I was back on the water again today but with Andre & his son Vincent for more smallie action. It was a good way to kick off the first day of summer and we had a blast. The weather didn’t feel much like summer though with the air temps only getting into the upper 60’s at best. The winds were from the W/NW at 10 to 20 knots most of the day and there was quite a chop on the water as well. Water temps remained around 67 degrees where we were fishing and without the aid of sunshine, never rose. I think the cloud cover actually helped us today, as the fish seemed more active than they did yesterday. Vincent scored first with a smallie on a crankbait and waited a while before the second fish came aboard. He eventually hooked into a nice fish of over 3 pounds on a soft jerk-bait and landed it for a quick picture before releasing her to fight another day. There were many other misses before both Vincent & his father, Andre managed to hook and land fish. Plenty of missed chances occurred throughout the course of the day with a small percentage actually landed, but nevertheless it was action. By the mid afternoon, we were forced off the water when weather threatened in the form of a thunderstorm. With winds increasing and rain falling, we headed for the shelter of the boat ramp earlier than expected. In the short 6 or 7 hours of fishing there were about 20 bass landed up to about 4 pounds with many others falling short of the net. All in all a pretty good day!!

I fished on Lake St-Louis with Rob today for smallmouth bass. Rob was in from Florida with his wife on a vacation and wanted to get into some nice smallies while he was in Montreal. We set out on the lake at 7:00 AM with cooler air temps than the over 90 degrees we had yesterday. It was still humid, but at 73 degrees, it was much more enjoyable. Winds were out of the W at 10 to 20 knots and intensified during the day. We had a good chop in the morning and a rougher ride late in the afternoon on our way back. With water temps in the high 60’s in most areas, we were into a post spawn pattern all over. Rob hooked a nice bass of around 3 pounds on his first few casts once we were set up in the right area and things were looking good for the day. Unfortunately, there was only one smaller fish hooked afterwards there, but due to a rental boat being anchored close by I couldn’t position the boat for a decent cast. In the next area, we were immediately into bass on tubes, crankbaits and super flukes. These fish were a little larger with a couple going over 4 pounds, post spawn. I moved around the area and tried to get into more fish in the shallower water, but unfortunately came up empty. We jumped around a bit but it wasn’t until the afternoon when we began getting into more of the quality bass bites. Rob began catching bass on a spinnerbait and for the next few hours, there were 3 to 4 pound smallies being caught & lost frequently. Once again, tubes & crankbaits along with the spinnerbaits accounted for all the fish taken from rocky shoals and weed patches. By days end, there were probably 25 or more bass hooked up with most of them actually brought to the net. Unfortunately as always, the largest fish of around 5 pounds managed to get off when she went airborne near the boat. Although today was a tougher day than expected with the winds and postfrontal conditions we were dealt, we still had a great day!!

Today was a real treat as Sam, Matt, Danny & Ben fished with me on Lake St-Francis for bass. Due to Ontario opening 1 week later than Quebec, we were forced to concentrate on the Quebec side of the lake. Winds from the S/W at 10 to 20 knots greeted us on our travels as we crossed the lake to some of the islands. Air temps were in the 70’s but eventually went into the 80’s as the day went on. The water temps were actually lower than I had anticipated and mostly registered in at 65 degrees. It was a tough bite for a while, but Matt finally broke the ice with a nice smallie over 4 pounds on a tiny crankbait. We had several follows and saw many others just roaming around, but no takers afterwards. I thought they might like to have a little action, so we moved to a point leading into a bay for largemouth. It didn’t take long before everyone was hooking up on soft plastics. There was a mix of smallmouth & largemouth here until it became all largemouth when we rounded the corner. Most of these fish were rather small, but a few of them were substantially larger. One of them even saw the 4-pound mark as we pushed further back into the weeds. There were also plenty of huge carp that probably could have toped the scales around 40 pounds or better splashing around in no water. After playing around for the largemouth for a while, we thought we would give a few other areas a try to see if we could get some more smallmouth. Just like before, they were difficult to actually catch as we saw plenty of these fish just cruising around, but not really feeding. Matt managed to hook into 2 others on a crankbait, but unfortunately lost both of them when they jumped. Danny got into a couple and landed 2 nice ones that would have both gone around 4 pounds apiece. One was on a senko and the other, also a crankbait! We saw many more fish in the 4 to over 5 pound class cruising, but were unable to entice even one of them into biting so we called it a day. It wasn’t fast & furious, but we did manage to get into about 25 bass today up to at least 4 pounds on various types of lures.

Opening day for bass in Quebec saw Jim, James & Andre fishing with me on Lake of Two Mountains. Many an opener has seen Andre hooked up with me on a local lake and the results have always been successful. This year would prove to be no different as they were about to have a top-water bite today. With no wind and highs into the upper 80’s there was no way the fish wouldn’t hit the surface baits thrown at them and Andre proved that within the first couple of minutes. Sunshine all day with high humidity made it feel more like Florida though as we casted to these aggressive fish. Water temps were around 73 degrees in most areas all day and climbed slightly as the day went on. Jim & his son were both hooking fish but they were rather on the small side and then Andre finally latched onto one around 4 pounds on a Pop-R. This was to prove to be the largest fish of the day with the exception of the 4.5 to 5 pound beauty that Andre lost late in the afternoon, when the hooks just pulled out. Around the same time, I switched up baits and Jim began to throw a tiny crankbait for a while. He hooked a couple of fish that really fought and to our amazement, turned out to be catfish. The largest one would have gone around 7 pounds or so and it was a total surprise to all of us. By days end there were around 50 bass landed with plenty of others lost as well. A pretty good day for the start of this season!!

Today I fished with my friend Dave & his son Eric on a couple of lakes for smallmouh bass. We started on a trophy lake to see if we could get into some trout as well as big bass, but only managed to get the big bass. Air temps were in the 70’s at the start of the day and the water temps were 58 degrees. Light winds of less than 5 knots & overcast skies, as well as occasional sprinkles were what we had to endure on this lake. We managed to get into about 12 bass on the first lake averaging 4 pounds or better with a couple over five. The action was rather slow so we decided to head to Memphremagog to see if we could get into some top-water action like yesterday. Water temps there were 63 degrees in most areas and there was no wind at all. There was however pollen on the water that made the lake look rather yellow all over and difficult to fish in. We had an even harder time on this lake as we fished for about 3 hours with some top water action but not the likes of the day before. Some fish were also taken on soft plastic jerk-baits but they were mostly smaller in size. Although it was difficult on both of the lakes, there were still about 25 bass caught and many others lost. It wasn’t fast & furious, but it was still pretty good!!