I was back on the water once again today with my wife, Christiane and fished for almost five hours until the winds kicked up too bad to troll. The day began with sunny skies and air temps above 50 degrees. Winds were from the S/SW at about 10 knots but increased to 25 knots after noon. Our first trolling pass produced 3 salmon with plenty of action. The fish were hitting the short lines this morning, which was unusual. Normally, the longer lines get most of the action, but not today! The winds made fishing a little difficult, but not impossible as we were seeing slower action, but action nevertheless. When the shallow bite died off, I decided to troll deeper water looking for a school of Salmon. Two rods went off at the same time as soon as I made it to 20 feet but only 1 stayed locked up. There were definitely more fish deeper as they moved out with the cooler shallows. The warmest I could find there was 42.5 in the morning and 43.5 in the afternoon. The further off shore you went, the worse the winds were, so I tried to remain in a fishable zone. It was definitely slower than yesterday, but the conditions weren’t as good either. We trolled until about 1:30 PM and called it quits when it just got too bad. Our rewards for today were 7 salmon & 1 brown trout with at least 4 lost fish and a few missed strikes as well. We had the potential of equaling or bettering yesterday’s total, but fell short due to the winds and duration on the water today. All in all it was a good day, with plenty of action in a short time. Several other boats were seen fishing the same area, but we never saw any of them hook up. Oh well, better luck next time! With the weather continuing to warm, any stable weather day will be a productive one. From now till the end of the month, every day should be a “Double Digit Day”!

After an exhausting attempt yesterday, to find someone willing to fish today, I came up empty. Nobody was willing to take the day off from work and fish, Niche. Big mistake! Fortunate for my wife, but unfortunate for everyone else, she had a couple of days off and took advantage of it. The weather was calling for sunshine and highs of above 60 degrees for today. I knew it would be a great day! Winds were light from the S/SW at 5 to 10 knots and the water temps ranged between 41.5 and 44 degrees depending where you were and what time of the day it was. Once the four rods were finally set out, it didn’t take long for the first reel to fire. Christiane was into a beautiful landlocked salmon that was to be just the first of many more to come. All day long we had action with every rod catching fish. One fish even hit while we were letting line out again! Spectacular jumps and line screaming runs from most of these fish were frequently occurring and we loved it! Christiane went 9 for 9 before she actually lost her first Salmon as I told her that the number 10 was always tough to hit. Another lost fish, one or two missed strikes and still no 10th fish! Finally she locked up on what seemed like a huge fish and it fought like a lake trout sounding for the bottom. Several minutes passed and we had still not seen the fish. When I eventually caught a glimpse of this thing, I was sure it was a big trout! Unfortunately as it came up more into my sight, I realized it wasn’t any trout but just a northern pike of 5 to 6 pounds. What a disappointing moment when I netted this thing and unhooked it. I don’t know how it didn’t break off as the bait was completely inside the mouth of this toothy creature. Oh well, still no number 10 yet! This was about to change though, as another fish screamed off reel number 4. This was definitely a salmon as it made an unbelievable aerial show for all to see! Number 10 and number 11 were almost back-to-back as another reel fired within minutes. This one also came to net and was released immediately afterwards. We continued to troll for about 20 minutes longer and contemplated packing it in for the day when one of the rods fired off again. When Christiane grabbed the fly rod from the holder, another reel screamed and I had to take the rod. This was our first actual double for the day and both fish were to soon be landed. Thirteen Landlocked Salmon landed, 4 or 5 lost and several missed strikes were today’s total. A potentially 20 plus fish day was what we were blessed with today! All I can say is wow! What a great day to be on the water! Expect more of the same in the next few weeks with the water warming up and the fish getting more active. Everyone should take advantage of this spectacular Ouananiche fishing, as it really is unbelievable!

I fished with Dave & Jeff today on Lake Champlain for Landlocked Salmon. It was a chilly morning with the air barely above freezing when we arrived. I don’t think it ever reached 48 degrees by the end of the day and with the wind from the N/NW once again, it felt more like 38. Water temps were between 39.5 and 42.5 degrees, depending where you were. I thought it was going to be a great day when Dave hooked into a fish while letting the line out on the first rod. This was a first as it wasn’t even two minutes into the day and we had our first hook up! What an initiation into this technique as a beautiful bonus brown trout came to the net. It was quite a while before the second rod fired and Jeff was into the first Salmon of the day. It gave him quite a fight as the fish tangled into another fly line during the battle. Luckily, we were able to land it even with the mess that occurred! A couple more fish managed to get off shortly afterwards due to short strikes. I think they were lightly taking the tail of the baits as some of them just came off during the battle. No doubles today, but still good fishing nevertheless! Five Salmon & one brown were landed with a few others lost and some short strikes. All in all about 10 or 12 possible fish with about half landed. With this cooler water, it’s not uncommon to have a day like this. Warmer weather is ahead of us for this week and the fishing will only continue to get better as the water warms. Multiple hookups and double-digit days are soon to come and I will be there to take advantage of this. It’s “Niche Season” and the Ouananiche Salmon are coming alive with the water temps on the rise. The next couple of days will be the best so far with sunshine and 60 degrees forecasted for both of them. Hopefully someone will take advantage of this weather pattern and experience some of the best Salmon of the year. Tight Lines to all!!!

