John was in from California for a Caribou hunt in northern Quebec and decided to fish with me for the day. He had done this for the past couple of years and had great success in the past. Unfortunately, this was not to be the case today! We were blessed with beautiful weather, but inactive fish throughout the day. We saw plenty of big fish cruising the areas we hit, but most of them just refused anything. A couple of smaller ones hit the tube jig slowly crawled across the bottom and in one area a nice one committed to the tube. This one was over 5 pounds and 19.5 inched in length. There were many others of equal size that we saw, but they all refused to eat our offerings. In almost each place we fished, we saw some big smallmouth bass and had a tough time getting any of them to eat. John hooked into another big smallie on a senko and this one was around 4.5 pounds. Unfortunately it wasn’t fast & furious and we had to work hard for every fish we got! It was not a typical day on the lake, but the fish were definitely where we were. They just would not cooperate!!

Darrin & I decided that big fish were what we wanted and there was only one lake for this. The last time we were on the lake, he took a bass that probably went close to if not over 6 pounds. He was pumped! The weather began with lots of fog and difficult driving conditions to the lake. The fog also took a while before it lifted and looked like rain clouds, but the fishing began great. In the first 30 minutes there were 3 good fish taken on senko’s and jerkbaits and things were looking up. We covered plenty of water and had a few fish after but realized the fishing was going to be tough. The skies cleared and sunshine made for great viewing, enabling us to actually see some of the fish during the afternoon. With these conditions, senko’s were the only baits we were going to be throwing. Now we were actually hunting instead of fishing as we approached some of the largest bass in shallow water. It felt more like bone fishing in the keys than bass fishing! Several large smallmouth of 4 pounds or more were taken with this technique during the remainder of the afternoon. Darrin missed a really huge bass that looked like it would have been in the 6-pound range but we will never know. He did however manage to land a couple over 5 pounds and several in the high 4’s. It ended with about 15 big smallies and a nice northern of almost 10 pounds by the time we called it a day. These sunny days can be great, but they can also be tough if the fish don’t cooperate. Seeing them is a good thing, but really frustrating if they don’t want to bite. This day was a great one!!

Richard, Ian and I hit another lake today after yesterday’s miserable results. This was not the best start to the day as we had terrible looking skies and heavy cloud cover. The run up the lake was a sooth, windless ride and quite enjoyable. Senko’s were our first choice with these conditions and it didn’t take too long before the first fish was on. Unfortunately, it was on the smaller side and a little disappointing. The next few bass were no different and equally as small until Richard finally got into something of substance. It too hit a senko and soon after a largemouth of almost 5 pounds was in the net. This fish went into the livewell for later photos! A mist and light wind was beginning to fall and unfortunately blowing from the wrong direction so we moved to another area and began throwing spinnerbaits. Pike and an occasional bass were hooked into before we moved on once more. The winds were blowing a little harder as we crossed over the lake in 3-foot waves to get to a sheltered area that we would be able to fish for largemouth. Richard & I were pitching heavy jigs into thick cover and Ian was throwing a soft plastic jerkbait over the open water to try & entice anything that might be holding there. Ian had a nice fish on rather quickly, but it came off before we had a chance to see how big it was. He had a couple more hits on the jerkbait, but only managed to land one of the largemouth bass that went 3.5 pounds at least. We took a couple of pics of the largemouth and released them into the weedy area before we went to see if we could get into some smallies. This was to prove to be a good choice as we began catching some smallies on tubes and senko’s. These fish were in a feeding period and the rest of the day saw consistent action wherever we went. By targeting open patches in heavy weeds we were able to get into probably close to 15 or 20 nice smallmouth before we were done. There was even a walleye of 3.5 pounds taken on a jerkbait and that was going to be dinner. I don’t know if it was the afternoon sunshine or just the fact that the fish were active, but the last 3 or 4 hours of today was spectacular! Once the weather cleared up and the sun came out, it became a different day. We were down to T-Shirts for the rest of the afternoon and catching fish. What could be better! All in all it was a great end to a good day with close to 30 bass landed and many others lost.

