I fished with Brian for a few hours today and started at the crack of ten! We tried to get on Memphremagog, but due to the 15 to 20 knot winds from the north had to settle for a smaller body of water instead. The water temps were still between 37 & 40 degrees depending on the areas we fished and the lake rolled with 3 to 4 foot waves as well. Within the first 3 minutes, there was a lake trout of around 4 pounds in the livewell and shortly after, another closer to 6 pounds lost at the net. One shorter laker was caught after and a few more hits and follows, but with the strong winds, tough fishing was all we got into. By 4:00 we were ready to get off the lake as waves of 3 to 4 feet were all over. I hope this north wind blows itself out real soon, as conditions really need to change in order to have those incredible May days of fishing.

I fished with my buddy Frank & Gilles today on two different lakes. The first lake saw water temps as high as 50 degrees and a boatful of enormous perch. Most of these fish were in the pound class and some were closer to a pound and a half. There weren’t too many bass landed, but a few were caught in the same areas as the perch. We tried several places looking for more of the bass only to come up empty or with 1 fish. The water temps were mostly in the low 40’s with the exception of the 50 degree area that the perch were being taken. Winds have been from the north causing the water to cool instead of warm for this time of year. On the second lake we were looking for lake trout and came up short once again. Out of a possible 7 or 8 followers, only one was actually hooked into. Unfortunately, the fish came off before it could be netted and we left the lake empty handed. Here the water temps were mostly 37 or 38 degrees and one small area actually saw 40 degrees. With the ice only coming off a few days earlier, the fish are still in the winter mode and the best is yet to come.

I fished with Alain and Cindy today on Lake Champlain for Landlocked Salmon. It was the second trip of the year and the results were significantly better. Only a few days earlier I had gone 3 for 4 with just 4 hits all day. Today’s water temps were only registering 45 degrees at best, but the fish were plentiful if you knew where to look. We began trolling the shallows with only 1 fish in about an hour and moved out to deeper water afterwards. This was where we were to finally get into them good! Both Cindy and Alain had many salmon grab hold of the baits and fought numerous fish for the next hour or so before it all went silent again. We trolled shallower as well as deeper trying to locate what we had been on before that even produced the first double header of the season with little success. All we cold find was smaller browns and an occasional rainbow. These fish were so plentiful that I had to actually leave an area because too many of them were hitting our lines. We picked a fish here and there until a little later in the afternoon when we got into them once more. Alain even managed to fight a nice brown of around four pounds in between more salmon. Cindy caught the first salmon of the day and while we were clearing all the lines at the end of the day grabbed another rod that fired to fight the largest salmon as the last fish of the day. This fish was a nice salmon of about 4 pounds making all the fish in the livewell, quality sized. All the salmon were between 18 & 20 inches, which is not the norm for Champlain. We had all lost track of the total count but were sure it was close to 25 fish for the day with at least 15 being salmon. This was an excellent day by anyone’s standards!!

After a lengthy period of cold weather, we finally saw a break in the weather enabling us to fish for steelhead again. Jay had been thinking of catching more silver bullets since our last trip some three weeks earlier and couldn’t wait to get back. We decided to arrive the night before and take advantage of the two mild days forecasted before the cold settled back once more. The morning saw temperatures in the upper 20’s with even warmer temps soon to follow. Sunshine and no wind was an added bonus we could definitely live with as well! Float fishing with fresh roe would definitely be the ticket needed to entice these chrome beauties I thought and just how right, I was soon to find out. Jay was soon tight to a fish and well on his way to having a day of incredible action. Many more fish were to follow as he hooked fish in every spot we were to fish. Most of the steelhead were dime bright, but a few of the larger males were putting on their war paint in anticipation of the spawn soon to come. Jay got to hook into 15 fish today with the largest landed going around 12 pounds. As usual, there had to be a couple of fish that were too big to handle that just got away! He even landed a beautiful brown trout of about 5 pounds as an added bonus fish! In the end, Jay was to go 11 for 15 landed today. What an incredible day for lots of action. Day two saw the weather changing considerably with clouds and dampness in the air. There was a wind from the S/W at 5 to 10 knots as well making line control a little more challenging. The fish weren’t as cooperative as the day before and Jay had to work for every bite he was to get. Some smaller steelhead were eager to take the egg sacs as he landed a couple of skippies before hooking into a decent sized fish. Unfortunately, it was to be short lived as the steelhead just came up to the surface rolling and then pulled off. I believe it was to have been around 7 or 8 pounds, but we’ll never know! A little while later, Jay hooked into anther monster of a fish and was soon about to see just how quick this fish could move. In less than a minute, the fish covered so much water back & forth that it was almost impossible to keep up. Soon he tucked in behind some larger rocks and rolled on the surface, breaking the 6-pound leader. I estimated this one to be in the 15- pound class when we both got a pretty good look at the beast. Too bad, as it would have been a personal best! After a quick lunch I thought we would try a little walk into an area that might have untouched fish. It was to prove to be very interesting! Along the way, Jay stumbled and stopped himself from taking a header by submerging his arm in the water to the elbow. He had the rod & reel in the same hand too! It was a partial baptism, but a baptism nonetheless that usually follows with some sort of reward. It wasn’t long after we regained our composure that Jay was once again locked up on another large fish. I decided that the net wasn’t needed with this long hike and was beginning to second-guess myself when I saw just how powerful the fish really was. Fortunately, Jay had played with enough fish this trip to be able to muscle her out of the current into a slower pocket of water where I was able to tail her with a glove. She was a little darker than hat we had been seeing, but had a beautiful purple lateral line that made her just spectacular. I knew that the day was not to get any better and ended it on a high note! In the two days of fishing Jay had hooked into 21 fish and landed 15 of them. Our timing was bang on once more! I can’t wait to get back there again and tangle with more of these special winter steelhead myself!

