Alain & Cindy were to accompany me today on yet another local body of water in pursuit of more smallie action! We were to get off the water a little earlier today due to other engagements so we met at 7:00 AM and rolled immediately afterwards. Overnight, the air had dropped down to only 3 degrees above zero and I knew it would have an effect on some of the areas we were to be fishing. It would definitely be a slow presentation until the water warmed up, if it ever did! Fortunately for us, the sun was shining and that made the air feel no quite so cold. We were all wearing some sort of gloves for most of the day however and were glad to have them on. Winds were out of the W at 5 to 10 knots with slightly higher gusts at times feeling more like sub zero temps rather than above zero. The fish were still in the areas I had caught them yesterday and it didn’t take long before both Cindy and Alain had bent rods. Some of these smallies were a little on the below average size, but still a blast to catch. Eventually we were to shift areas and finally fell into a zone that was holding better quality fish of 3 to 4 pounds. We stayed in this area as long as the fish were cooperating and everyone was catching. When it finally slowed, we relocated again and did the same thing all over again. I think Cindy might have caught more than Alain, but to Alain’s defence, she was in the front of the boat casting to where I pointed. Just like yesterday, we caught fish in practically every location we fished. I wanted to see if I could hook up with a Muskie for one of them so sometime after lunch, we began to troll. Unfortunately by this time, the winds had kicked up a little more and it had started to rain. Add to this all the floating vegetation and it darn near made it impossible for me to have a chance at getting into one. We trolled for about 90 minutes or more in a few areas, marking some fish and plenty of bait, but had no takers. It wasn’t to be today given the short time frame were allotted to try for them and we had to call it quits for the day. It was still a great few hours for smallmouth though with over 40 fish landed and plenty more lost as well. The largest today would have gone close to 4.5 pounds and still another day without a five pounder to our credit. I anticipate that this will only improve with the cooler nights ahead and falling water temps in the next few weeks and can’t wait for all of those 100 fish days to come!!

Jim & Andre joined me today on a local body of water for some incredible, smallmouth bass action. The weather began a little damp & misty following a heavy downpour all night long. The weatherman had forecasted a 100% chance of rain for the day and for a change, he was wrong! It let up somewhere around 11:00 AM and never came back. There was also suppose to be a high wind advisory that predicted 15 to 25 knots with heavier gusts and that never arrived until we were ready to leave. For the first time, they were wrong for the good! The first area we stopped in produced fish almost immediately and both Andre & Jim were catching smallies on practically every cast. Water temps had dropped a bit since the last time I was there 4 days ago and were now barely 62 degrees, but the fish were on fire. Tubes were the hot ticked for the day with numerous hook-ups on both fish as well as rocks. Sometimes it’s hard to detect the difference without a really tight line during a drift & drag and they were both being fooled at times. Fortunately, we were in the right zones and multiple doubles and an occasional triple-header occasionally occurred! I fan casted some of the areas with a crankbait to see if I could bring up a school, but caught only the occasional bass. I believe that by the end of the day, the water temps were still above the air temps that stayed no higher than 50 degrees at best. Most of the day saw heavy clouds but an occasional appearance from the sun now & then made it feel great. By the time it was all said & done, there were close to 100 bass caught & released up to 4.5 pounds. No 5 pounders, but still plenty of quality bass to keep anyone happy for the entire day. A typical great fall fishing day was had by all!!

With the onset of foul weather coming in by the end of this week, I thought I would get a day in before the rain arrived. Darrin & I hit the water for a few hours of fishing and began trolling for Muskie around 11:00 AM. The lake was flat calm and the skies were heavily overcast with dark clouds. Perfect trolling weather! The water temps were down again to 62.5 degrees and the air temps were in the mid 50’s making fall seem like it had finally started to arrive. We trolled for about 90 minutes without any luck and decided to stop and cast for smallmouth bass. What a tough way to kill time as it didn’t take too long before we were bringing up schooling bass and locked up. We didn’t catch many, but they were all big fatties and close to 4 pounds on average. It doesn’t take too long to spook the school and this was not the exception once more! Within 30 minutes or so, they disappeared to the deep and never showed again. We tried dragging tubes for a little longer, but no takers. The sun had just appeared through the clouds and the sky looked like it was going to clear, so I decided to give the Muskie another try. I don’t think the lures were in the water for 15 minutes, before the shallow, long rod fired. The reel screamed line with what sounded like a big fish attached and Darrin was fast on the rod. Moments later, we both caught a view of this beast and realized that it was a good one of around 25 pounds. A quick jaw grip with the boga and I unhooked her from the trebles unharmed before bringing her aboard for a few pics. She was a beautiful 45-inch spotted fish that was almost perfectly flawless and one of the prettiest muskie I had seen in a while. I snapped several shots and back she went for the release. A few more pictures and she was gone, back to the depths with a flip of the tail. I knew we would score! We trolled for a little while longer without any takers and then went back to bass fishing. We caught a few more smallies but they were definitely off the feed as we saw giants just cruising around looking at our baits, without a take. We switched back to trolling again and continued marking fish, but they too were really off and we never had another reel fire. Around 4:15 PM we decided to call it quits and headed back to the ramp. We had another successful half day on the water with about 10 big bass taken and many others seen! The highlight of the day however, definitely had to be the 45-inch Muskie we landed. Just a spectacular mottled design on her sides made her just picture perfect!

