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Chris & Vi were finally with me today, after their two previous rescheduled fishing dates. One was for the monsoon like rains and the other was hurricane winds. Third time is a charm!

We ventured out in flat calm conditions with an overcast sky that was supposed to give way to sunshine, later in the day. Our first stop was to be an open water shoal that had been holding some pretty good bass the last few outings. With zero wind, drifting it would be a breeze!

Vertical drop shotting was the presentation and we covered various depths of the area. Both of them had fish on, but landing them seemed to be a problem, as they just kept coming off. With each drift similar results were had but eventually they did manage to bring a few of them aboard!

I wasn’t seeing the size that I had expected to from this spot and decided to make a move after several passes. The next stop would prove to be the same as they went zero for eight before actually putting one in the boat. Too bad too, because on one drift Vi managed to hook into a real giant, that tossed the bait when it took to the air! This was a disappointment that took her a while to get over but eventually after several fish, all was forgotten!

We hit many different areas throughout the morning and managed to pick at the bass from almost every one. Some nice fish were caught and plenty of average sized ones as well. By mid-afternoon the action heated up when I stopped on a shallow, rocky area. This is where we spent our remaining time, tossing soft plastics. It was just loaded! I’m not sure how many fish were landed from here, but it was definitely a great way to end the day!

Overall today was a bit of a grind with so many lost fish, but they both rallied in the end and redeemed themselves with many landed bass. We even had a slight wind increase late in the day that seemed to turn on the smallies. This might have accounted for the great finish to an almost picture perfect day. Too bad we never actually got to see the sun though! I guess the weathermen were bang on one once again as clouds were on us for the entire day. Regardless, it was still another great day for fishing!

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Karen & her father Richard joined me today for a slower than usual outing. We wanted to try for sturgeon after last year’s bucket list fish, but unfortunately found no concentrations to anchor up on. We would have to settle for bass & walleye I guess!

I jumped around and hit various places, hooking them up on mostly smaller fish. A couple of good bass were lost after the jump but that’s not uncommon when they shoot for the sky! With the winds non-existent, I required the electric motor to move us along in many places. The current was minimal too and several times we were barely moving!

They had both landed bass, but Richard was the only one with a few walleye. Too bad they were all unders and needed to be returned! I made several passes over the area that he had hooked them and on one pass he locked up on a really big fish. We were drop shotting and I actually thought at one point that he might have a musky. This fish beat him up pretty good with its runs and I had a rough time keeping it off to the side for him to fight. It’s never easy on light tackle, but we were finally able to bring the fish up and to our surprise, it was a sturgeon. Although considerably smaller that the behemoth from last year, it was a great fight on the rod he was using. To my amazement it had actually eaten the bait as well. I guess he was dragging the bottom or something!

Having the big net with us today was a blessing and made landing the fish all that much easier. A few quick pics later it was returned and we went back to drifting & drop shotting for the targeted species.

Karen managed to land a couple of nice walleye in the next several drifts, along with more bass but the bite was slower than I had hoped for. I kept moving to many spots and each one seemed to be holding some fish for them to catch. At one stop, Karen put a third keeper walleye in the well and I knew she would be eating good tonight! She also managed to catch a decent bass that became photo worthy too!

We jumped around plenty for the remainder of the afternoon and picked at the fish the entire time before we were done. Although we weren’t able to find any sturgeon to anchor up on, Richard did manage to catch another, completely on his own! They had also landed a good number of bass throughout the day and Karen was bringing fresh fish home with her, for a family dinner tonight. Overall I consider that a very successful day!

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Scott, John & Darren joined me today on another flat calm one! There doesn’t seem to be any in between for conditions. It’s either howling or dead! How about a good chop for a change?

We began in deeper water looking for a few quick bites and some current flow and John managed 3 nice bass fairly quickly. Seeing as how I wasn’t marking a lot of fish, I did a little recon and made several passes before moving. I just wasn’t seeing much and didn’t want to waste our time. What I was seeing however were plenty of sturgeon, both jumping and right on the bottom. Might just have to give it try!

I idled around looking for concentrations and ended up settling on a few good marks. Lines in and after waiting for quite a while, we had our first hook up! These fish aren’t fighting very much after their spawn and are quite skinny. It didn’t take more than a few minutes to boat the first one and Darren put us on the board. After a move or two, he got to fight another one and this time he had to pass the rod off to John to finish the battle. This fish just didn’t want to come in and we were amazed at how strong it actually was. A few quick pics before the release and we were done!

