After a two-week wait on a motor part, I was back on the lake once again today. This time however, we were to fish a lake up north in hopes of catching some real bruisers. Max, Matt and Ben were to join me and together we were looking for 5 pound smallies, or maybe even better. The temperatures were in the low 40’s as I headed to the water and fog made the driving difficult at times. I knew that sunshine would eventually burn off the fog and hoped the temps would also rise as well. With a light wind from the W of about 5 to 10 K, the conditions were just perfect. We hit the water at about 8:30 A.M., as there would be no need in getting there too early with the cold overnight temps and wasted no time once we were there. To my amazement, the water temps were only 62.4 degrees and I knew the bass would be lethargic until the sun warmed the surface water. We started throwing tube jigs on the break-lines and had a few followers before Matt finally hooked into the first fish. It was an honest 4-pound plus smallie and his personal best, but there was surely better to come. I slid the fish into the livewell for later pics and we continued along the break. It wasn’t until I hit an offshore reef that Matt nailed another bass even larger and the second smallie of almost 5 pounds was joining his first one in the livewell once again. Both Max and Ben were pumped and wanted some of their own too! Matt was kind enough to take a small break and Max took advantage of this, coming up front to fish with me. He almost immediately locked up and was into a heavy fish as well, but as she went to the air the hook came unpinned. We saw that it was another decent fish of at least 4 pounds and laughed it off. Max managed to hook into another one not long after, but it was only a 13 incher and not what we were after. It was a while after this and Max hooked a real giant along a weed edge and we thought he was actually going to get her in, but once more it took to the air and threw the hook. This time we saw that the fish was a true 5 pounder and were all a little disappointed when she came off. The fish weren’t fast & furious, but they were definitely big and we all wanted more. Somewhere after lunch while we were fishing a narrowed down area between a couple of points, Ben was finally into one of his own. This time when the fish went to the air, all jaws dropped! I knew this was the largest one so far and really wanted Ben to land it, so I went for the net in hopes of getting it in quickly. After a couple of tail walks and a few more jumps, she was finally where I wanted her. This fish was a true 5.5-pound bass and all of 21 inches in length. It may have been the only fish Ben hooked, but it was a real beauty! Within minutes, Matt took away his thunder by nailing one even larger that turned out to be 22.75 inches in length and weighed over 6 pounds. These were two back-to-back giants and well worth the wait! We fished for the rest of the afternoon and managed to get into a few more bass, but nothing like the two that they had just landed. Eventually, we called it a day and took the pictures before we headed off the lake. I knew we weren’t going to get into any numbers today, but I was sure there were going to be a few giants to talk about. I just never expected to see a fish of almost 23 inches and over 6 pounds! This was definitely the largest one to ever come aboard my boat on this lake and I was glad to see her. Maybe not as happy as Matt, but thrilled nevertheless! Overall, a tough day with some real quality bass to show for our efforts!!

I fished with Ira & Josh today on a local lake for smallies. It began a little slow with air temps in the low 70’s and water temps about 72 degrees. Winds were out of the S/W at 5 to 10 K creating a nice little chop on the water. We trolled for a while with a few fish here & there, but nothing to write home about. Water dropped making the trolling area even weedier and harder to keep the lines clean. We eventually stopped this and went casting baits for smallies in other areas. Both Ira and Josh managed to get into a few more fish and landed decent smallmouth up to & over 3 pounds before I relocated once again to a larger area in hopes of hitting the mother load. This wasn’t to be and we spent the next couple of hours catching a few fish here & there and trying several other areas while doing so. I even hit a shoal that usually has a mix of smallies & largies but only came up with a few smaller largemouth. All in all we must have tried about a dozen spots today and caught on almost all of them, but not the quality I am so accustomed to seeing. When the winds died around 10:30 A.M. it made fishing difficult with scorching hot sunshine & the midge were driving us crazy too. Overall, it was a tough day, but there were some decent fish landed despite all the headaches!

I was back on the water again today trolling for pike & walleye all day. Their father Vivekanandan, who was in town for a couple of weeks, visiting family, accompanied Ranjan & his brother Raghav. We met at 7:00 A.M. and headed on the water shortly afterwards and began our troll almost immediately. The weather was nice with clouds & sunshine and a light breeze of 5 knots from the N/E causing a slight chop on the water. The air temps were in the 60’s but eventually climbed up to over 80 degrees by days end. Water temps were 72 to 73 degrees and even slightly higher in the shallows. The bite was really off during the morning hours and I had to work hard to get into the fish that we did. There were more short strikes than actual hook ups and even the ones we caught barely had the hooks in them. I moved around plenty with only a few pike and walleye landed before I finally got into them in the early afternoon. In a few short hours, there were probably close to 20 pike caught in all sizes with the largest going about 5 or 6 pounds. A couple of smallmouth were also landed and even a small largemouth was in the mix as well. Later in the afternoon, I decided to head back to where we had began in hopes that the fish finally turned on. I don’t think we were trolling for more than 5 minutes when a reel fired and Ranjan brought to the boat a 4-pound walleye. This was a great sign and I thought we were about to hammer the fish, but reality set in quickly. Another large fish was on and fighting hard, but the hooks pulled out causing us to be left just wondering what it might have been. A double header shortly afterwards had the same end results with both coming unpinned. Ranjan’s father had another decent fish on again and once more it too came off before we could see what it was. Ranjan fought another bass right to the boat and before I could land this one, the 3.5-pound smallie shook the hooks free. We fished a little longer and landed another pike and missed a couple more before we just gave up and called it a day. I don’t know if it was due to the cold temps overnight, the N/E winds or anything for that matter, but the fish were really off most of the day. We probably landed about 50% or less of the possible fish today. Ranjan’s dad did however manage to take home a couple of northerns and walleye to sample at tonight’s dinner. He had never tried these freshwater fish before and was looking foreword to seeing how they differ from the saltwater fish he’s use to from back home. Although it was a tough day, there were still about 25 fish landed throughout the day making this trip a successful one for all. Unfortunately, no pics today!!

