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!!

After a couple of days off, I was out again yesterday looking for a few new walleye areas to fish for upcoming clients. Fortunately, before the electrical storms sent us running for the ramp, I located one that was great for the client coming today. We managed to get into 2 nice walleye and a couple of good smallies up to 3.5 pounds in only a couple of hours giving me the confidence to refine this area in the morning. Stuart and his son, Stuart Jr. were to fish with me today in hopes of catching a few walleye for the table tonight. I was pretty sure after yesterday that this wouldn’t be a problem and we ran to the area right away. Winds were out of the west at 5 to 10 knots and a mix of sun & cloud were what we were faced with. Air temps were below 60 degrees at the start and barely in the 70’s by the end. Water temps were around 72.5 degrees in most areas we fished as we began our troll. The first rod didn’t take too long to fire but it wasn’t a walleye but rather a 4-pound smallie and Stuart Jr. battled it to the boat and right into the livewell it went for future pics later. A short while after, 2 of the rods fired and we were into a double header with both fish also being smallmouth bass. Jr. landed another fish in the 4-pound class while his father released one of 2.5 pounds at the same time too. The next double wasn’t bass but rather walleye as we managed to get them both on board & into the livewell for dinner tonight. It was difficult trolling this area with all the floating vegetation, but we managed nonetheless! Soon after this double header had happened, another double walleye happened but we were only able to land one as the other shook the hooks free almost at the boat. A couple of other smallies and we went searching for more active fish elsewhere. This was to prove to be the wrong decision as we only had a couple of short rips on the reel and nothing to reel in after. I thought we might have better luck trolling for muskie and decided to try our luck at this for an hour or so. Unfortunately, this also didn’t pan out and we went back to the original area in hopes of catching a few more walleye or at least some more smallies. The weeds had really floated in and were twice as bad as they were in the morning making my life living hell, as I had to clear the lines constantly. Add a stronger wind to the mix and we had the perfect match for disaster! We did have several short strikes and even a smallie on for a short time, but it went to the air and threw the lure as well. I had to try another area due to all the weeds and never had another taker before we called it a day. It started out great, but as the wind switched and intensified, the fish really shut down. I was still marking them in certain areas, but wasn’t able to get them active enough to eat. I hope the weather stabilizes and the fish go back on the feed once again, really soon!!

I was back on the water today with Darren & his dad Al, for another shot at some multi species. We shot across to our first location to begin a troll for pike & walleye in a west wind of 5 to 10 knots & 1 to 2 foot chop. Air temps were in the low 60’s due to the overnight chill and clouds were surrounding us all the while. It didn’t take too long after we set the rods for the first reel to go off & Al was into a nice pike of 4 pounds. For the next couple of hours of trolling we managed to get into many more pike and miss several others along with a walleye and even a sunfish on a spinnerbait! Add to it a largemouth and a smallie and we’ve really got a mixed bag! Once the sun began to shine sometime after lunch, we decided to give it a try for strictly smallmouth bass. Senko’s were the hot ticket once more as we boated plenty of smallies, but they were mostly on the smaller side today. We did manage to see several larger ones just cruising around and Al had a shot at an honest 4 plus, but failed to close the sale! Somewhere around 3:30 P.M. we dropped Darren’s dad off at the ramp and headed back out to try & see if we might be able to hook into a muskie. Unfortunately, this was not to be as we trolled different areas trying to find one willing to take our offerings. With the late arrival of summer, the weeds are still not set up in the better areas and neither are the fish. I have had to make adjustments almost daily in order to get into the smallies that I should be hitting everywhere. Most of my better zones don’t even show any signs of holding fish as of yet and I don’t know if they even will this season. With all the high water I have been fishing areas that I normally wouldn’t and that’s where I have been finding the fish. Still with all this, we have managed to have success each & every day out and that’s all that counts! We ended the day around 5:30 P.M. today after washing several lures looking for that elusive creature know as the fish of 10,000 casts, without success. I will be back!!