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!!

I was back on a local lake once more today with Jeff & his son Dave from Calgary for another mixed bag kind of day. The winds were going to be our worst nemesis as we were faced with strong ones from the west gusting to over 25 knots at times. Waves were 2 to 3 footers with an occasional rogue thrown in for fun. Water temps were hovering around 74 degrees where we were fishing and the air temps were in the 80’s with bluebird skies & sunshine all day long. We began with soft plastics and spinnerbaits trying to entice both the active and lethargic bass at the same time. Dave managed to get into a largemouth bass of a little over 2 pounds almost immediately on a spinnerbait. This was rather strange as it was a smallie holding area and I had never seen a largie on it before. We saw several huge smallies roaming all around without showing any interest in what we were throwing and decided to relocate. Jeff hooked up on a 3 pounder while working a senko and I really thought we were going to get them good when I saw others all around. Too bad, as that was to be it for this location. We relocated once again and it was here that Jeff hooked into a real giant of a smallmouth. Unfortunately after the third jump, she threw the jig and went the other way. Many fish in the same size class were swimming in the area and I held us there just trying to get something going. There was only a couple more bass landed with several other hits before we changed it up again. This time we were going to try trolling for pike & walleye and I set the lines in hopes of at least hitting a few. After close to an hour a rod finally fired and Dave was into what I thought was a good pike only to be amazed to see that it was actually a small Muskie. You just never know! Lots of floating vegetation and high rollers made this a little more difficult than I was hoping for and we opted for another change into shallower water for some largemouth bass instead. Although it was still real windy at least we didn’t have the waves to contend with. It wasn’t long before Dave was reeling in the first bass along a weed line and his dad soon followed up with one considerably smaller. There were definitely bass here and we were going to spend the rest of the afternoon just combing this section, looking for others. Our day was about to be brought to an abrupt end as thunder started rolling in the background and I knew lightening wasn’t far behind. Safety first when it comes to electrical storms! With the boat on the trailer and us ready to go, the skies let loose and heavy rains began to fall. Timing is definitely everything! Several more rumbles and a few bolts of lightening had us realizing just how right that move actually was. Overall it was a rather slow day on the water but they had caught fish and tried many different options doing so. The Muskie was the icing on the cake and despite its size, David’s first. Hopefully we’ll get back out sometime soon and they’ll see just how good this fishery can really be!!

Back out again today with Bryan & Kenny for another mixed bag kinda day. They were in for a bachelor party and thankfully I had them before their event! The weather started out decent in the morning with light winds and overcast conditions. We trolled up a bunch of walleye and several smallies before we were chased off the lake by threatening thunder showers. Along with this also came strong winds from the west gusting at over 40km. Waves had increased to 3 footers and some even higher as we headed back to the ramp to wait it out. Once it seemed safe enough we hit the lake again and tried trolling where we had previous success. This wasn’t going to happen though, as there were still 3 foot rollers and the water had muddied up too bad to get bit. There were also tons of floating weeds just making it even worse! Plan B had us relocating to another section where we found ourselves getting into more pike, walleye and smallies once again. When we had enough of this trolling we shifted to a section a little further away in hopes of casting up some more bass on lighter tackle. It was here that Kenny managed to take his personal best smallie at just over 4 pounds on a spinnerbait. Bryan was also catching a few of his own on soft plastics, but having a hard time feeling the pick up in this wind. We kept moving all the while hooking a few here & there and made one last attempt at another troll back where we began before calling it a day. We had endured most everything Mother Nature had to offer and succeeded overall. The afternoon had changed from clouds & flat to high sun and big rollers from the 25 knot winds out of the west. Talk about a mixed up day! Despite these little annoyances we had endured all we could handle and were satisfied with the results. I know that these guys will have a great weekend touring all the well known establishments in Montreal during the remainder of their bachelor party stay. Something tells me that the fishing was just the start of their fun!!