Mike & his son Ryan were to fish with me today for another eventful day of smallmouth bass action. Usually when this father & son pair gets together, Ryan manages to outdo his dad, but not today! The conditions were slightly better than yesterday with a little less wind at 10 to 15 K from the W/NW & the air temps reached into the mid 40’s by afternoon. Water temps remained constant at 48.5 to 49.5 degrees and sunshine was upon us for the entire day. I believe this time out, it was Mike that drew first blood with a solid 3.5-pound smallie and the gloves were off. It didn’t take too long before Ryan countered with one of his own and outdid his dad with a larger bass of over 4 pounds. The ball bounced around several times in the first hour or so, but Ryan had the largest at 4.75 pounds under his belt. We fished several other areas in hopes of getting into a mother load of quality fish but only picked at them slightly. Although the fish were of quality size, I still wasn’t happy with the numbers and continued my search. Mike locked up with a real heavyweight in deeper water and we thought he had a huge bass until it showed near the boat. To all our amazement, it turned out to be a big walleye of over 7 pounds instead. This was a bonus fish and I snapped a few pics before releasing her back to the water. Although it wasn’t fast & furious, the action was still constant as we managed to get into fish all day. They were pretty much hooking & landing bass on regular basis and equally as many. Towards the end of the day I hit on an area that was holding better fish and both Ryan & his dad had a flurry of activity that lasted for over an hour on some of the better quality fish of the day. They were catching 3 to 4 pound smallies on average and Ryan even hit one that weighed almost five. He had beaten his personal best so many times throughout the day that we lost track altogether. By the time it was all said and done, I would have to say that both of them had caught about as many fish, equally. Although Ryan had landed the largest smallie, his father took top honours with the walleye! This time out, Mike had held his own and Ryan didn’t walk all over him. I can’t wait to see what happens the next time out!

Norm joined me once again today, back in pursuit of that 5-pound smallie. He previously had finally broken his personal best and was looking for an even larger one. Would today be the day? The weather warmed to a mild 55 degrees throughout the day but the winds were the biggest problem. They were blowing at 15 to 25 K from the W with even stronger gusts of 35 K at times. With bluebird skies like we had this isn’t uncommon, just uncomfortable. Water temps were also on the rise and eventually hit the 50-degree mark in some areas during the day. I knew the morning bite was going to be a little tougher than the afternoon and informed Norm of this as we casted jigs to the areas holding bass. It wasn’t until I had covered a lot of water and fished through the usual areas that I stumbled upon a place that finally had a concentration of smallmouth bass. Although we had picked up plenty of fish, it was one here & there that had me on the move. This place produced about 20 bass in a pretty small area, right on a deep edge. Norm landed several good fish in the 4 pound range, but nothing around five. During all of this, I had to take a break out of the action to tow a boat back to shore. Apparently he had run out of gas or something, but he definitely was in need of help as he drifted down the current. I was hoping that after this, the gods would shine on us, but instead they just increased the winds, making fishing that much more difficult. We continued catching fish here & there and Norm landed some real good ones, but not the lunker he was after. It wasn’t until the last half hour in the day that he finally brought one to the boat that was a contender. I know that this was Halloween and all, but this bass was a real pumpkin! It wasn’t really long, but it was incredibly fat and that made it look huge. I had to weigh this fish and was actually disappointed to see that it topped the scale at 4 pounds 15 ounces. A mere 1-ounce shy of that elusive 5-pound mark Norm had been shooting for. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be today as we were to find out. Norm managed to land several more 3 to 4 pounders before we called it a day, but still is in search of his five. Regardless of this outcome, he did manage to break his personal best once again by 3 ounces and is officially closer to finding that “Holy Grail”! Oh well, there’s always next time!