After spending several hours of unsuccessful trolling for muskie with my wife Christiane yesterday, the furthest thing from my mind was heading out today to do it again. Unfortunately, a buddy of mine from out west was in town for just today and he convinced me otherwise. We hit the water at the crack of 11:30 A.M. and set the lines in hopes of hitting another lunge to add to the three that he landed with me last year. The winds were out of the W/NW at 15 to 20 knots with even stronger gusts. Water temps remained around 73.5 degrees and the air temps were in the 70’s. Although they called for sunshine and occasional clouds for the day, they lied! There was very little sun and lots of cloud cover making this look like a big fish kinda day! I guess it was about 45 minutes into the troll when the deep line started to scream. I mean it really went out and I knew it had to be a big fish! By the time I removed it from the holder and passed it off, I had the feeling that she was huge by the power of the headshakes. Last year the largest fish Keith landed was about 45 inches and he thought that was enormous, but he was about to see what really big was all about! I cleared the other shallow line to give him room to fight the fish and was glad to have done it when we both caught a glimpse of the beast. Its head came out of the water like a bad scene from Jaws! When it was close enough to the boat, I grabbed the leader and boga gripped her to remove the hooks. It had the entire plug in its mouth and I had to cut 2 of the trebles out not to harm the fish. When everything was ready, I took a couple of quick shots and a measurement & safely released her back to the lake. What a way to start the day with a fish that went 50 inches! It was definitely his personal best and the longest one in the boat this season, so far. We trolled for a little while longer and landed a small pike of about 5 pounds, but had no more strikes from muskie. I decided to change tactics and we began casting lures for bass & walleye. Keith landed a few perch and a small walleye on a spinnerbait before we relocated once again. The same thing happened again with a few more small fish and another relocation was in order too. Here he managed to get into a bass of about 3 pounds before a quick release and lost another larger fish on a spinnerbait that could have been a pike or muskie before we called it quits for the day. He had to be at the airport to fly back to Calgary and needed to leave early. We decided to pack everything in and head back to the ramp. Although there weren’t too many fish caught today, there was definitely one that counted. We had come out hoping to get into a big muskie and succeeded! This was all that mattered to both of us and he was ready to head back out west with the memories of today still fresh in his mind. By the time he gets back home, he will be able to remember it even better when he sees the pics! All in all a great day with a huge lunge to add to the memories!!

I hit the water a little later than usual today with Steve, Greg & Joe for a mix of fish. They were in town on business and met me at the ramp around 11:30 in the morning for a day of sunshine & high humidity. The air temps were already in the mid 80’s and eventually peaked somewhere in the 90’s by the afternoon. Along with the high humidity were the “Dog Pecker Knats” due to no winds! Water temps reached almost 74 degrees in some areas but averaged 73 where we concentrated. We began trolling for Muskie as soon as we hit the water taking advantage of the moon, but had no luck. Off to the smallie areas we went and it didn’t take too long before Steve was releasing bass on a spinnerbait. Unfortunately, he hadn’t caught them before and they didn’t count! Greg managed to get into a few of his own on a crankbait and pretty much the same thing happened there with a quick release before he finally managed to land one and that did count. Joe was getting pick ups on a senko and also managed to land a few of his own. We covered water in this area seeing a few fish here & there but none that were really large enough for my liking so I just kept moving. All 3 lures and baits were working and none better than the other until we changed locations and the crankbait out produced all. Greg had the hot hand hooking into multiple bass of all sizes and a couple of decent ones in the high 3-pound range. Steve managed to land a nice walleye of over 3 pounds on a spinnerbait and Joe captured a few smaller bass on a senko too. With the scorching heat and midge driving us all nuts, we opted for another changeup and went trolling with lighter tackle for walleye, pike & bass close by. When the first rod fired, Steve took it and lost what felt like a heavy fish before we could see what it was. I hate the unknowing! Next up was Joe and he landed a smaller walleye of a couple of pounds. We trolled for a while longer without much happening and had a couple of drive by’s but only managed to get one other small walleye and called it quits for this place. With the sun getting lower in the sky and cooler air temps, I thought we would give the muskie another try and set the lines out, trolling again. I don’t think we had them in the water for more than 10 minutes when the long line set the reel to screaming. I grabbed the rod from the holder and passed it to Greg, seeing as it was his turn and we cleared all the other lines to give him room. This fish had power as he ripped more line from the reel even with the drag locked down pretty tight. I could see be the wake behind the boat that it was a good one and waited for him to bring it along side so that I could grab it with the boga grip. The fish was well hooked and made a couple more runs as it neared before I had it safely secured. I only had to cut one hook as the other was in a location that was easily removed. A couple of quick pics before an easy release and the 43.5-inch was back to the water and bolting to the depth from where it came. Everyone was now pumped and wanted more! Unfortunately, we trolled for another hour or so without even a touch and called it a day. Although it was a hot and sticky day that physically drained all of us, it ended on a high note as Greg landed not only his first muskie, but also the largest fish of his life. Great day to be on the water!!