I was on the water again this weekend with Norm, but this time we weren’t pleasure fishing. We were entered in the Berkley B1 Tournament, along with another 143 boats. The competition had boats from as far away as the east coast, along with plenty from Ontario & Quebec. This would prove to be the largest tournament event ever held in this province and Norm wanted to fish it. After many, many years of tournament competition, I really had no desire to enter. Norm had already enrolled us though and I was going to show him just what it was all about. As with every event, this one was also going to have its pro’s & cons! The first morning saw cold, crisp air temps barely above freezing after a torrential rain just days before. Would our fish still be there and would they be willing to bite? Winds were light but out of the NE making the long run a little bumpy at times. Add the cold air and it felt like you were driving on the highway with your head out of the window! When we did arrive I wasn’t surprised to see the water color looking like coffee with three creams. It had changed from clear to mud with the 50 plus millimeters of rain that had fallen and this was definitely going to affect the fishing. We had only practiced a day and a half but realized where we needed to be and we were here. Water color wasn’t going to stop us from catching! Along with the color, we had also lost about 5 degrees in water temperature and that worried me more. With only two fish in the livewell within the first couple of hours, I knew we were going to have to make a serious adjustment. High, muddy water and fish tuck in tight! Tight it was and we went right in and just started pounding them! Norm was on fire and the fish were big. We were culling soon after and three pounders were a thing of the past as they were exchanged for quality. One more big fish was all we needed to exchange but this was a little more difficult than all the previous ones. Eventually we were able to get the last cull done and I knew we had a phenomenal bag for the first day of the tournament. With plenty of time left in the day, I decided to pull the plug and head back comfortably. We took our time and didn’t pound the fish along the way in ensuring their safety and arrived with over 30 minutes to spare. With the weigh in under way from the first flight of boats, we had to wait until the second flight was called. This felt like forever but we finally were able to weigh our fish. I knew there were a lot of low weights but there were also a couple of big bags weighed and I was sure we would be another. The water weigh in system finally had the scales stop on 24.71 pounds and we officially took first. Two other bags over 24 pounds were also weighed in making it a close event and one we surely had a chance to win. In all this mass of fish, we really didn’t have a kicker in the bag as all were pretty much clones. Hopefully tomorrow, we would be able to change that!

Day two saw us in even stronger winds but this time from the NE causing a completely different scenario. I would once more have an interesting day of boat control and have to hit different areas due to the shift in winds. As with the previous day we were still in the clouds with no sun throughout the day. Air temps felt a whole lot cooler with the winds and I don’t think it made it over 55 degrees by the peak afternoon time. Thankfully, the fish were still on fire and Brian went back to hammering them once more. As with yesterday, there were a couple of particular areas that held more fish than the others and we took advantage of them, seeing as how they were slightly out of the wind. The jigs were once again working better than the Crankbaits and he kept with them throughout the day. This is not to say that he didn’t catch on them, but they were few and far between. The fish were pressed to the bottom and rather reluctant to lift in the dirty water. I believe that he had at least one fish over 5 pounds today and just like yesterday, plenty of others slightly smaller as well. This day ended just like the previous one with action throughout. Another spectacular one despite the weather!! This was to be the third and last day of Brian’s trip before he was off to try his luck with Muskie and hopefully his best. The winds hadn’t subsided at all and were still blowing 10 to 20 from the wrong direction as we began the day. It’s never great to have an east wind let alone a strong one, but we tried not to worry about it as I held the boat in position. It wasn’t easy to feel the bites or even the bottom but Brian managed to get several fish in each area as we jumped all over looking for only bigguns! Today had fewer fish landed but they were slightly larger and that was even better. I think he had a couple over 5 pounds with one of them in the high fives. Plenty of mid three pounders and a few more over four were caught along with a pile of bass in the 2 to 3 pound size before it was all said & done. In the three days out he had managed to get great numbers and many of them were quality bites. Anytime you can succeed with the conditions we were faced with, it’s a good thing. Brian would have to wait another year before a smallie would be fought again. He will however be tangling with multiple salmon and incredible steelhead back home and I think I’m jealous. I wonder if he would trade places for a few weeks!!

Brian was in all the way from Alaska today, taking a southern vacation once again. He’s got a strange way of heading south! He would be fishing with me for three days and weather permitting would get into some great smallmouth bass action. We began in clouds and a light drizzle but the air temps weren’t bad as it was a warm wind from the south. It was also a strong wind at 10 to 20 knots and that would make my boat control a challenge once more. He immediately started catching smallies on the first spot and never looked back. For the entire day he would be just pounding them, literally all day long! They weren’t all big but there was several over 4 pounds and some close to five as well. Tube jigs were the hot ticket today as very few fish were willing to chase down the cranks like they had, just a few days before. In one of the areas I held for close to two hours out of the wind and watched him hook up on every other cast. They were just stacked and we weren’t leaving! When all things were said and done he must have had shots at close to 75 bass throughout the day. Not a bad start to a three day trip!!

Sam, Danny & Stephane joined me on another body of water today just hoping for a pile of bass. Well, they were about to get their wish in spades! We began a little later than usual and were fishing by 8:30, but into smallies on two of their first casts. Crankbaits were going to be the ticket today as the bass were holding on the outside edges of the weed lines. The weather was better than the forecasted one with a light drizzle early and cloud & sunshine afterwards. Air temps were in the 70’s and the water was around 68 degrees. We fished a number of areas and managed to get into them all over. Sam & Danny fended better than Steph as they were both just pounding them all day long. I believe that Sam had the largest bass with one in the mid four pound range but there were plenty of others that were close too. I really don’t know how many double headers they had but it was at least 6 or more. There were even a couple of triples that didn’t quite make it to the net! Overall it was a great day with non stop action from start to finish. We even had to stay a little longer just to break the tie that Danny & Sam were at and both had more shots at the win before Sam took it in the shootout! Definitely a day worth remembering by all!!

I was back out again today with an old friend and his girlfriend all the way from Oklahoma. Christiane also joined us as we set out to catch some fish on a local lake. The conditions were absolutely horrible this time though and the temps were quite chilly. A light rain stayed with us till after noon and an east wind made it all that much more enjoyable to be on the water. Air temps were barely over 50 degrees and the water was just over 68 degrees as I set the lines hoping for a few walleye. It wasn’t looking too good but we finally had a reel fire and hopes were high until the fish neared the boat. A northern of around 8 pounds was what we had gotten and almost immediately after the line was back in the water, it fired again. Another large northern slightly smaller was our reward and I knew I was out of there. We immediately headed for smallies and Nancy was the one to lock up with a real beauty in the five pound class. Ronnie had a couple on, but couldn’t close the deal as we relocated once again. This time I tried the deeper water due to the stained shallows and came up with just a few fish in the 2.5 pound size. Into the shallows we went and Ronnie hit several up to 3 pounds as I tossed a top-water just searching for activity. One around 4 pounds inhaled the spook and brought a few buddies to the boat that scattered almost immediately. Although we did catch several fish, it really wasn’t an easy task and by 4:00 we called it quits. Winds from the NE caused the lake to be a little choppy and the run back was a little bumpy but smoother than Ronnie’s Bass Boat back home. I think there might be a Ranger in the near future for the two of them reel soon!!