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Vic & Al joined me today for their first day of a four day trip. We decided to remain local and go for bass & walleye due to the big NE winds once again. It was going to be tough, but with enough areas to fish I knew I’d get them into some good fish.

Running to our first spot in 3 footers wasn’t nice, especially with the wind against current! It was going to be one of those difficult days with drifting deep water almost impossible. They would be casting everywhere instead! They both managed to land a couple of bass from this area but the action was slower than I had expected and we moved quickly. The second stop had a couple of good sized walleye landed by Vic that went directly into the livewell for dinner tonight. Along with the walleye, they also managed to catch several more smallies, but nothing of any size.

We had made a small move again and Al hooked the only bass from this spot, but at least it was a decent one. I figured there would be more after seeing this but unfortunately, that was all she wrote! Time to move again!

This time I made a longer run to a shallow area that I was sure would be holding some better fish. Although it had plenty, they were all on the small side and after 30 minutes or so of pounding on this day care area, we moved off to slightly deeper water nearby.

The next few hours saw us jumping all over and they continued to catch more bass from almost every one of them. Too bad most were in the two pound range! Time for a complete change!

I had decided after stopping on a small area and seeing only one more bass, to go off shore and try something new. They spent the remainder of the day targeting mostly walleye and landed several good fish. Al managed to catch the biggest one at almost 24 inches in length and at least he got to have his pic taken. Mixed in with these walleye there were also a few smallies and some really jumbo perch. If I had of wanted, we could have filled the boat with these monsters! Maybe the next time out I might just have to keep a bunch!

Although today didn’t go nearly as well as I had hoped, there were at least enough fish to keep everyone busy. The last spot was definitely the best with plenty of action! Maybe tomorrow I’ll start with a couple of monsters just to get the ball rolling. Hopefully the conditions will be in our favour and I can make it happen with bigger and better fish of all species!

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Alex, Marco & John joined me today, hoping for a few sturgeon. After last year’s trip, they wanted more! I was pretty sure we could make it happen, if the NE winds weren’t too bad!

Our run to the area was a little bumpy, but we were going to give it a try. I idled around for quite a while and finally stopped on several fish in hopes of a quick bite. Unfortunately it was anything but that and after 30 minutes of nada, we began the search once again.

The morning was a tough one with multiple moves and nothing to show for our efforts. With each stop, I had to use a drift sock just to keep the boat straight. Thankfully the electric motor held us in position and between the two, we stayed secure.

With the boat bouncing all over, it was difficult to tell if we were even getting bit. At one point, I noticed something slightly different and set into weight. We finally had our first fish on and Alex was the lucky one. He did battle with the sturgeon for about 5 minutes and although not big, it did put up a good fight. We were officially not skunked!

The start of the afternoon wasn’t much better. I was having a hard time finding fish to set up on and made multiple moves just looking for places to fish. By mid-afternoon we finally caught a break when one of the lines was bit. When I set into this fish, I could tell that it had weight!

Next up on the rod was John and he was about to fight the biggest fish of his life! We cleared the other rods to make room for the battle and what a battle it was! His line was beginning to rise and I knew what was going to happen next. I told everyone to look back and this thing breached, showing us just how big it actually was. He was in for a long fight!

Close to 15 minutes had passed and John was still not done. His beast had made so many runs but only jumped once. It eventually tired slightly and he was able to bring her to the surface for me to net. It was definitely a long fish and pretty thick too. The next step was the pic and it was going to get interesting!

I prepped everything and instructed John on how to hold the fish. When he lifted her out of the net, we could see just how big she actually was and it was never ending! We all shot fast and he returned the dinosaur back to where she came from. We watched her on the sonar as she went directly to the bottom, disappearing from the screen.

Next up was Marco and it didn’t take long. Within ten minutes I set into another fish and handed him the rod. It felt big as well and I hoped for a repeat performance! Although this thing never showed itself, the battle was as strong as I had hoped for. It took Marco all over the place and made some really long runs too. Ten minutes later when we finally caught a glimpse of his fish, I netted it and ended the fight. Several pics after, it was released to fight another day!

I didn’t have much time left but wanted to get Alex into a fish as well and reset all the lines. He was the only one without a pic as the one he caught from this morning just wasn’t photo worthy, in my eyes! Unfortunately after almost an hour of no bites, I cleared the rods and packed everything up to go.

Alex may not have caught a big fish today, but they did all have a round of doing battle with some sturgeon. I’m sure that the conditions had something to do with the lack of cooperation from the fish. The giant NE winds have never been easy to fish in and hopefully the next time out, things won’t be as tough. There’s still plenty of time left in the season for more giants and I plan on targeting them as often as I can!

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This was the second day for Jim & Marie and what a day it turned out to be! Although quite a bit cooler than yesterday with the NE winds, they still caught em good. Well Marie did anyway!

Our first stop had Marie hooked up on her first cast and it didn’t end there. She was right back in the zone that she had been in yesterday and it was about to get worse. She landed a bunch of fish in the first hour and some of them were real quality. Jim on the other hand struggled to get bit, but did bring a couple to net.

