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James was back with me again today along with his father Joe. We were going to attempt sturgeon fishing one more time but wouldn’t spend the day trying for them. Hopefully this time they would cooperate!

We ran to the area in a NE wind, through some pretty good rollers! Wind against current is never fun and today was one of those roller coaster rides. In fact, I even had to use a drift sock to anchor, just to keep us from getting blown up current!

Well, the sturgeon didn’t cooperate once again and all we managed to get for our time spent was a perch, a drum and one big ass catfish! I really didn’t mark very much either and it wasn’t for lack of trying. I idled all over this area and many more as well as re anchoring several times in the 3 hours we tried. Time to pull the plug while we still had plenty of day left!

I decided to switch to casting a drop shot on the first spot and despite the conditions, only managed to get a few bites. The fish were hitting weird and not getting pinned. Even the ones that actually got hooked fell off either at the boat or in the net! Another attempt at a spot close by saw similar results with only one bass coming aboard, on the very first cast.

With the winds creating giant rollers now, I crossed through the channel and second guessed my decision along the way. I wanted to hit an area that was holding some nice bass and literally surfed through the troughs and crests! It was definitely big!

I had them both tossing blades and James hooked up almost immediately. It was worth the run when I saw the size of his fish! Joe also hooked into something shortly after, but it turned out to be a northern. I think it was the first one I’d ever seen from here!

I made a couple of passes over the area afterwards, but we never saw another fish. Time to pick up and go elsewhere! I wasn’t sure where I was going to be able to fish in these winds but I would find somewhere to go.

I made a long run and wanted to try some deep areas that I would normally drift over but with the wind against current, it was like we were anchored. We did manage to get one small walleye casting but the fish being marked just didn’t want to move. I quickly pulled the plug here and moved on to another area.

The next location saw a couple of fish landed but just like all the other spots, it was tough! Despite marking plenty of fish under the boat at times, they just didn’t seem to want the offerings. Even with a couple of bait changes, they still wouldn’t bite!

A couple more moves were made and one or two fish were caught in each, along with a few missed strikes. Our last area was close to the take out and I decided to use the main engine to slowly go down current over the rocks. In & out of gear was necessary to ensure proper speed against the wind! Here they managed to boat 3 more walleye before we were done. I had pulled out all the stops on this difficult day!

Today was an exhausting one, both physically & mentally and I was glad it was over. We had tried so many places and only picked at the fish from each stop. The wind against current thing is never easy and today was a perfect example of its difficulty. Although fish were had, I didn’t expect to have to fish so many areas in order to make it work. I know it will get better, but hope it’s real soon! Fall fishing should be starting with the cooler nights and the fish will be biting much better, if Mother Nature can only cut me some slack. She usually waits till at least the end of October before she craps all over me. I guess she’s getting an early start this year!

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A last minute cancellation this morning saw Christiane & I heading out before noon. She hasn’t had much time on the water this season with all the bookings I’ve had, but definitely lucked out today!

We began trying for a few walleye but the flat calm conditions didn’t make it easy where we were. No wind equals no current and movement was at a minimum! I was marking schools of perch and many walleye but all we could come up were the perch. One small walleye did get landed but was returned as it didn’t make the cut.

Our second spot was a little better with several smallies being caught and Christiane managed to bring in a good keeper from here as well. I also landed a walleye but it fell short and was returned.

I didn’t want to waste too much time looking for feeding fish and decided to go and try for sturgeon for a couple of hours. It would hopefully be better than the action we were having and a whole lot more relaxing too!

After idling around for a bit, I finally settled in an area where I was marking a few fish. Although not great looking, it was the best I could find! We remained here for almost 20 minutes without even a sniff before I was forced to relocate. The next area also gave up nothing as well and I began the search all over again. I finally settled on one final spot and was glad that I had, when one of the rods received a legitimate bite.

I could tell when I reared back on the fish that it wasn’t big, but it felt nice to actually set the hook on something. Christiane reeled it in with barely any fight and once we saw it beside the boat, we knew why. It was a smaller than usual sturgeon, but at least the right species!

