After a few days of successful Muskie fishing, I was back on the water today with my wife Christiane for more smallie action. The weather looked great for this trip and I knew it would be her last chance for the season to tackle some feisty smallmouth. There was little to no wind present and the sun was out making for a pleasant day of fishing. Water temps were 45 degrees and the air temps went to about the same as we took advantage of this spectacular, fall day. On my first cast I was tight to a smaller than usual bass of around 2.5 pounds and I thought we were in for an amazing day of fishing. As a rule, it’s bad luck to catch a fish on your first cast and this was to be no different! It was quite a while before we got a second bite and it was definitely a tough one as we covered plenty of water looking for the mother load. Unfortunately, every time we got into one, it was just that. Every place we hooked up only produced a few fish and we continued looking once again. There were several decent smallmouith caught, but no giants as of yet until we finally found the right area at the end of the day. These fish were situated on a drop off and mostly holding in 14 to 20 feet of water as we constantly hooked into big smallies for over an hour. Right at the end of the day, Christiane finally got the hooks into a real giant and managed to land one of 5.5 pounds. This was a great way to end her season as the last time she was out was in August. Way too long!! Several photos of the live well fish and we were off for the day. All in all about 25 bass were caught in about a five hour period. Not the best day, but a great one nevertheless!!

All I have to say is « Holy Cow » when it comes to the fall smallmouth bass! Just when I thought it might be slowing down a bit, we have one of the best days ever for absolute giants! I fished with Mike & Mark again today on a lake that just keeps getting better, every time we’re out. The weather wasn’t the best with overcast skies and a high of 38 degrees, but the fishing was on fire. With water temps cooling a bit overnight now, the shallower water has slowed down, but the mid & deep has improved. Winds were from the W/SW at 10 to 20 and the water temps were around 45 degrees throughout. I can’t remember just how many 4.5 to 5.5 pound smallies were caught & released, but it was plenty. Every where we fished, it produced just giants! Tubes were still the lures of choice as both Mark & Mike loaded the livewells so full with these pigs, that we started throwing back anything that seemed under 5 pounds by the afternoon. Whoever thinks that when the water gets cold, smallmouth don’t fight should experience some of this action. Most of the fish hooked, jumped between 2 & 6 times and had no intention of coming in quietly. As one of my clients from this season said, « They All Come In Ass Backwards. » All I can say is unbelievable! We actually lost count with all of these footballs we were catching, but the consensus was that there were at least 50 or 60 or more of these smallies actually landed. Who knows how many we lost as well! This has to be experienced to be believed!!!

I was back on the water once more with Darren today. We hit another local lake for smallies and on his first cast, a 4 to 5 pounder was on! Unfortunately for him, she went airborne and threw the tube right back in his face. « Oh well, that’s a good sign when the first cast is locked up », I said! With the weather looking pretty good once again, I knew we were in for a great day. The air temps were only 37 degrees when we arrived, and went as high as 42 by days end. Fortunately, the water temps were 48.5 and the winds were 5 to 10 knots from the west making for a comfortable day. With the exception of the first 15 minutes in the sun, the rest of the day we were in the clouds. This was nothing new as there have been about 5 days in the last 6 weeks that actually had sun! Plenty of smallmouth were attacking the jigs soon afterwards and some of them actually came aboard. We decided that it would take at least 4.5 pounds to make it to the livewell and just threw everything else back, immediately. The last few trips saw 4 pounders hand over fist and multiple photo shoots. The first smallie to make the cut was a five pound fish and the games began! For the next few hours there were many close calls, but we practiced restraint, letting anything that resembled 4 pounds go. The fishing wasn’t fast and furious, but there were a few areas that produced multiple hook ups on almost every cast. One place actually had a fish pretty much every cast for almost 15 minutes! Darren got into one area that produced about a dozen hook ups but only 4 landed. These fish were like rockets as they charged the boat as soon as they were hooked making it difficult to keep them on. Plenty of them got off as soon as they went airborne while doing « Mach 1 » and were just frustrating. One of the last spots of the day seemed like there was nothing you could do wrong. A drop off on the edge of a flat that was situated in pretty heavy current had many fish just stacked up in one area. By actually throwing the jig down current and doing nothing, the fish would pick it up on the fall. The hits were like freight trains as they practically hooked themselves! Unfortunately, we hit this area about 45 minutes before dark and had to leave too soon! I will be back!!! All in all a good day with 50 or more smallies caught and plenty of others either lost or just missed all together! Most of the fish were above 3.5 pounds with plenty of mid fours as well. There were at least two of the smallmouth over 5 pounds and I think we threw a couple back before the pics that were in the same calibre too!! I love the fall fishing!!

