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Rich, Chabil & the Unknown Fisherman were my guests today, hoping to catch a few good smallies. I too was looking forward to seeing what would happen after the big blow yesterday. The north wind we were seeing this morning was much better than what we had yesterday!

I headed out in a decent chop and very overcast skies, to get to where I wanted to begin. I had decided that they would be covering water and all throwing blades to get the job done! With the wind blowing pretty good on this area, I was sure that it wouldn’t take long before the first fish would bite!

They were all informed that we were looking for only big bass where we were and the spot didn’t disappoint! The Unknown Fisherman was first to lock up and it was a really good fish. I don’t think he was ready for the strike when it nailed him 20 feet from the boat, but it was sure welcomed! He had also christened his new baitcaster making it even sweeter! This was a great way to get the day started and I shot a few pics of just the fish as he didn’t want to be photo’d.

We continued along after the release and Rich was soon into another really great bass of his own. He also nailed a couple of others soon afterwards as I remained in the anchor mode position. We were covering the water slowly, trying to monopolize on every fish that we could and it seemed to be working. Chabil was the only one without a bass yet but not for lack of trying. They all had a few others bump their lures without getting pinned and I decided to switch up the baits to try and refine the area.

I made a demo cast for Chabil with a soft plastic and immediately set into a quality bass. He should have no problem after that! Rich was on a drop shot now and also hooked up on practically his first cast. The unknown fisherman was tossing a jig and was quickly into a fish of his own and to everyone’s surprise, it wasn’t a bass. Instead he was providing me with dinner as the walleye came aboard. Nobody wanted it so I gladly livewelled his catch for later tonight.

The change up to refine the area really seemed to be working as more fish were coming in the boat now and even Chabil was catching. Rich was just hammering the bass on the drop shot rig and the unknown kept catching walleye on the jig. He even managed to put another keeper in the boat for me!

We had remained in the same area for several hours and many a fish was landed. Eventually it just slowed down though and I decided that we should make a move. We were off to another area and hopefully more fish!

With the water temps finally starting to drop, I decided to try a couple of fall spots where the fish tend to school up. To my surprise, Chabil was the only one to catch a bass from there and I didn’t stay long. Close by he almost added another, but it never really got pinned and was gone almost instantly.

I moved in much shallower and Rich managed to get a couple of bites, but only landing one of his fish. We continued the move and set up on a point extension only to have several smaller fish landed from here. Time to change areas again!

The unknown fisherman had managed to backlash his baitcaster earlier in the day and although it took a while, I was finally able to free the mess. He was back in business once again! With everything working fine, he went back to casting the blade and in no time, was into another beast! I anchored up the boat with the electric and they fan casted the area, hoping for a few more. Looks like this was a lone wolf, as they never had another touch after that!

We had covered plenty of shallow water in hopes of more bites, but I soon realized that it just wasn’t going to happen. I set up a couple more rods with a drop shot and headed to a deeper section to try and get more fish.

This place was on a current break and they managed to get into a few more bass. Although nothing big, at least it was action! With time just about done, I headed to one more spot to see if they could finish with a bang. It was here that the unknown guy christened his new drop shot rod with a really good bass. Unfortunately that was all she wrote and we were done for the day!

This proved to be a great day for these three with several firsts occurring. Both the unknown guy and Chabil had managed to christen their new rods with some quality bass. Everyone had landed many good fish and learned plenty in the process! I was even taking a couple of keeper walleye home for dinner. Who could ask for anything more!

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Neil was once again out with me today but due to the giant winds, we had to relocate. The waters I have been concentrating on lately were just too big to even think about going on! Winds were blowing from the W/SW at over 25 knots at times and it just wasn’t safe. It would be my first road trip this season!

It was a little earlier than I usually fish the area but I was sure I could get Neil into some good bass. We started out in the shallows with blades and unfortunately Neil only came up with one small one. Out to deeper water we went and a few more small fish were landed as well. We were on the hunt for bigger and better and covered all kinds of water, trying to find them! It wasn’t easy in the wind but somehow we managed!

Our morning had been less than productive but there were high hopes for the afternoon. I had many strikes on all kinds of baits but for some reason they weren’t getting pinned well. Eventually a couple of them stayed on and were brought to the boat though and things were starting to look up. Or so I thought!

We had fished from shallow to mid to deep and never really got into any sort of concentration. All I could do is keep rotating areas and hope for the best.

Towards the latter part of the day, Neil managed to catch a few real quality smallies and we thought they had finally turned on. Unfortunately the remainder of the day saw little evidence of this as we continued to just pick a fish here & there. After one last stop and one more good fish we were done!

I had made a judgment call and gone to another lake due to the weather and salvaged the day. It looks like we were a bit early in the season to get into the high numbers that I am use to seeing, but at least we fished somewhere on this beautiful sunny day. Hopefully the weather will change for tomorrow and I can resume fishing locally once again. Either way I know I will get into a bunch of decent fish!

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What do you do on your day off? Well, go fishing of course! Christiane & I headed out today for several hours to scout a few new areas. I haven’t had much time this summer to do any looking but today I would, hoping for the best.