I hadn’t had anymore bites in a while and made one final attempt at locating some fish. We were going to try for ten minutes and call it a day if nothing happened.

Just when I was getting ready to pack it up, I saw a slight twitch on the outside line. Christiane hadn’t seen anything, but I grabbed the rod regardless and waited for the next bite before setting into a little more weight. She finally had something heavier than the one she had caught earlier. I brought the other rod in and just cleaned up while she did battle with her fish.

I had noticed that this one was fighting different than most sturgeon do and once it got close enough to the boat, could see why. As it turned out, this was a big channel catfish and not what we had expected! I think it was the second biggest one that I had seen from these waters too! The boga officially registered it as 14 pounds and several pics were taken before the release. We were officially done for the day!

Without realizing it, Christiane had filled her slam with an unusual trio of fish. We had spent 4 hours on the water and had a relaxing afternoon fishing. Who knows when she will be able to get back out again as my calendar is filling up more & more each day. There’s very few openings left for the remainder of the season and I know I’ll have to disappoint many more people in the weeks to come. In the meantime however, I’ll be on the water as many days as Mother Nature will allow!

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James & Dave hit the water with me this morning for what we hoped would be a great day. To our surprise, we were going to have to work much harder than we had anticipated to get the fish to bite!

We began fishing for sturgeon but after several unsuccessful hours and multiple moves, we decided to throw in the towel. The fish were all over the place but for some reason, just didn’t want to bite. Frustrating but not surprised!

After wasting so much time trying for a big bite, we finally pulled out the drop shot rods and started boating both smallies and walleye on the first couple of areas we fished. At least they were catching a few fish now, instead of washing worms like before!

Time had passed quickly and now we were heading back to shore to pick up their kids for the remaining hours in the day. Hopefully they would have better luck than their parents had this morning!

With a really full boat now, all I could do was drop shot over a few flats and hope for the best. Five kids, five rods and a whole lot of attention was needed to ensure that they caught fish. Fortunately, all of them managed to land something, thanks to the worms we had in the boat. I guess sturgeon fishing was a good idea after all!

Today may not have gone as I had hoped, but in the end some of the fish did actually bite! I had to make many adjustments and fish much slower than usual to entice the fish today. James and Dave enjoyed seeing their children all land a few fish with the biggest going to Sophia with her smallie. Thank god for live worms!

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Neil & his son Jake fished with me today, under not so perfect conditions! We started with sturgeon and moved around after, just looking for places that we were able to fish. It would be another tough day on the water!

I made a long run in big waves, to reach the area I wanted to begin. We were trying for sturgeon but I knew it wouldn’t be easy with the waves we had. An anchor was even required to aid the electric motor in holding our position! Despite all our efforts, we still came up empty for these beasts. Jake did however catch his first ever drum when his dad passed him the rod, after feeling the bite. We had been forced to hold them, due to all the bouncing from the rollers. Although we relocated many times, it just didn’t happen today!

I soon switched gears and decided to drift an area for smallies. They were both dropshotting and with the aid of the electric motor, we were actually able to stay vertical. Jake was even surprised, when he hit into a decent smallie and brought it to net. It had been a long time since he had landed the drum and was happy to finally get one on his own! Too bad that was all she wrote and we were forced to move again!

The winds had increased considerably as the morning passed and I decided to try what I thought would be a protected place to fish. Upon arrival, I saw that it was anything but that! We were now in 3 & 4 footers trying to cast for bass and it wasn’t easy. The boat was bouncing all over and we drifted out of the area way too fast. A couple of large bass were hooked into, but they came unpinned in these enormous waves. Several more passes later we decided to pull the plug and just leave. It was way too difficult to hold here!

Based on the wind direction, I made a choice to fish a place that should have much less waves and ran there to give it a try. At least here we would be able to stand up while casting!

Neil quickly hooked into a pike upon arrival and passed Jake the rod once again. It was definitely a good sign! Jake even managed to nail a nice smallie a little further away that I think may have set the hook itself! At least there were signs of life and some fish were biting from here!

