Jay joined me again this morning but this time he brought his wife Kim along for another incredible, « Multi Species » fishing day. We hooked up around 7:00 and were fishing not long afterwards in hot pursuit of pike & walleye. The weather was a beautiful sunny, cool morning that was scheduled to reach 80 degrees by days end. Winds were out of the S/W, blowing 10 to 15 knots and putting a 1 to 2 foot chop on the lake. The cool nights had the water temps dropping once again and now they were below 70 degrees. It didn’t take lone before we had Kim locked up and reeling in her first fish in many years. I believe the last one she had caught was also with me, but it was at least 3 years before on another body of water. This one was a northern of around 4 pounds and quickly returned to the lake in hopes of bigger & better to follow. Although the rods weren’t firing off like I was use to, we still picked at them for several hours catching a bunch of fish while trolling in this area. There were even a couple of double headers and Jay managed to get a chance at reeling in some of his own. The biggest one to come from the morning was a pike of just over 6 pounds and surprisingly, there weren’t any walleye landed. I think there might have been a couple on but they came unpinned on the way to the boat leaving us without any real confirmation. We decided to give the smallies a shot and relocated to another area in hopes of more aggressive fish. Jay was the first to lock up on a tiny crankbait and a chunky 2 pounder was his reward. We fished the area for close to 90 minutes picking a fish here and there but once again, had to work for each and every one. Although it was tougher than usual, there were still a few nice ones landed with the largest going over 4 pounds. Unfortunately, Kim was only able to get into a pike here and we decided to try another spot when things just died. The next area wasn’t any better but both Jay & Kim managed to land a few more bass before we packed it in once again and opted for another troll. I figured with the big waves and all that we might be able to stir up some of the better walleye that frequent this location. Once again it wasn’t gang busters but when the reel fired off, Jay was able to reel in our first walleye of the day. It wasn’t a giant like I had hoped but just an average 3 pounder like I see so often. When the next reel fired I made sure that Kim grabbed the rod to complete her grand slam for the day and she reeled in yet another 3 pound walleye. She also managed a couple more around the same size in the next half hour and fought a 4 pound smallie all the way to the boat. Unfortunately, the smallie had other ideas and after 4 or 5 jumps, threw the hooks and was gone. It was getting on in the day and I probably would have called it had that fish come aboard as I always like to end on a high. When the next reel went off I was glad she had lost the bass as this fish was worth the wait! It too went to the air several times but was long and lean and not a bass. Kim had not only managed to land 3 species of fish but now had a fourth to add to her Grand Slam completing her home run as well. I netted the 33 inch muskie and after a few quick picks released it back to the water unharmed. I knew that this fish would be hard to top and officially ended the day on that high note. We had managed to get into lots of fish throughout the day by covering water and mixing it up and had turned a slow day into a very memorable one. I know Kim will remember this one for quite some time or at least until the next time she’s invited back to fish again! All in all a pretty good day to be on the water!!

Today I had the pleasure of fishing with Guy and his little girl for another unbelievable fish catching bonanza. At only five years of age, Catherine just loves fishing and awaited my arrival with tackle box & little rod in hand. We met up around 7:00 and were on the water soon after anticipating the obvious, fish! The second day of a cold front had me wondering what effect it might have had on the fish along with the easterly winds of 10 knots. I had experienced the turnaround only a couple of days before and felt the shut down trolling for pike & walleye. I didn’t want today to be the same! I had a little girl to please and the gods would have to show some compassion as the « Kid Factor » rule always takes precedence. Air temps were still a little low for the end of August at less than 60 degrees, climbing only to 68 by the end of the day. We had cloud cover for the most part during the first few hours of the day but the sun eventually came out and by afternoon, we were fishing in total sunshine. As I began to set the lines out, we had a rip on one of them before I could complete the spread. Although it was only a drive bye, it was still a good sign! We had the first strike in less than a minute making me believe that the fish were back on the bite and eager to eat. This was to prove to be wrong as I had to work for each and every strike we received. Catou soon reeled in her first pike and although it was slightly smaller than I usually see, it really didn’t seem to matter to her as she had a smile from ear to ear! I knew there would be many more and definitely larger so we released this one and continued along our trolling path. It didn’t take long after the first one that a second & third reel fired and she was battling more pike to the boat. Her dad had to give her a hand on a few of them as they were just too strong for her little arms to handle. I had started in slightly deeper water anticipating a better bite but soon found out that most of the fish were in the shallows and concentrated there. We trolled up a bunch of northerns and even managed to get a largemouth bass at one point of around 3 pounds that gave her quite a tussle. I was wondering where the walleye went when another reel fired and we had a confirmation. They were still here, but quite inactive as I netted the 3 pound fish and placed it in the livewell. She would be providing dinner tonight! I was now on a quest and covering water in search of active fish of the walleye type all the while hooking into fish every few minutes that would provide Catou with plenty of enjoyment. Her dad even got a few in as well, in between helping his daughter with all the battles. One more walleye around the same size was also brought to net and slipped into the livewell along with the other one from earlier. I was covering lots of water just looking for some activity and decided to hit a spot that had produced smallmouth before, hoping for a rip. Wouldn’t you know it, two of them fired and we had a double! When I realized which one had the bass I made sure that Catherine got that rod with her dad & I reeled in the pike for a quick release. She really needed his help on this one as it was fighting like nothing she had caught so far today. Eventually I was able to slip the net under the 4 pounder and after a few quick pics, release it back to the lake unharmed. This area wasn’t producing like I wanted to so we packed up and made a run to another location further away in hopes of better bites. This section wasn’t great either, but it did provide some excellent action as there were a few more decent smallmouth bass landed along with pike and walleye too. Somewhere after 3:00 we decided to pack it in and head back to the ramp calling it a day. A little girl had her day on the water and managed to land more than enough fish to satiate her appetite for while, I think! This may prove to have the opposite effect on her as she may want even more the next time she wets a line. Taking a kid fishing can only have a positive reaction and I love seeing their faces light up when they’re tight to a fish in battle. Catherine was one happy camper today as she ended it with her very first « Grand Slam Home Run »!!

