fight another day. This action kept going for a while and by 4:00 P.M. we decided to call it a day. Eric had caught more fish today than he was use to and they were definitely of a larger caliber too. He even managed two personal bests with a walleye of close to 5 pounds along with the big smallie. We had taken bass, walleye and a few northerns on this almost perfect day on the lake. Tomorrow may be a different story though as his father and girlfriend Christiane, will be fishing with us too. Michel hasn’t had a great track record with me over the years and the weather looks like it may just continue. Crossing our fingers!!

A “No Show” at the ramp yesterday morning had me furious that I couldn’t reach them just to let them know what kind of a jerk they were! Although I did send them an Email, it’s not the same as venting in person. Oh well, another person on my hate list! Today I had the pleasure of fishing with Scott, Shawn & Lorne once again for some rather large smallies. The weather was a little more pleasant today than it had been all week with complete overcast and a light drizzle in the morning. Air temps were to only reach into the 70’s and the water was remaining just below 75 as well. With an occasional light east wind, we were actually being pushed up current making any drift near impossible. We would have to cast for them today! I believe it was Scott that hooked up first and on a jerk-bait, but it was lost at the boat. Another few casts and he was into a three pounder and this one stayed pinned. I was surprised to see that each of these fish was flying solo and not accompanied by several others as they usually are. We weren’t able to monopolize on the followers as there weren’t any today. The schooling bass that I usually see were non existent! We would have to pick at them one at a time. The next area had Shawn tight to a real beauty of a bass and it soon came to the net. At over 5 pounds it was definitely photo worthy before being released. I just wasn’t seeing the volume of fish that I was normally and did a lot of spot hopping just trying to hook up. Lorne finally captured one of his own on a slowly worked senko and this was too in the 5 pound class. Many others were seen in this area but none of them were willing to eat as the current seemed like someone had just shut it down. Pretty much the same results were had on every location we fished today with an occasional fish hooked here & there. Shawn even managed to land a beautiful walleye of around 6 pounds while trying a deep drift. This proved to be next to impossible as the winds were slowing me down almost to a stop. We quickly abandoned this area as well after seeing some real giant bass just cruising all over with zero interest once again. I decided to try a better break along a main channel and finally had all the elements for a successful result. It was here that everyone had multiple hookups and landed plenty more big smallies. There were even several largies hitting within the same area and they were just a bonus on this difficult day. By the time it was all said and done we had turned a really slow start into a great end with just a couple of adjustments in location. Although many fish came unpinned, there were still quality fish up to and over 5 pounds that made it to the net and that’s all that mattered today!!

Well after a well deserved day off yesterday, I was back on the water once more with Ward today looking for bigger smallies for him to battle. We opted for another lake this morning and I think we made the right choice. As with most days out, Mother Nature dictates the outcome and today was no exception. We had the morning partly cloudy with occasional sunshine and oh yeah, “Dog Pecker Knats” all around! The afternoon was slightly different with one storm system after another. We were chased off the lake twice and called it a little early due to another thunder storm right near the end of our day. Heavy cold rains with lightning had me taking refuge much closer to the shore after a float tube death this past weekend in Ontario. Although we didn’t have as many hookups as Monday, the caliber was definitely much better. Ward’s first fish to come in the boat was pushing 5 pounds! His second one was slightly bigger and the rest were all in the same class too. The morning bite was slow but the rewards were worth the wait. All quality and not quantity! Reaction baits weren’t doing it for us but by fine tuning the presentations and slowing down we were able to pick big ones here & there. Without the aid of the wind it seemed like someone had just shut off the current and nothing was moving. I actually felt like I was anchored at times! Once the storms started the fish seemed to become smaller and we weren’t able to get into anything of decent size. Three pounders were about the best we could manage and there weren’t many. I ran to many a new area just hoping to find active feeders but never really keyed in on them with these systems. Somewhere around 4:30 we decided to call it a day as thunder lurked all around us and we were both getting that uncomfortable feeling once more. Ward will just have to make a return trip later in the season if he wants to get into high numbers of these quality footballs like he saw today. Something tells me the wheels are already in motion!!

Ward was joining me today all the way from Phoenix for some incredible smallmouth bass action. We dropped the boat in shortly after 7:00 A.M in terrible conditions. The skies were black & gray and pouring down on us as we headed out on the lake. Fortunately the winds were practically non existent at least and that was a real plus. Water temps still remained at just below 75 degrees as I set the lines and waited for a rip. Floating vegetation would be our biggest problem this morning as I was back to cleaning the rods on a frequent basis. We did this for about an hour or so with only a half dozen walleye and a couple of northerns to show for our efforts and decided to try casting for smallies. I guess it was the right decision, as they were there! Unfortunately the fish weren’t very aggressive and unwilling to hit reaction baits that he was throwing. They were however taking soft plastics slowly presented and it didn’t take long to make the adjustment. The first fish however was another walleye on a senko that fell off right next to the boat, before we began getting into the bass. Finally, game on! Dark skies had made it difficult to see exactly what we were throwing to but the bass were biting. Tubes and senko’s were the baits of choice and both were working as Ward was in his glory catching these powerful fish. He even landed a few more walleye and accidently tied into a huge sturgeon that had me following the dinosaur al over for about 10 minutes. I was surprised to finally grab it by the tail and actually bring it aboard for a couple of picks. It was a long, skinny one that probably weighed close to 25 pounds and back it went to the bottom afterwards. Plenty of decent bass up to almost 4 pounds were landed by Ward in this area before we relocated again to another fish infested section of the lake. Air temps were falling with a slight north wind starting and rain was imminent as we pressed on. It took a little longer here for me to locate the schooling fish but once I did, it was another fiesta. We picked at them for quite a while as the winds blew and boat positioning was insane. I was angling in the current flows and all twisted just to keep the boat in position. It was working though and that was all that mattered as Ward kept getting into fish of all sizes. He did manage to get a few good ones that topped that scales at almost 4 pounds again and they fought like the champs they were. I thought I would try for isolated bass in other areas and jumped around to different spots looking for that real trophy. It wasn’t to happen and he had to settle with more bass in the 2.5 to 4 pound range for the remainder of the day. Oh yeah, he even locked up with another sturgeon that we were both glad the hooks came out of. Neither of us wanted to chase the beast around again! By 5 o’clock we had enough as the sun had been beaming for over an hour and it was starting to get hot again. This day was a real treat for Ward as he usually fishes for largemouth bass and smallies are so much more fun to battle. He’s in town for the remainder of this week and plans are already in motion for another day by mid week. Hopefully he can organize his schedule and enjoy another phenomenal day battling those brown bass once again. My fingers are crossed!!