Part 1: Although this was to be the first report of the New Year, there have been several successful Steelhead trips already. This time however, Jay was to have his first experience with the silver bullets of Lake Ontario tribs! We managed to intercept a window of weather that was to play into our hands just perfectly. Prior to today, there had been a 5-day period of extreme cold temperatures both during the night as well as the day. When conditions are like that, the fishing is just not very easy! We timed our drive to the river so that we would arrive around 11:00 AM & the previous nights temps would have had a chance to warm up a little more. Some of the slush ice would be gone too making our drifts through the holding areas 100 percent. Before noon, we were wetting a line with sunshine & air temps above freezing but feeling more like Florida to us after the last few days. I worked with Jay for about 15 minutes explaining most of the details required to work a float effectively and where the fish would be holding at this time of the year. When I felt that he was ready, I put a fresh egg sac on his hook and coached him some more. Several minutes & several casts later, it finally happened! The float went under and Jay set the hook into a real beauty. The fish came up to the surface shaking its head violently as I thought to myself; this wasn’t going to end well. It was in the 12 to 15 pound class and probably too much for him to handle for his first fish. Line was coming off the reel at an alarming rate as Jay tightened the drag a bit to try and slow the fish down. He played the fish for over 10 minutes like a tug of war. Every time he managed to gain some line, the beast took it right back out. We actually had to chase it down the river a ways just to get back some of the distance between us. Just when I thought he was making headway, the fish decided to turn, bolt down river through some shallow rapids and break off. Jay was left with an unbelievable look on his face that should have been photographed. He had just been spanked by the best! Although the battle hadn’t ended well, he just didn’t seem to mind. Fighting a fish with this much power in the middle of the winter was just too good to believe. I retied his leader, put him back to work in the same area he just fished and told him there were probably more to be caught. He eventually had another encounter with a fresh silver bullet as the float disappeared under the surface once more. This time when he set the hook however, the fish was a little more cooperative. Jay was able to fight the steelie and bring her close enough to be able to be landed. Several times he had the float at the tip of the rod and that is considered a landed fish when you don’t carry a net in my eyes. I tried a couple of times to grab the tail with a glove but she was never quite close enough to get a good shot. With all the cold temperatures lately, the river had created shelf ice along the shore and as luck would have it, the fish decided to go under one of the ice flows. Another mishap was about to occur as she cut the leader just above the hook. Although this didn’t end with a picture, it didn’t really matter, as she would have been released anyway. Jay had hooked into two of the most powerful winter fish he had ever had on and was happy just to play with them for a while. I was pretty sure that his luck was soon to change and we moved to another run nearby. After explaining to Jay where to drift his presentation, he was off to the races. Several minutes passed and then it happened again, “Fish On”! Immediately after lighting his cigar the fish hit and he was tight to a nice steelhead once more. He had plenty of open water to fight this fish and I was able to get a grab on the tail for his first picture. She was a beautiful fresh steelie of about 7 or 8 pounds and returned immediately to the river to fight again. This was to be the last fish Jay was to get into today, but it was still more than he ever expected it to be. By being able to catch fish like this in the middle of the winter with a rod & reel should make someone think twice about ice fishing. It really has to be experienced in order to be believed! [attachment=0:2ah4x4c5]Jay Tailing Steelie.jpg[/attachment:2ah4x4c5] [attachment=1:2ah4x4c5]Tailing a Tiger.jpg[/attachment:2ah4x4c5]