Another no show on Tuesday had me taking care of things at home instead of being where I wanted to be, on the water once again. Today however, I was back out with Jay and his two nephews, Shane & Devin looking to get them into plenty of fish. I hadn’t seen them in a few years and they had really grown since we were out last with their father. The weather was a mish mash of terrible, with winds starting out from the S/W at 15 t0 20 knots and closer to 30 knot gusts. The skies were heavily clouded and most of them were gray & black rain clouds too! Although we never really got rained on, the run on the lake was a little splashy due to the direction I had to take and some rain fell upwards instead. I was glad I had chosen the rain gear! We began by trolling in an area and after about 35 minutes in the waves without any success, transferred locations in hopes of better results. Once more I criss crossed the wave direction in order to get to where we were headed, causing more upward splashes and wetness. I hadn’t had the lines in the water 5 minutes when a reel fired and Devin was officially into the first northern of the day. Although it wasn’t a very big one, it was still nice to see the fish were here! Trolling into the wind & waves was quite challenging to say the least as boat control wasn’t easy! Although the down wind troll was easier, it wasn’t as productive, as we had more hits from the opposite direction. The bites weren’t fast & furious like I was accustomed to but we were able to pick at them alright in the next couple of hours, catching a bunch of pike and a few walleye. One of the northerns acted like a really big walleye when Shane let him dive down into the weeds during the fight. He had a tough time getting the fish to the boat and although the pike was in the 8 pound class, there were 10 pounds of weeds along for the ride! This fish never really fought after the burial, it just gave up and was dragged all the way in. Devin managed to get into another big one a little later and showed his brother how to do it when he brought the fish back in record time. This was another quality northern and very worthy of a picture, but I was forced to hold it for him when he refused to stick his hand into the gills for the pic. We continued to troll through this area all the while hoping for a better walleye bite without any real success. To make matters worse, the bite totally died when the winds went west and then N/W blowing even stronger. Usually when you get a wind change the bite gets really hot but not when it turns into a northward blow as we found out. I thought we would make another run and switch it up completely, going for smallies instead. Once at the new location, we were into them almost immediately as Devin got slammed on a blade right at the side of the boat. This was the start of the smallmouth bite as everyone managed to get into them on a variety of presentations. The crank-bait that Jay was throwing turned really hot when we got over some shallower rocks and he started to just pound them. Both the boys had slacked off a bit and their uncle was monopolizing on their lack of catching by reeling in one after the other! Devin did hook up on a big one but it turned out to be the wrong species for this area as I unhooked a 6 pound pike for him after the fight. As we slid along this area, there wasn’t any one better lure than the other, with everyone catching on whatever they were throwing. I wanted to try another spot, but I have a hard time leaving fish when fish are biting, so we settled in and just kept fishing this one a little longer. We cut the day slightly shorter than I am use to when Jay mentioned that everyone had to be somewhere by a certain time and ran back to the ramp around 4:30. Considering the changes that we had in weather, I think that we fended quite well all around. We had 3 wind directions, a drop in temperature through the day and clouds with bright sunshine later on in the day. I don’t know who was more confused, the fish or the fishermen! Overall it was still a great day with many, many fish landed by all!!