First on the list was an area for sturgeon that I had been wanting to fish. I knew it held some but had never given it a try. Unfortunately after idling around and finding all kinds of great marks, we were still unable to hook up. I was a little disappointed but will be back some other time to give it another try!

I also had wanted to try a little trolling and dropped the lines in to see what I could locate. What I found was plenty of bait and even more floating weeds. This definitely made trolling a real pain! I was constantly cleaning the rods and after a short while just gave up!

Our next attempt at fishing was to be casting big weed patches for smallies and this at least gave us a few quality bites. It may not have been lots but they were big!

Our final area to check was a deep spot, once again for bass and it was here that we would end the day. It was definitely holding some quality as we landed some real giants!

Although we didn’t spend much time fishing today, it was still productive. I was finally able to see a few new spots and some of them were definitely worth the check. I will be back out on a few of them with clients in the coming weeks, hoping to get into those fish again! Who knows, maybe they’ll be holding even more!

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Scott & Chris were with me today, hoping to tangle with a few big fish. The winds wouldn’t be making it easy as they were blowing big from the NW and waves up to 3 feet were present. Regardless, were going to give it a try!

The run to the area was a little bumpy but once we arrived, it actually looked doable! I idled around looking for the fish, but after several minutes, found myself settling on only a few marks. This was to be a similar procedure as multiple attempts at locating fish had the same results. After trying for almost 3 hours, it just wasn’t happening and I decided to pull the plug! I wasn’t going to spend the entire day in hopes of one hookup!

We headed to another spot for smallmouth and covered plenty of water for the bites we had. No concentrations were found but at least they picked at fish along the way. A combination of blades and soft plastics were used to entice them into hitting. After covering the areas thoroughly, we attempted another move nearby but it proved to be unsuccessful. Time to fight the wind & waves and relocate again!

I had gone across the open water and seen just how bad the water was before stopping in an area to fish. We were officially in 3 footers, hoping to get bit! As bad luck would have it, several good ones were seen and missed before I made an adjustment on Chris’s line. Although he missed another one, It came back and just crushed him! Too bad this was all she wrote for here but at least he had managed to land a quality smallie before we left.

I once again stayed in open water and tried drop shotting some deeper flats. There was quite a concentration of fish showing on the screen as we drifted over the schools of perch & walleye. Both Chris & Scott managed to catch a few including another bass in the time we were here. When the fish flat out refused our offerings, we were forced to make a move again.

Time was just about over for today but at least our last stop put a few more walleye in the boat before we were done. They had a long drive ahead of them and needed to get on the road. We had salvaged the day by fishing many different spots to get into fish. The action may have been slow at times but there were still enough fish seen today to keep everyone busy!

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What a difference a day makes! Breanne & Daniel were able to switch Sunday’s scheduled trip to Saturday when it opened up. I was a little worried about the forecasted weather and thought it was a better choice. It was definitely the right move!

We hit the water at 7 and soon after were anchored up, looking for the beasts! Daniel was hoping for something large and so was I as we awaited the first bite. Nibblers were all over and I was constantly re baiting the hooks as they destroyed the worms like piranhas! We had to make several moves just to get away from them but were finally rewarded. Breanne reeled in one of the smallest sturgeon I had ever seen, but at least it was the right species!

I relocated to another spot and after waiting for about 10 minutes, I set into a fish. Once again there wasn’t much fight and I knew it was small. Daniel soon landed his first ever drum! Although they thought it was a cool looking species, I wanted the beasts! We moved around plenty, giving 10 to 15 minutes on each spot. A few more fish were caught including perch, bass & another small sturgeon before we actually had our first real bite! This time I set into a little more weight!

Daniel was about to feel the power of what a sturgeon could actually do as it peeled line from the reel. I was pretty sure it wasn’t as big as I had been hoping for and a confirmation was had when it took to the air in a spectacular leap. Regardless, it gave him a great fight! Just when he thought it was about over another breach was made 5 feet from the boat. It peeled more line from the reel afterwards, heading right back to the bottom. A couple of minutes later, I was able to net his catch and it was done.

Although it was big by their standards, I was still a little disappointed. We had come looking for giants and settled on fish much smaller instead. Oh well, at least they were catching something they had never caught before!

We stuck it out for a little longer and made a few more moves without success before I decided to call it quits. The sturgeon hadn’t really come out to play today and now I was going to take them for bass.

I set up a couple of rods with blades and had them cover water at our first spot. With a little coaching on how to cast, I also had Breanne feeling more comfortable with her casts. She hadn’t done much fishing before and improved significantly in the time they fished!

It took a little longer than expected, but Daniel finally locked up on a good bass. Up until now he hadn’t caught anything larger than about a pound, so this was his personal best! Soon after the release, Breanne also hooked up and hers was significantly larger than his. Things were beginning to heat up and I hoped they would see more!

In the remaining time, they had many other chances and some quality smallies were even caught. Both Breanne and Daniel landed a few more big ones before we were done. Changing up from sturgeon to bass was definitely the right choice!

Today was much better than the last couple of outings, filled with a variety of fish. They had caught a couple of new species and increased their personal best smallies, considerably! I think we were all happy that their scheduled day was changed too! Tomorrow still isn’t looking good with the big SE winds and afternoon showers predicted. I’m sure glad I won’t be out!