I took advantage of the amazing weather we had this past week and prepped my boat for springtime Salmon on Lake Champlain. This was to be our first trip this season and it was about 2 weeks earlier than last year. I managed to get on the water around 10:00 after the long drive to the lake. No need arriving too early at this time of the year with the water temps so cold! We had an air temp that was heading towards the low 50’s and a water temp that ranged between 37 and 43 degrees. Winds were out of the N/NW at 15 knots with a good chop on the water all day. Unfortunately with this wind direction, it was difficult to find clear water & troll with fly rods. Visibility was definitely going to be a concern! It took over 2 hours before we had our first strike and Christiane finally got the skunk out of the boat as I netted our first Salmon. It was a little scarred up from what looked like a previous pike attack. Unfortunately for the pike, I would be dining on him and into the livewell he went! We continued to fish until about 3:30 with only one other salmon on, but lost it before the rod could be removed from the holder. A tiny perch and a few other strikes were all she wrote for this first day out! I had covered lots of water to only be rewarded with one fish for my efforts. Oh well, that’s fishing! I think the fish were definitely in the areas I fished, but visibility played a big part in our end results. I will be back out again this week and expect much better fishing if the water clears up. Average days will soon see 8 or more salmon and some brown trout coming aboard during the course of the day. Hopefully under prime conditions I can have another day of more than 20 fish caught, like last year! If anyone is interested in trying this, I have plenty of available days open before I head to another lake in May for Bass. I also have openings for the months of May & June when average daily catches of Smallmouth see upwards of 100 bass for 2 people. Give me a call at 514-696-1741 for more information or a day on the water. Tight Lines to All!! No pics today but here’s one from last season!

I headed down to the states to fish for steelhead once again after a tough 4 day trade show in Montreal. I needed to set the hooks into some chrome and thought the fishing would be good. The weather was cold on the first morning, so I planned on arriving by midday to hopefully fish with little freeze up on the rod. Within 15 minutes I was tight to a fresh 10-pound male that fought like a 20 pounder. Eventually, I was able to beach him and release the fish back into the river. A short while after that, the float went under & I had another bruiser on again. This time the fight made the last fish seem like a wimp! The battle was to last over ten minutes until I finally managed to land a beautiful 13-pound hen steelie. She was chrome and full of eggs for the spring spawn. I would have loved to get a picture of her, but due to the cold temps, decided to release her back quickly. She lay in the calmer water for almost 15 minutes before she swam off, unharmed. A smaller rainbow of 3 pounds was landed soon after and I decided to relocate. One more fish of about 5 pounds was hooked, but lost soon after and I decided to call it quits for the day. On day two I had the pleasure of fishing with Rahe, who had never caught a steelhead on a float rod. After a short lesson on the do’s & don’ts, he was ready to actually fish with an egg sac. Controlling the line and fishing with the bail open was a little tough at first, but the drifts were starting to look good. He finally had the float go down and managed to set the hook into a screamer. This fish was so big and fresh that she just headed for the lake without any thoughts of slowing down. I had to grab the rod from him and run down river just to get some line back onto the reel. Eventually the fish just came off! It was a big fish of about 15 pounds as I saw her bust the surface twice during the battle. I told him that this was not the size of fish he wanted to begin with and that it would have been tough for anyone to have controlled. We relocated to another area hoping for some more action and Rahe was tight to another chrome bullet. After a short battle, I netted the fish of about 4.5 pounds. It looked like a drop back with its torpedo shape. It was skinny, but silver! After a late lunch, we hit another area before the day was ended. Rahe was starting to become more comfortable with this technique as he hooked into another decent fish. He thought it was just small until he actually caught a glimpse of the fish. Another chromer of at least five pounds was soon to be released after a quick pic. Rahe finally had the confidence needed to hook into two more fish before we called it quits. He landed one of them and lost the other soon after he hooked it. Too bad I thought, it would have made him 4 for 5 if he could have held on to the last one. All in all, a great learning day for him and some fish as an added bonus! The third day was a right off as I never made a decent drift in the 30 minutes or so that I spent fishing. It was so windy and cold that everything was a chore just to make a cast. I spent more time in the truck driving around looking for decent water to try. By mid day, I called it quits! Strange weather for the three days I spent fishing, but well worth it!!