We headed shallow after pulling the lines and tossed soft plastics for a bunch of smallies. I didn’t like the size of these fish and an hour later we were switching it up once again! Off to the swamp and hopefully some largemouth!

Lately I haven’t been able to find water above 68 degrees but by heading into the shallows for these green bass, I actually encountered 74 degrees. I was sure we were going to get bit!

Scott had the first encounter but unfortunately it didn’t stay on long. He did come back with a vengeance however when the second one hit. This time it didn’t get off! John had a couple of missed fish as well and Darren actually managed to get bit once and boated his first ever largie.

The area we were fishing wasn’t easy to fish and would have required a slow flipping technique to monopolize on the biters. It just wasn’t in the cards for these guys today, so we pulled out after an hour or two of covering water. We were going back for smallies and deeper water once again!

With a little over an hour left in the day, I wanted to see if the smallies would bite. I had been getting bigger fish from this area lately and knew the potential was here! By the time we were done, everyone had managed to get a few fish but it was Scott that landed the photo worthy ones. He actually got into a couple of quality bass in the remaining time, before we were done.

Today was a strange one to say the least with almost no current on the water. We had to change areas as well as species a few times to make it work, but in the end it was a success. Some good ones were boated and Darren saw his first sturgeon and largemouth bass. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? Probably a hurricane or monsoon or something bizarre after the flat calm day we experienced today. I guess only Mother Nature knows for sure!

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Another last minute cancellation for this morning had me hitting the water with Christiane instead to scout out a few other areas. We fished for several hours and managed to get into more bass & walleye but nothing great. Water temps are 68 degrees at best and way too cold for this time of year!

Tony & Sabrina managed to pick the best part of the day by booking an afternoon trip. They were both very new to fishing and were instructed on how to cast first. Once the orientation was complete, we slid in for a few bass!

With cool water temps everywhere I wasn’t expecting a great shallow bite but thought we’d give it a try. At least they would practice their casting! After what seemed like forever, Sabrina finally managed to bring in a smallie and although small, it was the first fish of the day. We covered plenty of water and only managed a handful of others before we made a long move.

I had noticed that the NE winds switched to SW and this was the first time in 3 days that the direction was returning to normal. With this change, I headed to a spot that I was sure would produce.

Tony managed to catch a couple of bass and Sabrina as well but these fish just weren’t active. We practically had to deadstick the baits in order to get bit. Time to change locations again!

Well this area didn’t seem much better as we picked up a few more bites before I decided to change depths completely. I headed to a deeper ridge and switched them to a drop shot. First drop and Sabrina was tight to a nice walleye. Too bad after a couple more drifts this was the only fish landed!

Time was passing by quickly, so I decided to try a highly trafficked area in the channel hoping for better success. It was here that we spent the remainder of the time making a series of drifts over open water reefs. It was also here that the majority of fish were caught before we were done. Both walleye and bass were taken and multiple hookups were seen on every pass. Too bad we didn’t come here earlier! The biggest problem was all the boat traffic and waves they created while we were trying to fish!

Overall today was a success and although the fishing was tough, they still managed to get into a bunch of fish before we were done. For first timers both Tony and Sabrina did well and now have a better understanding of what fishing is like. I think they may even want to try it again sometime!

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After having cancelled yesterday’s outing due to more hurricane like winds from the NE, I was back out this morning. Daniel had booked a half day with his wife Brenda and Daughter Jessica. We would be dropshotting in open water and I had my work cut out for me! The winds were blowing out of the NE at 15 to 25 knots. It was going to be a challenge to drift!

Our first pass had multiple bites, with zero results. A couple of fish were on but only briefly before coming unpinned. With each drift similar results were had until I moved to another area nearby. It was here that Brenda finally landed the first bass of the day. It may have been on the small side but at least the skunk was out of the boat! I think she may have even landed the second fish as well with the first walleye too! Eventually Jessica and Daniel began bringing more fish to net and everyone was finally on the board.

Multiple passes were made along a rock flat and the bites kept coming. Some were missed and some were caught but the size remained the same. Daniel did manage to set into a nice acrobatic smallie that gave him a great battle before finally coming aboard. Too bad it was the only good one from this area!

The theme of today was small and with the exception of one decent bass that Daniel landed, everything else wasn’t even average. They boated plenty of other bass as well as walleye and were fortunate to be able to bring a few keepers home with them. At least they would be having fresh fish tonight!