I spent the day fishing a trophy lake for smallmouth bass with Mike today and what a day it was! Jerkbaits & fin-s tipped jigs accounted for over 30 smallies landed under not so perfect conditions. The weather began overcast and late in the morning started to rain. Air temps reached 60 degrees by late in the afternoon with E/SE winds at 15 to 20 knots, blowing waves of two feet in certain areas. Even the water temps were a little colder than I had expected with the average being just 51 degrees. Only one lake trout was caught today of 5 pounds, but we were after the jumbo smallies. Of the 30 bass landed today, 20 of them were between 4 & 5 pounds and several were over 5 as well. Unfortunately, we didn’t get anything over 6 today, but they were still real quality bronzebacks, nevertheless. All in all a really fantastic day for quality fish!!!

Dave would be fishing with me today and hoped to catch a bass over 6 pounds for his personal best! Another trip to one of the trophy lakes in the area and within 15 minutes after arrival, 3 smallies were boated up to 4.5 pounds. The winds were going to be a pain once again as they were blowing 10 to 20 from the E/SE. In a couple of hours of fishing there were 6 bass and 2 lakers landed with the bass being 3 to 4.5 pounds. Air temps were in the high 50’s and the water temps were in the low 50’s. I decided a move was in order and headed to another location with deep water adjacent to a flat. Another lake trout was missed and a couple of big smallies followed the lures, but no takers. In the next area however, Dave finally got his wish! He hooked into a real giant and the fight began! Even with these water temps being 48 degrees. the fish actually managed to jump a few times before she came to the net. A quick measurement of 21 inches by 16 inches put this fish right in the 6-pound category. A couple of quick pictures and back she went. We continued to fish in a few more areas and Dave caught plenty more smallies up to 5 pounds before lunch. After we finished our « Shore Lunch » we were back into fish almost immediately! With the winds getting stronger, I think this was activating the bass as Dave pounded them in the next half hour. One small area produced at least 10 fish with most of them being 4 to 5 pounds, once again. Controlling the boat in three footers without being blown onto the shore wasn’t an easy task, but we managed! Eventually I had to try something else and ran to what I thought was a sheltered area on the other side of the lake. It seemed that the wind just swirled from a different direction here and really wasn’t much different at all. Dave hooked into a fish on his first cast and realized immediately that it wasn’t a bass. It turned out to be a Salmon around 4 pounds and proceeded to go ballistic. The outcome was inevitable as it soon tore off the hook after three spectacular jumps and line screaming runs. It was too bad too, as this would have been a lovely addition to the livewell, with the laker. Another half dozen or so smallies up to 5 pounds were landed in the next short while, before we decided to call it quits. The day ended with at least 25 or 30 smallies caught & released with the average size being over 4.5 pounds. Another spectacular day to say the least!!

I was back on the water again this morning with Andre & Jim, but on a trophy lake for smallies. Less fish but better quality was what we were after and we definately hit it right! In the 4 or 5 hours we fished, there were 3 lakers landed as well as 8 bass. Three of the bass were over 6 pounds, 2 were over 5 pounds and the smallest was around three. To say they were giants would be an understatement! Both fishermen bettered their personal best! Jim had a fish that was estimated at 6.5 pounds with a measurement of 21 inches, with a 17 inch girth! Andre had a couple just a bit smaller too! With a limited amount of time remaining in the day, we decided that a lake change was in order after lunch. We tried a slightly smaller lake nearby that also had good populations of smallmouth bass. The winds had intensified at 15 to 25 knots from the S making boat control difficult, even on the smaller lake. Air temps were above 70 degrees and the water temps were in the low 60’s with a 2 foot chop. A rock-pile in the middle of the lake produced the bulk of the smallies during the afternoon with a couple going over 5 pounds. There were probably around 15 bass landed here with the others being in the 3 to 4 pound range as well. All in all a great day with plenty of quality bass being caught & released on both lakes!!

Andre & Jim joined me today on Lake Memphremagog for a day of fishing. It started off a little slow as we found the water temps almost 10 degrees colder this morning. The bass were a little reluctant to hit the offerings we threw at them for almost a half hour! On the second location, they finally began to hit both jerk-baits and jigs fished in deeper water. Some of the smaller fish were also hitting, but in the shallow water areas. Eventually we began to get some of the larger females of 4 pounds and more from water in the 20 to 25 foot range. Several of these fish were caught before we just decided to try elsewhere for more aggressive and active smallies. Getting them to hit jerk-baits wasn’t an easy task as we were soon to find out. Most of the fish came on slowly dragged fin-s jigs from deep water and steep edges. The best areas seemed to be offshore shoals & humps surrounded by the deep water. The daytime air temps are in the upper 60’s to lower 70’s, but the nighttime air temps are dipping into the 30’s. Water temps lately are up and down like a freight elevator! This is definately playing havoc on the bass as the full moon nears and they prepare for the spawn. May & June will probably both have spawning fish once again this year as water temps continue to fluctuate! We did still manage to land over 30 bass today up to 4 pounds under really difficult conditions. All in all, a pretty good day!!

I fished with Jim, Raymond and another Jim this morning for trophy smallmouth bass. The water temperatures went down to below 50 degrees causing the smallies to develop lockjaw! They were definately there as we saw all kinds of 4 to 6 pound fish swimming around the area we were in. Flat calm water conditions and sunny skies had the morning air at almost 50 degrees as well. Eventually, Raymond hooked into a nice fish of about 4.5 pounds that was photo worthy and I thought the warming trend would have the fish activated. That thought soon turned 180 degrees as the fish were still just swimming! We would hook into a fish here & there, but not like yesterday afternoon. By 1:00 PM, I decided a lake change was in order and headed to Memphremagog for the afternoon. Immediately after arrival, Raymond was into a smallmouth around 4 pounds and the games began. One fish after another from 1.5 pounds to 4 pounds were landed in the next few hours making for a more productive afternoon. This lake was just as flat as the other one we were on in the morning, but the water temps were above 60 degrees in most areas. Over 25 smallies were caught on Magog, making a perfect end to an absolutely fantastic day!!