After a couple of days away from the water due to absolutely horrible weather conditions, I was back out today with Brian. He had joined me on Monday and had a blast catching plenty of quality smallies and was really looking foreword to getting into them once again. The weather was a balmy 28 degrees at the start of the morning and heated up to a heat wave of 34 degrees by days end. Fortunately, the sun was out for most of the day as the winds were about 10 to 20 K from the W/SW. I kind of figured that with all the rain, wind & snow that fell in the last couple of days that the water temps would have fallen and I was right. They had dropped below 50 degrees and were now hovering at 48.6, considerably lower than a few days earlier. It was a tougher than usual bite in the morning and I wasn’t surprised! We really had to slow down our presentations and literally crawl our jigs in order to get bit. Fishing a little bit deeper also managed to produce more strikes, but the fish seemed to be slightly smaller than expected. There was one fish however that started out small and by the time it came to the net, it had grown to over 5 pounds. Not much of a fight on that one! Brian was getting into bass of all sizes and was just happy to be on the water again, catching fish. It was a change from all the trout & salmon he was use to from Alaska! I was pretty sure that once the sun warmed the water slightly by midday that the afternoon bite would be significantly better than the morning bite and was right. We started getting into them more and the quality was definitely better after 1 or 2 o’clock. From that point on, there were 3’s & 4’s coming in most of the time and oh how the time flew by! Before we knew it, it was time to go and after a couple more fish, we headed back to the ramp, completing another successful day. Although Brian may not have beaten his personal best from Monday, he did still manage to land many quality bass and definitely had a great day on the water.

Brian was to join me today on the water, to see if he could better his personal best smallie that went 2.5 pounds. I laughed when he said that! He had felt like taking a trip south and immediately thought of coming here, being from Alaska. I guess that’s south for some, but not for all! The weather was mild with the air temps reaching into the lower 50-degree range and we had mostly sunshine throughout the day. Winds were out of the S/W at 15 to 25 K at times and subsided in the afternoon 5 to 10, making for a real enjoyable day. I think it was on Brian’s first cast that he cracked the 3 pound mark and the record was broken, but it was just the start as he was about to find out. He hit fish all day and plenty of bigguns too! Threes & fours were being caught, with the occasional 2 pounder and he was in heaven. I still can’t believe that he left a steelhead run in Alaska just to catch bass here in Quebec! This fishing went on all day with a pretty good spinnerbait bite happening around midday too. Most of the fish were a little lethargic though with the water temps holding around 54 degrees and jigs were needed to take the bulk of the fish. Sometime in the afternoon, he finally managed to get one over 5 pounds and we weighed it just for fun. It was to finally stop at five pounds, ten ounces on the scale and really become a personal best for him. We kept fishing for several more hours and eventually called it a day around 5:00 P.M. after many more fish. This was definitely a day that he would remember for a long time, as he would have to go back home for 3 months of almost darkness in Alaska real soon. Overall, it was a pretty good day to be on the water!

Today I was back on the water with Craig & Herm once again. They had been here last week and had to get back for another day of smallie action. We began with a complete opposite of yesterday and welcomed it with open arms. The weather was just spectacular with air temps of almost 60 degrees and plenty of sunshine. Winds were out of the S/E at 5 to 10 K and I was thrilled to finally have a light chop. Water temps were 54 degrees and went to 54.5 by days end. Herm drew first blood with a decent smallie of a couple of pounds within the first few minutes and the games were on. After that, Craig also started boating a few of his own and they were soon both catching their fair share of bass. It was a little slow for a while and I decided to move around trying to find a better load of fish somewhere, but was only able to pick a few here & there until Herm loaded up on a real giant. He had never caught a smallie over 5 pounds and was really looking foreword to the possibility of landing one. This was not going to be the day however when the fish decided to take to the air and throw the hook. We all had a great look at this bass next to the boat and agreed that it definitely could have surpassed the 6-pound mark. Not only did he lose the biggest bass he ever had on, but he still didn’t land a 5 pounder! Both Craig & Herm did however have a great afternoon, catching plenty of smallies with Craig adding a couple more over 5 pounds to his belt. The best Herm could manage was a measly 4 pound 12 ounce bass that fell 4 ounces shy of his 5 pound goal. Oh well, there’s always next time! We called it quits shortly after five and headed back to the ramp for our drive back home. All in all it was a tremendous day spent on the water and best of all, it didn’t rain!!