What I had thought was going to be great, turned out to be, not so much! A couple of other bass were missed in the next hour and I was forced to leave altogether. We didn’t have too much time remaining and I hoped to get them into more fish before we were done. Drastic times call for drastic measures! Out to the big open water we went!

This was to be our final fishing spot and hopefully it would produce! They would be drifting over a deeper shoal in 3 foot waves hoping for a few walleye bites. Jake was quick to hook up and nailed a big smallie that started out as a walleye. It had remained deep throughout most of the fight but took to the air as it neared the boat. I quickly netted his fish on one of the jumps and hoped there would be more.

We had drifted out of the area while taking pics and I ran back to make another pass. Neil instantly nailed another smallie but not nearly as big as his son’s previous one. I was also marking all kinds of bait and walleye on the bottom and it wasn’t long before we started to see a few golden ones!

The remainder of the time saw many more fish come aboard and they were all walleye! Enough so that Neil was even able to bring 4 nice ones home in the end! I stretched out the day a bit hoping to get him a limit, but it just didn’t happen. On the last drift he did manage to hook up again and passed the rod to his son for the last fish on f the day. It too was a walleye but unfortunately over the slot by a few inches and immediately returned after the pics.

What had started off slow, ended with a bang as they finally got into some action. Active fish were cooperating in the last hour or so and we couldn’t have been happier. Although we were still fishng in huge waves, at least fish were biting! It couldn’t have ended better on this tough fishing day!

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Adrian joined me this morning, along with his mother, father and 85 year old grandfather. They were all just hoping to catch some fish. With a good west wind at the start I knew what I had to do. I would begin with a troll and hopefully it would produce some quick bites!

The ride was a little bumpy as we headed to our first spot to fish. Once we arrived though, it seemed a whole lot less windy than the run we had just made. It would make for easier boat control while trolling!

I quickly set the 4 rods in the holders and I don’t think it took 2 minutes for the first reel to fire! Adrian’s father landed his first northern of the day and the skunk was officially out of the boat. Soon after, we had another reel fire and this time it was actually a smallie. Adrian got to fight this fish and it really gave him a hard time! Eventually it did come close enough for me to net and a few pics were had before the release.

We kept at the troll for a couple of hours and managed to get several more northerns. For some reason however, the walleye just eluded us. I finally gave up altogether and shifted our attention towards deeper water and a little drop shotting.

Our first spot did produce some walleye, but they were all under the slot and had to be released. Several passes later and a couple more small walleye, we pulled out of here and headed to another area much further away. I was sure we would be at least able to get into some good smallies from there!

With 3 rods working, we drifted over various depths until I zoned in on where we should be. Once I figured it out, the bass started coming aboard quickly. Both Adrian & his father hooked and landed several good fish and I also hooked into a few of my own. I planned on passing the rod to either his mother or grandfather, but for some reason, they didn’t want it. Oh well, I just had to land them myself!

With the time passing fast, I decided to hit a few other areas and went to an offshore shoal for walleye. We continued our drift & dropshotting and Adrian’s dad was into a nice walleye almost immediately. This one fell in the slot and immediately went into the livewell for them tonight. Next pass, his father was tight to another good eye, but unfortunately it was over the slot and had to be returned. It did make for a great pic however before being set free!

We made multiple passes over the area and although I was seeing plenty of fish, catching them was a different story. There were so many baitfish marking that I think the walleye just didn’t need to eat! Adrian did manage to hook into another keeper eye, but it was unfortunately lost right at the boat.

We hit a couple of other spots in the remaining hour or so and despite seeing fish and having a few bites, came up empty. In the end, we called the day a few minutes early and just packed it up.

Adrian’s family had a great time today and managed to get into a bunch of good fish. They had wanted some quality time with his grandfather, having lost his wife recently and enjoyed a day of fishing. At 85, they didn’t want to expose grandpa to anything and wore their masks for most of the day. I guess you can’t blame them for wanting to protect him from this damn “Covid” crap! Another great day all around!