Ronnie & his uncle Leroy were in from Oklahoma and we fished on a local lake for smallies today. The weather was nice, but still no wind! Temps were in the upper 80’s by days end and sunshine with some clouds greeted us all day long. Jerk-baits & spinnerbaits were thrown most of the day with an occasional tube as well. The first fish to come aboard were perch as Ronnie managed to hook a couple on a jerk-bait. Eventually, a nice smallie was hooked into and soon landed tat would have gone over 5 pounds at 20 and 1/8 inches long. Ronnie hooked into another a bit smaller that went 19.5 inches and in the mid 4 pound range. A couple of smaller bass and a decent Northern Pike of 32 inches were taken before we relocated. This day was a difficult one with the full moon just yesterday. We saw less fish today that usual and I was sure that was because they fed at night. Inactive bass were barely hitting anything at all and some of them were short striking our baits. We caught a few other fish during the day, but were disappointed in our results by days end. By 4:30 PM we had enough and decided to throw in the towel. It was not one of the best days, but there were a few big fish taken that made it all worthwhile.

I had the pleasure of fishing with Ron & his wife, Connie today on St-Francis for smallmouth bass. I had fished with Ron, earlier this season and he wanted his wife to catch some big smallies as well. The weather was beautiful as sunshine and light winds were with us all day. Air temps reached 80 degrees and I found as much as 73.5 degrees in a few areas for water temp. With this warming spell, the bass began to show more in the shallows and that was what I was hoping for! Connie hooked into the first bass after Ron had landed a couple of small perch on a jerk-bait earlier. She couldn’t believe how hard the fish had hit and especially how strong the fight was afterwards. It was only around 3 pounds, but it was still the largest smallie she had ever caught! The bite was a little slower than I thought it should be, but when you’re dealing with big smallmouth, it sometimes happens. It also didn’t help that we were close to the full moon and when this occurs, the daytime feeding takes a backseat to the night. The next fish Connie hooked into was an honest 4-pound brown bass that gave her the fight of her life. A senko had enticed this one to hit and what a battle it was. A few pics were taken before we released her back into the lake. Fish of this size are too valuable to kill and “Catch & Release” is the only choice in my eyes! I had forewarned Ronnie before he arrived that his wife would be kicking his butt and it was beginning to come true. Her next fish was a 20-inch smallie that was as big around as it was long. This time she was into a five-pound smallmouth and it definitely would be her personal best! A few pics and back she went again to the lake, unharmed. We got into a few more smallies along the area we were fishing, but the action was slow. I thought we would take a short break and relocate to somewhere else afterwards. We tried an area that had a mix of weeds and rocks but only saw freshwater drum and a few smallies just cruising around. The next spot saw a few more huge smallmouth and one 3 pounder was caught. Off again to an island nearby we saw the mother load! There had to be at least 20 bass cruising the flat adjacent to the island, but that’s all they were doing, just swimming around. I think we managed to get into just a couple of them and moved on once more. Each area we fished afterwards had similar results. We were seeing big bass but hooking only a few of them. The winds had died off completely and it seemed like the current had as well, causing the fish to just shut down completely. It was getting late in the day, so I decided to try one last area before we headed out. Several more large smallies were seen once again, but only one of them managed t hit the senko. I thought Connie ad a real big bass this time as she battled it to the boat. I realized that the fish I was looking at was actually another bass following the one she had on and Ronnie tried throwing a jig to see if he could double up. Unfortunately, we could only come up with one of the fish, an honest 4 pounder. The other was definitely over 5 pounds and dwarfed this one completely. A few more quick pics and back she went once more. This was to prove to be the last fish of the day as we called it shortly after. It wasn’t fast & furious, but there were some quality fish caught today. It was definitely Connie’s best day for smallmouth ever and that’s all that counts!!