Today, I fished with Andre & Jim on another local lake for fall smallies. As fall goes, it doesn’t get any better than this! Overcast skies, no wind, air temps into the 60’s and mid November. Who would have believed that we could be 6 weeks from Christmas and have days like this! Andre wasted no time as he hooked into a 4.5 pound smallie on his second cast in 23 feet of water. That was definitely the right way to start the day. Although it started quick, it didn’t remain that way as they got into a few fish every 5 minutes or so, but mostly lost them as they were reeling them in. Andre had one between 5 & 6 pounds that went airborne and threw the jig back in his face. « That would have been the one to land, but there’s plenty more » I told him. Jim was into fish of his own and having a blast as well, landing fish up to 3 or 4 pounds every few casts. As it slowed, I decided to move around a bit and try shallower water to see if there might be some action there. This was the right decision as the games began! One cast after another, both Andre & Jim were tight to smallies from 2 pounds right up to 5 pounds. Several double headers happened in the next few hours as they continued to battle these football like smallies on light line. It seemed that they could do no wrong as everywhere we went, someone had a bent rod. In the last 3 or four hours of fishing there wasn’t five minutes that passed without someone hooking up. Most of the time it was more like every cast! Both Jim & Andre were landing fish hand over fist and the livewell looked more like a wood pile than an aquarium. They were stacked in there like cordwood by the time we took the photos. Nobody wanted to stop casting to get their picture taken as we ended up fishing to almost dark before we shot the photos. Jim even managed to land a couple of nice walleye over 3 pounds that would make for a real tasty dinner. By the time all of this was done, there were somewhere between 60 & 75 smallies landed up to & over 5 pounds. We all lost track of the count when the action got crazy. This definitely had to be the best fall fishing day all around. I have had better catches, but this was the complete package. With the lack of wind, the warm air temps and the action fast & furious, you just can’t get any better than today! There’s still plenty of fall days left with enormous smallmouth bass to be caught. Don’t miss out on this kind of action!!!

Well, I was back on the water again today with Mark & Mike and what a day we had! With these temperatures, the fish have really turned on. Not that they needed any help, but now there’s even more biting than usual. With a wind from the N/E at 10 to 20 knots, we got blown around a little, but managed nevertheless. The air temps were in the 50’s with overcast skies and water temps were 47.5 degrees. With all the mild weather we’ve been having lately, the water temps have remained constant throughout the last week. We began in slightly deeper water of 20 to 30 feet and locked up almost immediately on tube jigs. I knew it was going to be a great day! Mike was in pain with fisherman’s elbow and took a beating the entire day while loving every minute of the pain. Mike definitely had the hot hand for a while as he just threw the jig out and let it drag across the rocks. Not much work involved, but excellent results! Mark was holding his own, but was a little slow getting started as he missed a few fish before the first one came aboard. As usual, everywhere we fished, smallies up to 5 pounds were being landed on a regular basis. We covered plenty of water as they caught plenty of 4 to 5 pound footballs all on tubes. The best areas were ones in the 12 to 17 foot range and several of them had schooled fish holding there. At one point, it seemed like every cast had a hook-up! By the end of the day, there were over 50 smallies landed with the bulk being over 4 pounds. Just another great day on the water regardless of the date!!!