Mike & Joe joined me today on a local lake for another multi species day. They were looking to see if they could catch a few walleye for the table, so I set the lines out to troll. The weather started a little cool with the air temps around 60 degrees but climbed way up to the low 80’s by the time we were done. Winds were out of the S at 10 to 15 knots and the water temps were barely 70 degrees. I don’t think we had the lines in the water for more than 3 minutes when the first reel went off and Mike was into a nice smallie over 3 pounds. Soon after, Joe also landed a smallie a little smaller and we were well on our way. Eventually, Joe got hold of a nice walleye of almost 4 pounds and into the livewell it went. We had a few misfires and then a double header of smallies a little later and then Joe managed another walleye of about the same size again. The action wasn’t fast & furious, but they were definitely hitting in the area we were trolling! Mike also added to the walleye with one a little smaller for the dinner table. One anorexic northern and a few more smallies and we decided to try our luck to see if we couldn’t hook up with a muskie. I relocated, set out the lines and began to troll a weed edge hoping for just one hit. Maybe 20 minutes into the pass, the deep line screamed for a couple of seconds and then went silent. Another drive by! I hate when that happens. The lure was over deep water and there weren’t any signs of weeds when I checked the bait, so I knew it was a fish. This was to prove to be the only hit we were to have as I trolled for about 90 minutes hoping to lock up. Back to searching for walleye with the lighter rods and an instant hook up of a pike was had. I really thought we were going to get them good, but only managed one other fish in the next 45 minutes. Fortunately, it was a walleye and Joe reeled it in again. They had to leave by 2:00 P.M. so we called it a day and headed back to the ramp. There were lots of fish hooked and landed today, but not the numbers or size that I am so accustomed to. Luckily for them though, walleye is on the menu for tonight’s dinner!!

Today I fished with Fred once again, on another local lake for big smallies. The weather was a little strange as we encountered rain along the drive and waited it out for 5 minutes at the boat ramp before heading out. Clouds were all around us and the winds were out of the S/W at 10 to 15 knots causing the lake to be a little rough. Air temps were around 62 degrees at the start and 85 degrees by the end of the day. Water temps were down again at 71.5 to 72 degrees at best. Fred began throwing a spinnerbait with all the chop as I thought the fish might be a little more active under these conditions. I tossed a tube at the same time to see which one would work better, but he was the first to hook up. After missing a couple of strikes, Fred was into an honest 3.5-pound smallie and thrilled when it came to the net. He also got hammered by another not long after the first and managed to bring this 4 pounder to the net as well making for his personal best smallie. We moved around a little more picking a fish here & there, but never really found any concentration. Eventually, I offered to switch it up a little and give trolling for muskie a try and he happily agreed. Fred had never landed a muskie and looked foreword to the possibility of getting into one of these toothy creatures. With the rods in the holders and the lures down it took only 3 minutes for the deep line to go off. The reel screamed and I grabbed it from the holder only to feel the last tug and then the vibration of the plug. I hate short strikes or drive by’s! This was to prove to be the only hit we were to have after trolling this area for over an hour and I suggested that we go back to smallmouth for a while now that the sun was out. We fished all over the place with only a few strikes and fish to show for our troubles, but they were decent fish in the 3 to 4 pound range. Fred eventually got into another bruiser on a tube and I netted his second personal best of the day at over 4 pounds. I didn’t weigh the fish but it was 19.5 inches and real fat. Definitely a quality bass by anyone’s standards! We got into a few more a little smaller and thought we would give the lunge another try so off we went to troll once again. This time we had the rods in the water for almost 15 minutes when the shallow line went off and really screamed out plenty of line. I knew it had to be a good one by the amount of drag that went out and immediately grabbed the rod from the holder to give to Fred. Wouldn’t you know it, the damn thing came off once again! This time I felt the power of the headshakes and it wasn’t small. Too bad all I had to feel after that was the lure wobbling. Twice we were ripped off and I wasn’t pleased! We trolled for almost 45 minutes after that without another touch and decided to call it a day. It was a really tough day with almost no cooperation on the part of the fish at all. I fished through the major and never really saw any difference, as the fish remained inactive throughout the entire day. It was definitely a tough bite, but still rewarding by Fred hitting his personal best in bass. Too bad we couldn’t have gotten at least one of the two muskie that made the reels fire as that would have also been a personal best again. Oh well, that’s fishing!!