I had noticed that the winds had positioned the fish differently and the number of big ones just weren’t here. Marie was even having difficulty keeping some of her fish pinned as they weren’t eating well. A slight adjustment soon put them back on the money and plenty more good ones were boated. We remained in this area until the action slowed and eventually changed locations entirely.

I had decided to check a few other spots with fewer boats all around and landed on an area that was just full. It was here that Marie exploded and began crushing the bass. She was just on fire, hooking everything in sight! It didn’t seem to matter where she threw, she was always locked up! Jim on the other hand wasn’t as fortunate, with much fewer bites than his wife. Although he did hook up, I think she out did him ten to one! I actually felt for him, but enjoyed the clinic Marie was putting on! This may have been the best beating I had ever witnessed and it was delivered by a woman! I just loved every minute of the show! At one point I just leaned on the net handle like Ken Dryden use to do on his stick. There was no need to put it down as I knew she would be into another fish on her very next cast!

I made a few moves throughout the afternoon and each time I did, plenty more fish were caught. All sizes were being hooked but the bigger bass were coming from something specific and on one type of bait. Once I realized this, I stayed on it for the balance of the day. Both Jim & Marie boated many more quality bass right up until the end. Marie of course continued her reign of terror with fish on almost every single cast! I think Jim was relieved when the day was finally done. Oh well, happy wife happy life I guess!

The past two days were definitely something special as I got to witness tournament calibre fishing at its finest. I know Marie is still riding on a high, with this trip being her best ever! Jim on the other hand will be licking his wounds, as I’m sure she’ll be bragging about her experience in Canada for quite some time!

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October 8^th 2019

Jim & Marie were back again this year for another 2 day fishing trip. Although they liked catching all kinds of fish, their preference was for smallmouth and that’s exactly what we were heading for.

Our first spot didn’t disappoint as they both caught plenty of quality football like smallies. Marie was on fire, just pounded on the big ones on almost every cast! She was in an area where her angle was just perfect and one fish after the other came to the net. Jim also managed many good ones but definitely took a back seat to his wife as she seemed to putting on a clinic!

With plenty of other boats on the water, I remained on the fish until the action slowed down. I hit a bunch of other areas after, looking for the more aggressive fish, but they had to work for every bite. With each move, there were more fish caught, just not nearly as many. I probably made three or four spot changes before hitting another mother lode of fish. I immediately anchored up with the electric motor and they went to town pounding on more bass once again!

It seems like lately, I have a target on my boat or something, with everyone moving in on me while fishing. Today was no different as it happened once again! I honestly believe that the newer generation thinks that it’s alright to park on top of another boat just because they are catching fish! This particular guy power poled down less than 25 feet from us and began casting to where we had been hammering the fish. He even tried to go below us at one point just to be able to get a better angle! Having had enough of this $&#@ for the third day in a row, I just released the hold on the electric and slid down. I ended up pushing him completely out of the area, allowing my guests to continue catching. I think he eventually got the hint and finally left the area completely. The fishing etiquette I see now has definitely turned full circle! No longer can you expect to be alone, anywhere! Very sad indeed!

Once the situation had been dealt with, both Jim & Marie were back in the game. They hooked plenty more quality bass in the remainder of the time we had left in the day. In fact, I stayed a little longer just to make up for our lost time!

Today was a great day for fishing and apparently everybody also thought the same thing too! Although there were plenty of other boats on the water, we managed to remain alone, for the most part! Tomorrow will be another day, hopefully filled with more great action. I only hope that it’s incident free and I can concentrate on the fish and not playing defense again!

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The gang was back again this morning for another day of fishing. This time however, we took a road trip to a distant body of water in search of big bass. I knew they wouldn’t be disappointed!

Dave was the first to lock up on an average sized bass and followed it up with several more about the same size. Mark managed to pull in the first good one that was worthy of a pic though and I knew things were about to get better. Not wanting to be outdone by his brother for long, Darren moved in and landed the biggest bass of the day. All three of them were officially on the board! They all managed to get into plenty of other bass too, before we relocated to another spot close by.

I covered plenty of water looking for bigger fish and despite many void areas, still found some really good ones for them to catch. The bulk of the fish were taken on one particular technique, but Mark boated several big ones on something with a slight twist. I had him fishing deeper than the others at one point and he had multiple back to back quality bites.

Later in the afternoon while fishing in tight, they were casting directly at the shore. For some reason another boat thought it was alright just to pass between us and the bank and fish through. It’s really unbelievable the lack of etiquette some people have for others, or maybe it’s just stupidity! This is why we don’t carry guns!

We spent the balance of the day moving around and only picking at fish here & there before we were done. Although I was still marking plenty, the bites were really slow and everyone agreed to call it quits.

The two days they spent with me had a good mix of fish boated, with today seeing many big bass. I’ll probably be back out with Darren again but for Mark & Dave, it’ll be another year before they are back for their annual fishing trip. This tradition has been going on for many years and the competition as well. No money, but bragging rights for the remainder of the year. By now I’m actually surprised that they haven’t had a trophy made for their Big Fish Challenge!