Once again I fished with John today, but had to opt for the St-Lawrence River because of the high winds forecasted for this area. They were gusting at over 30 knots throughout most of the afternoon and even on the river we had whitecaps! Any other body of water would have had us looking for sheltered areas in order to fish. The air temps reached almost 80 degrees and the water temps were 69 to 70 degrees in most areas. Sunshine and occasional clouds greeted us for the entire day and except for the wind, it was perfect. Unfortunately, the fishing wasn’t perfect! This was to be the day of the lost & missed fish as over 75% of the smallies were never landed. On John’s first cast with a spinnerbait, he had an aerial display from a 4 to 5 pound smallie that lasted until the second leap. A short while later, another huge bass did the exact same thing and came unpinned after the second or third jump as well. We moved around plenty on this day but only managed to pick a fish here & there with no real concentrations found anywhere. Several fish were either following our offerings or just nipping at them, but never really committing to the hooks. This was real frustrating as many of them were quality fish! We stuck it out as long as we could and decided to call it quits around 5:00 PM when we had seen just about enough. At the end of the day there were about 10 or 12 fish caught, but many more lost or just seen following! A tough day to say the least. I’m beginning to hate full moons!! No pics today, but here’s a few from last season.

Once again, John & I fished another day on another local lake. The weather was a little different than we had been use to lately as today was mainly sunny. The winds were out of the S/W at 5 to 10 knots creating a 1 foot chop on the water. The air temps went into the low 70’s and the water temps actually reached over 70 degrees in some areas. The fishing was a little tougher today as we experienced the full moon period. John still managed to catch close to 20 bass weighing up to 5 pounds on a variety of lures & baits. From spinnerbaits to tubes & senko’s, the bass still fell victim to his offerings. Shallow water of 2 feet produced some bass but the better fish came from 10 to 15 foot depths. Most of the deeper fish were the larger ones as well! All in all a pretty good day!

John & I were back on another lake once more today and this time it was a numbers game! The weather was pretty much a replica of yesterday with overcast skies and very little wind until late in the afternoon. Air temps were once again in the mid 60’s and the water temps were also just below 70 degrees. No muskie today, but plenty of smallmouth as John got into close to 35 fish by himself. They were all sizes but the average would have gone over two pounds with plenty nearer three. The best ones were around 4 pounds and there were a few of them as well. Tubes accounted for only a small percent of the fish today as we switched over to Senko’s early in the day. The fish were on rocky areas surrounded by some weeds and feeding on minnows and crawfish. I guess the fall feeding mode has finally arrived! Another pretty good day of smallmouth fishing was definitely had today!!

I had the pleasure of fishing with John & Dave from California today on a local lake for smallies. They had just returned from a successful Caribou hunt in northern Quebec and were to spend a few days in Montreal before flying back home. John had fished with me last year, but it was the first time for Dave. He was in for a real treat! The skies were overcast and there was little to no wind present. Air temps reached the mid 60’s and the water temps were holding just below 70 degrees. Dave drew first blood with a spectacular leaping Muskie that he hooked on a spinnerbait. It would have weighed around 10 pounds and was his first one, ever! John just concentrated on the smallmouth and landed around 10 or so throughout the day. Most of the fish were in the 3.5 to 4.5 pound range with his two best surpassing the 5 pound mark. The quantity wasn’t there, but the quality definitely was! Slowly dragged tubes were the ticket today as the bass were really in a negative feeding mood where we were. By the end of the day, there were around 15 bass & 1 muskie boated and released. All in all, a pretty good day!

I took a road trip this weekend and had the pleasure of fishing with Jeff & Dave on a couple of lakes. The first stop was on Massawippi as we tried our luck on some of their earlier teenage areas that had produced in the past. Unfortunately time was not on our side as they just didn’t seem to pan out. Fortunately, the weather was a real blessing as we had mainly sunny skies and warm temps of 65 to 70 degrees and a light wind from the S/E for most of the day. Water temps were in the upper 60’s with the highest being 68.5 degrees. I had a few areas that I fished many years ago that still produced some smallmouth bass and an occasional northern pike and was happy to try them when all else failed. We didn’t catch too many fish, but it was still a good day by most standards! The best fish was lost at the boat on a jerk-bait of over 4 pounds. David probably landed the largest smallie and it went a hair over 3 pounds. Several others were caught in the 1.5 to 3 pound range and quite a few pike were taken as well towards the end of the day. All in all a pretty good day! Day 2 saw us fishing Lake Memphremagog as we awaited the bad weather from « Hurricane Ernesto » from the south. Fortunately for us, it never really seemed to arrive. The weather had forecasted rain for pretty much all day with high winds as well, but we dodged another bullet! I guess « Mother Nature » can be nice some times! We definitely had dark, overcast skies all day long and an occasional light rain in the morning, but other than that, all was great. There were almost no winds until late in the afternoon and this definitely made the fishing more comfortable. On the first area, both Dave & Jeff hooked up almost immediately and I knew it was going to be better than yesterday’s fishing. The overall average size of these fish was definitely better as well as they were all in the 2.5 to 3 pound range with an occasional fish ever bigger. Spinner-baits were the lures of preference as we fished mostly weedbeds in open water. Although there were other boats close by, it seemed that other than ours, nobody was doing anything. After more than 10 bass, we tried another location and immediately were into more bass once again. The spinner-baits were covering water and that was exactly what was needed in these huge weed infested areas. There were never really lots of fish in one particular location, just scattered all over the flats. Unfortunately. the weeds were dying out and very mossy on the surface. The bass were still remaining in the areas due to the clean bases of the weeds as we continued to hook up every once in a while. The rocky areas definitely weren’t very productive as this time of the year usually dictates weedy areas to be fished. By the end of the day there were probably 20 or so smallies caught and plenty more either missed or lost. All in all a good weekend with the weather holding out for us!!