I spent the day with my wife Christiane, fishing on a local lake for what was suppose to be smallmouth bass. Air temps were a beautiful 78 degrees and water temps were a little lower than I wanted at 72 degrees and the smallies weren’t cooperating at all. After yesterday’s results, I thought we would have a great day catching smallies once again, but was in for a big surprise. We ran out to our first spot with the sunshine above in little to no wind and started casting tube jigs in shallow water. On her second cast, Christiane landed a nice smallie of almost 4 pounds and I thought we were going to get into them just like yesterday. As bad luck would have it, I was so wrong! I managed to catch about 5 others with the largest going 3 pounds and we were out of there after over an hour. I knew the next spot would produce because I saw close to 50 or so smallies yesterday all in the 4 pound or better class just roaming around the area. What we got however was a big goose egg! Christiane had a good one over four pounds on, but it came off before we could get it close enough to net. This was the only fish we were to see and decided to have lunch instead. After over 3 hours of fishing and another useless spot, I knew I had to do something drastic in order to save this day and opted to troll for muskie. Although reluctant, Christiane agreed as I set the lines out and began. I don’t think they were in the water for more than 3 minutes when the deep line screamed. Soon after she was landing the first muskie of 36 inches and we were glad we had changed to trolling! After a quick pic & a release, we were back trolling once again. Maybe 20 minutes had passed since the first reel had fired and another reel began to scream again. This time I knew it wasn’t another small fish and cleared the other line to give more room for the battle. When it got close, we were both amazed to see the mass of this fish as I grabbed it with the boga. I had to cut a couple of hooks in order to free the fish without harm before I could bring it in for another quick shot and measure. This one measured 43 inches and was quick to swim away as I held her in the water momentarily. By now we were really pleased to have given up on the bass and set the lines once more in hopes of a possible third lunge. We had been trolling for almost 30 minutes when the next fish hammered the plug and even with a tight drag, ripped enough line off the reel to ensure it was a big one. Once again, I cleared the other line and made way for Christiane to reel it in. Another big muskie appeared beside the boat as I lip gripped it and cut all three trebles due to its voracious appetite. It had the plug crossways in its mouth and managed to get all the hooks in one place or another. No harm done with the cutters and another quick pic and measurement before an easy release back to the lake. This one measured 48 inches and was probably between 25 & 30 pounds due to its big belly and girth. It was turning out to be a great day despite the lack of bass and we weren’t complaining one bit! I set the lines once more without any thought of another fish and the reel went off again. This time it was a smaller fish of 37 inches and another easy release was made. Four lunge in less than 3 hours was great and were blessed to have had an afternoon like this, but we set the lines in for one last pass. Although I didn’t expect anything else, I still had high hopes! There was a short rip or as I like to call it “A Drive by” on the deep line, but nothing got pinned. We finally reeled in the lined and called it a day. This was to prove to be a very memorable end to a dismal start at fishing for smallmouth bass. I know neither one of will forget it for quite a while!!

Warren & I fished today on a lake for smallmouth bass and just crushed them! We began around 8:00 A.M. and wasted a little time checking out an unproductive area for almost 45 minutes. I should have known that the water temps were below the norm for the active fish, but thought I would give it a try anyhow. Air temps were barely above 60 degrees & the water temps were just over 71 degrees where we started and the fish weren’t there! Winds were light from the S/W at less than 5 knots and bright sunshine was above for most of the day. We shifted locations after only a couple of missed strikes to another area much further offshore knowing that this would hold more active fish. The water was over 72 degrees here & the fish were definitely on fire, eating tubes as fast as we could get them into the water. Warren managed to land several good fish and a couple in the mid fours before we eventually moved around and covered some more water. Only a couple of other fish were caught along the way and another move was in order. We shifted locations once again and ran abut 2 miles to another offshore spot that I was sure would hold plenty of big fish. This was definitely the case as we saw big fish cruising almost everywhere we looked! Unfortunately, they were not active given that the major had just finished and I knew we had our work cut out for us. We still managed to get into a few fish and they were almost all over 4 pounds with the largest topping the 5-pound mark on the scales! Warren was having a great day with big fish and we thought we would try our hand at trolling muskie for a while instead of casting tubes and senko’s for smallies. Once again we were shot down after less than an hour as the clouds were giving way to darker skies, thunder and an occasional lightening bolt in the distance. We stayed as long as we could and finally shot across the lake, back to the ramp where we called it a day. Although we didn’t get into any muskie, the target today was smallies and that we had done well. There must have been at least 25 fish landed with the majority of them over 3 pounds and plenty in the four pound range as well. I sure wish we had more time, but “Mother Nature” always has the last word and today was no exception!!

Ray, Kevin & Rick were my guests today on a local lake for a half day of fishing. I began by trolling stickbaits along a weed line for bass, walleye & pike to see if we could hook up quickly. The weather was in our favour as we had sunny skies and a light S/W wind at less than 5 knots. Air temps were barely 60 degrees and the surface water temps were almost 72 degrees in the best places. The cold nights we’ve had lately have dropped the water temps by almost 3 degrees since last week. It wasn’t too long before the 1st reel went off and Kevin was into a nice smallie of 3.5 pounds. Ray was up next and he also landed a smallie, but slightly smaller in size. Each person took a turn at the rod and rotation came full circle several times making it work out well. At one point, Rick grabbed the rod and battled a beautiful walleye to the net. This fish was over 6 pounds and one of the largest ones caught this season. It was also a personal best for Rick and I was glad to hear that as I slid it into the livewell for a later pic. We trolled the area for a few hours in all and managed to catch smallies, pike and a couple of walleye before we opted towards casting senko’s for smallies in another area not too far away. This was also a little slow, but we managed to get into about 12 fish or so in less than 2 hours up to almost 4 pounds. The big fish just weren’t around as the smaller ones kept grabbing the baits and getting hooked before the bruisers could get on. We only saw a few big fish in the area and weren’t able to get into them before we had to call it a day. By 1:00 P.M. we were taking off the water, as there were meetings this afternoon that they had to attend. It wasn’t fast & furious, but it was still a great day to spend on the water with at least 20 or more fish caught and many others lost as well!!