After Monday’s trip, Norm & I headed back on the water today to see if he could better his personal best once more. The weather was a little different with winds out of the W/SW blowing on us at 10 to 20 knots. Overcast skies and light snow flurries also added to the already cool air temps of 34 degrees making it feel quite a bit chillier. The water temps hovered just below 41 degrees and never really changed throughout the entire day. I had a feeling that this one was about to become more difficult than the last trip out and instructed Norm to really be on his game. The bites were so subtle that feeling the pick up was next to impossible if the line wasn’t tight. Most hits felt more like a weed than a fish and we began setting on anything that didn’t feel right. Hook sets are free and we took advantage of them! In the early part of the day we were zero for 10 before we actually brought one into the boat and those are incredibly terrible odds by anyone’s standards. The fish were just barely picking up the baits and not moving. After we figured out what was going on and made the necessary adjustments, the game was on. From that point on we were really giving the fish time to tighten up the line and move off with the baits before we set into them. This proved to be a much better technique as our landing ratio began to climb. We were still missing plenty, but at least most of them were coming aboard. Norm even managed to land a couple of nice walleye that would have gone better than 5 pounds apiece! The best we could manage on the bass though was not quite 5 pounds and most were 3.5 to 4 pounds as well. Moving around seemed to be the best choice for us as I was never really able to find any concentration of fish in one area. We even foul hooked a couple and came in with scales from time to time as well. Before the day was done, there were a number of smallies, a couple of northerns and five walleyes landed along with numerous missed strikes and dropped fish and oh yeah, several bite offs. Not the perfect day, but it was still nice to get out before it’s all done and freeze up occurs having us resort to hole drilling for entertainment!!

We headed out this morning in pursuit of that elusive, lunker smallmouth bass for Norm. He had wanted a fish over 5 pounds all fall, but would this be the day? The weather was a chilly 27 degrees when we arrived at the water and it really didn’t climb that much. A high of 35 degrees was all that we were to see today along with overcast skies and winds from the S/E at 10 to 15 K. Water temps were a balmy 41.3 degrees at best and I knew it was going to be a tough bite! I told Norm that we would need to really slow down our retrieves and allow time for the hookset if we were going to manage to catch anything. The morning bite was more difficult than usual and I had to move around plenty to finally find what I was looking for. With the colder water temps, the fish weren’t moving too much and we had to almost deadstick our tubes in order to get bit. The fish were averaging 4 pounds or better, but they were not coming easy! We caught a number of them along with a couple of walleye, but the largest that Norm could manage to land was one that weighed 4 ¾ pounds. Damn four pounders! I wasn’t fishing much but still managed to get into a fish that weighed almost 5 ½ pounds while searching and wished I hadn’t made that cast! We continued moving around, catching a few here & there and then it happened. Norm set the hook on a big one and I knew he had finally latched onto the one he was searching for. When it jumped, we were both in awe as she was barely able to get her fat body clear of the water. I netted the smallie and when we finally weighed her, she went 5 pounds 9 ounces. The monkey was officially off of Norm’s back too! He had paid his dues and overcome the possibility of ending the year without his five pounder. After several quick pics, she was released to the water and swam off to the depths from where she had come from. With a couple of daylight hours left, we decided to continue fishing and managed to get into several more bass along with another nice walleye of 3.5 pounds that Norm had landed. Although the action wasn’t fast & furious, I was still pleased with the outcome. This is the time of year for big fish, not numbers and Norm had definitely succeeded! I’m sure he’ll sleep better tonight!

Well, today was a real treat! Craig & Herm joined me once again for another shot at some jumbino smallies. Herm still hadn’t landed a smallie over 5 pounds and was determined to do so on this hurricane like day. To say the conditions were adverse would have been the understatement of the year. They were insane! We had 37-degree air temps with a wind from the W blowing at 20 to 30 knots with gusts exceeding 40 knots. If that wasn’t enough to bring you to your knees, throw in rain and snow from time to time just for kicks. The possibility of any sun was as good as winning the lottery & we had to settle for thick cloud cover the entire day. Water temps were hovering around 47 degrees and really dirty. I think it was on Craig’s second cast that he was locked up and a nice walleye of 2.5 pounds was soon swimming in the livewell for their evening dinner. Herm got into a few smallies not too long after, but they were a little on the smaller side and I decided to relocate. Into the hurricane we went and a rolling we did go! The most difficult thing about today was just to feel the bottom and any pickups that we had. I’m sure we all missed many fish that we never knew were there! Both Herm & Craig managed to catch several fish, but it was really slow. Between the wind and the weeds, it was difficult to detect any bites and the fish almost had to commit suicide in order to get hooked. At one point, I had to go to a heavier jig just so they could feel the bottom. I guess this was the ticket as Herm finally locked up on his personal best. When I saw the fish take to the air, I knew he had a real giant on the end of his line. When I got her in the net though, we were all amazed at just how fat she really was. Now we were sure it was over five but weighed the fish just for confirmation. It locked on at 5 pounds 6 ounces and Herm had gotten that monkey off of his back! Under these conditions I was surprised that we were able to catch anything, let alone a fish of that size. Several others were taken around the same size and many slightly smaller before we threw in the towel and headed to the truck. We had stuck it out for the entire day and that was amazing in itself, but to actually have Herm land his personal best on a day like this was something to be proud of. I’m sure there will be plenty of stories told about this day & how crazy we were to be on the water in pursuit of another lunker smallmouth!

Norm was back again today for another shot at a five pounder. Would this be the day that he finally scores it! The weather was a beautiful, crisp fall day with no wind and complete sunshine throughout. Air temps started out just around freezing and rose into the 50’s by days end. The water temps were around 58.5 degrees and almost made it up to 59 degrees during the day. Norm started out strong with the first fish weighing in at 4 ½ pounds. He had several others slightly smaller in this area before we relocated to another spot looking for that elusive five. Pretty much everywhere we hit held fish, but nothing was really close to his targeted goal and we kept looking. It didn’t really matter if we fished shallow or deep, but all we could come up with was those 3 & 4 pounders. I hate it when you only catch tiny fish! The action was constant with fish coming in every place we fished, but still no trophy. By the time we were ready to call it quits, Norm still hadn’t found his “Holy Grail” and had to settle for a great day instead. Plenty of quality sized bass were landed today, but he still needs to get that one fish he can call an honest five! Oh well, there’s always next time!!

After a day of rest yesterday, I was ready to hit the water again this morning for more bass action. Christiane & her brother Michel joined me for a day of pleasure fishing, as the weather was just too nice to pass up. We got a rather late start and were casting by about 10:30 A.M. at best but were immediately into fish. I thought I would try something different today and apparently it paid off. Michel locked up on a decent bass on his first cast! The weather was fairly warm with air temps reaching into the mid 50’s and the water temps were hovering at 50 degrees as well. Winds were out of the S/W at 10 to 20 K and the skies were a mix of cloud with occasional sun. We even had a brief rain shower that dampened us for about 30 minutes. Both Christiane & Michel were into fish pretty much all day with a mix of sizes being landed. Christiane managed to land the largest bass though and her personal best as well. In the 4 or 5 hours we fished, there were plenty of small, medium and large fish taken with a couple in the XL category to boot. Overall, it was a pretty good day and one that we were glad to not have missed!