After a no show from clients today and total frustration, I headed onto the water in the afternoon with my wife Christiane, for some smallie action. Yesterday’s large total had me wanting more and she was just the person to take advantage of this easy fishing. The weather had broken from the early morning showers and was now just cloudy with light & variable winds. It was a perfect fall day! Water temps had gone down another degree since yesterday and were now 62.5 at best. The air had a damp chill in it and never even reached 60 degrees with the lack of sunshine. The first spot was a little disappointing as neither of us landed a fish in it and yesterday it had put out almost 20 bass up to 4 pounds. I had a couple of bites, but nothing landed. The second spot however, had Christiane locked up on her first cast and this was a 4.5-pound smallie. I showed her how to use the boga grip to easily land the fish and she was well on her way to safely unhooking many more after. I took a few quick pics and returned the bass safely back to where it came from. We were fishing fast current with weeds and some rock and the fish were all over the place. She managed to get into at least 10 fish in a short time by me positioning the boat so that she could hit the high percentage areas. After about 20 or 30 minutes of this, we relocated and did the same thing in another area nearby. At this time of year, all you have to really do is find a couple of fish and there’s usually a bunch more. One more area had us locking up regularly as a few doubles came aboard and these were larger fish as well. At one point, it was every cast! Tubes and some crankbaits accounted for the fish today and in just a few short hours; we had landed over 35 bass up to 4.5 pounds. I wanted to see if I could get her into another Muskie after last Sunday’s 53.5-inch monster and decided to troll for a while. It took about 30 minutes and while I was cleaning a line, the fish hit. I never got to hear the reel fire, but having the rod in my hand when the muskie ate the lure was just as good. I knew the chances of it being as big as her last one was going to be disappointing, but just getting into a muskie was worthwhile. It decided to go airborne during the fight and jumped completely out of the water with a spectacular, Olympic leap. I boga gripped the fish beside the boat and carefully removed the one hook that was in her before bringing the fish aboard for a couple of quick pics. The release was a simple one as the 38-inch fish bolted immediately when I returned her to the water. We continued trolling for about 20 minutes more and decided to call it a day. It was another successful short day on the water and we were fulfilled. Anytime you can spend 3 or 4 hours out and have these results, it’s a great day!

I was back on the water again today with Marco & Jacenty for a mixed bag type of day. The weather was a complete duplicate of yesterday with less wind and unbelievable for this time of year again. Jacenty wanted to try for a big Muskie so we set the rods and began trolling first off. Around 20 minutes into the troll, the wire line went off and the reel began its typical scream. I yelled, “Fish” and Jacenty was on the rod almost immediately afterwards. It was hard to tell how big it was on this meat stick, but I knew it would be around 20 pounds at least. When both Marco & Jacenty saw the 43-inch fish behind the boat, they couldn’t believe their eyes. They thought it was enormous and freaked when they caught a glimpse of it coming to the boat. I managed to lip grip it with the boga and had to snip one of the hooks out before I brought it aboard for a few pics. I guess the fish was still a little green, because she gave Jacenty a hard time posing for the pictures. She spiralled while he was holding her and did a nasty job on one of his hands and fingers. The fish went away unharmed, but that’s more than I can say about the fisherman! I had to play doctor and close all the wounds before we resumed our fishing. I was hoping on getting Marco into one of these and continued trolling other areas for a while without another strike. We marked plenty of good-looking hooks, but no takers! Eventually, we went for smallmouth and they began catching some decent bass. Jerk-baits and tubes were once again the ticket with an occasional spinnerbait later in the afternoon. We had all kinds of fish following the lures in every place we hit, but there weren’t too many takers and it was beginning to get frustrating. There’s nothing worse than seeing fish and not being able to get them to strike! We moved all over picking a few here and there and later in the afternoon decided to try for Muskie once again. Just like the morning, we marked plenty of good hooks in several areas, but couldn’t get a reel to fire. We ended up leaving around 6:00 PM without getting Marco into one of those toothy critters. It was a pretty good day, but a few more bass and another Muskie would have made it a great one. All in all, they had fun but somebody did get hurt! I know that Yacenty will always remember his first Muskie and he now has the cuts & scars to prove it!