After a not too disappointing cancellation for today, Christiane & I headed out for a little pleasure fishing on our own. A leisure launch of around 9:30 had us fishing a little later than I am use to, but we were in no rush! The weather was a scorcher already and with the lack of wind was only going to get worse. Sunshine and occasional clouds surrounded us throughout the day as we fished for a variety of species. We began by trolling an area I hadn’t been fishing for almost 2 weeks and had a confirmation almost immediately with a four pound smallmouth bass. Christiane battled this angry creature all the way to the net, but not without chaos as it tangled in the other line along the way. We took a few quick pics and set the lines back out in hopes of a few more. Three more smallies were hooked in the next 20 minutes but they were all slightly smaller than the first one and no pics were needed. I really wanted a confirmation on the walleye here and kept at it for a little while longer looking for old yeller! Another reel fired soon after and this one was definitely acting like a walleye as Christiane reeled the fish back to the boat for a sure confirmation. Not only was it the right species but it was also a biggun! Once in the net I was glad to see that there were still some of these big fish hanging around and despite the not so perfect conditions, eager to eat. Another few quick pics and we released the almost 27 inch eye, back to swim again. I set the lines back and started trolling the area more to try & get another one of equal or better size but this was not to be. Instead of fishing for fish, I was forced to fish for a rod when I accidently knocked it out of the rod holder while checking it. Somehow it released and just fell into the lake while we were still trolling. I immediately grabbed another line and casted to the area hoping to hook the line and luckily did just that. The lure slid all the way down the line and actually caught the other lure making it even more difficult to retrieve. Normally this would have been a good thing but with the drags set light, all I was able to do was pull line off the reel. I would have had to unspool almost 500 feet of the line to get to the knot on the spool and pray that it was tied on strong enough to hold without breaking. I once again tried casting a jig to the area in hopes of catching the rod, but was still unable to hook it and was left with no other choice but to go swimming. The visibility wasn’t great and without a mask and fins I knew it was still a long shot but tried nonetheless. On about my third dive down with the line in hand, I finally felt the rod tip and hung on to it ascending to the surface. I really didn’t want to lose this rod as it was one of my favorites for trolling and it would have been a pain to replace. Definitely the catch of the day! After regrouping, we trolled for another 20 minutes without another rip and decided to change it up and go for smallies elsewhere. We pounded a bunch of fish up to about 3 pounds on soft plastics and after an hour or so of this decided to go to another area and try trolling once again. This was the right choice as we were almost immediately into a fish. Although it wasn’t what we were targeting, it was still a fish. There were pike here, but what about the walleye? Well a confirmation was soon responded to as a three pounder came to the net not long after. Several more pike and another walleye were also caught in the next short while and then a bonus fish appeared. I thought it was just a longer than usual pike at first but soon realized that it was a lunge. Another « Multi Species » day with a grand slam home run in about 6 hours of fishing, not bad! Although it wasn’t a big one it was still nice to see and fight on lighter than usual tackle for a Muskie. With that, we decided to call it a day and headed back. It never fails that one person’s loss is another’s gain and this time Christiane was the winner. She had caught plenty of fish and a real smorgasbord of them to boot!!

Tim was joining me today to learn a little about the smallmouth bass and he brought Kevin along for the ride. The weatherman was once again, bang on with their predictions of possible thunder showers very late in the day! We were in the rain from before 11 o’clock until just about 5 o’clock, when we called it a day and headed to the ramp. Add the terrible east winds instead of the S/E ones that they called for and you have the makings of a perfectly disastrous outing! Although we did have sunshine to start, it was very short lived when the clouds arrived. The air temps were probably the best part as they finally dropped below 80 degrees and topped out closer to 75. I wasn’t sure what to expect so we began shallow and threw soft plastics just looking for some fish. Unfortunately only a couple of smaller ones fell victim to the baits and we moved on. It didn’t seem to matter what type of cover we were fishing as the fish just didn’t seem to want to bite. Big bass were seen in almost every location we stopped at but they just refused everything we sent their way, annoying us even more. When I finally had enough we went to a couple of current breaks in deeper water and it was here that Tim managed to get a decent fish to the net before the hooks just fell out. There had been a few others taken on tube jigs but they weren’t up to my standards so we relocated to deeper water along the channel looking for some schooling fish instead. Unfortunately do to the direction of the wind, it was impossible to manage a drift and have control of the jig so we had to abandon that idea too. Mother Nature was making my life a living hell trying to locate some of the better bass and the fish weren’t cooperating either. The next area saw plenty of huge smallies and every one of them refused the baits without ever even looking at them. All we could do was watch them swim by in the pouring rain! On to the next area and Kevin managed to get hold of yet another small bass with sightings of giant cruisers and passers by. I just kept relocating to new areas hoping for the « Holy Grail » but it never happened. We managed several more not so great medium bass from a number of tried locations before we called it quits. Not too many pictures today but we still managed to get a few shots off nonetheless. Overall it was a pretty disappointing day by my standards with neither quality nor quantity coming aboard. Hopefully the guys at least had a better understanding of what to look for, on any future trips on the water and just how the smallies actually behave. Days like these make me want to troll even more!!