Eric & Stephanie accompanied me today on the water and it was a turkey shoot! We started the day in light winds trolling for walleye and they were on fire. From 8:30 till shortly after 10:00 we had constant action as one after the other came aboard. I think that there were over 15 good fish landed and several others lost in the process. With the sun now getting high and the winds practically gone, we relocated to another area and a different species. Bass were now the target and tubes were the weapons of choice. Eric was looking forward to getting into some smallmouth action and it didn’t take long. We were in an area that had been consistently producing some large fish, but today they were all small to medium. Stephanie was even getting into the game despite her fear of fish and contributing to the numbers of fish being landed. Compared to the start of the day, she had made tremendous strides and was now actually fishing herself! We relocated a few times and caught everywhere we went but not the size I was expecting. By 3:00 we called it a day and headed back to take out. I was going to have to clean several fish for them and needed some time to get it done. Despite the slow bass fishing, the walleye bite was a huge accomplishment and that’s why they were here. They wanted to eat some walleye and were able to take a few home for the table. Although a shorter day than usual, a productive one!!

I had managed to hold off on bookings this week so that Christiane could have several days on the water during her week off and just fish. We were on the water almost every day for at least some time but the high heat & humidity had us cutting most days rather short. Temps were consistently in the 80’s and winds were light to non existent throughout. Dog pecker knats were everywhere and we died out there in the scorching heat. Despite all of this, the fishing still remained good and she caught plenty of bass & walleye daily. Most of the fish were average in size and didn’t require any picks but there were a few that that did. A couple of smallies in the high fours and some 24 to 26 inch walleye that were returned to grow were shot but not all made it to the report. It was a great week to be on vacation!

Darren & Jack joined me today on another scorcher, looking for some smallmouth action. Temps were to reach into the mid 80’s and without any wind, almost unbearable. Water temps were still around 75 degrees when we started and it didn’t take long! We were drop shotting an area that was producing and today would be no different. Within a couple of hours we had landed a bunch of small to medium smallies, a few walleye and dropped a couple of real bruisers. When you’re directly on top of these footballs, it’s hard to keep some of them pinned. Both bass took to the air immediately like a rocket and came unpinned instantly. I estimated one to be in the mid fours and the other considerably larger! When the bite died, we switched locations and tactics and started hitting them on slowly moved senko’s. It felt like there was no current and the baits had to be almost dead-sticked in order to get bit. Here it was Jack that fended better and he managed to land several good smallies. Darren was having a tough go but still caught a few as well. I knew with these conditions that I was going to have to move around plenty and just kept covering water looking for the more aggressive biters. Throughout the afternoon, we had several fish on and landed a good part of them. This went on everywhere we stopped and I could tell that the fish were really lethargic by the way they bit. Although we did manage to get a bunch of decent fish throughout the day, it was a tough bite. We really had to slow down in order to monopolize on the areas we fished. These tough conditions always make for slower fishing but by giving the fish what they want at the speed they need, we were able to turn a slow day into a good one and come out on top!!

Day 2 saw the opposite as winds were practically non existent when we started and sunshine & cloud were upon us instead of storms. It took no time to get the lines in the water and not much longer to hook up. Christiane was battling one of many king salmon and loving every minute of it! Spoons, cut bait, flashers, dodgers, wire, lead core, planers, flies & more were in the water and the fish were given an entire buffet to eat from. Some worked better than the others, but eventually all did just fine. Greg had the program dialed in and we were on fish! We decided that today we would take a few fish home and harvested some of the smaller ones for friends and consumption. It wasn’t difficult to fill the order as the fish were really cooperating this morning! Just about every 15 minutes or so after one battle, another rod would go off and it was game on once again. Christiane never really complained about the battles until one fish decided to take her from 220 to almost 800 on the line counter. We thought we had Moby! We actually had to clear all the other lines and make a turn just to get back some of the line. Although this fish wasn’t small, it wasn’t what we had thought it might have been when I slid the net under her. It only weighed 26 pounds but had the power of a 30 plus for sure. Pure silver and full of piss & vinegar! Back to business and all the lines returned to the spread for another hookup. Eventually, the lead core & board went off and it was like watching a float go under while steelhead fishing. Three hundred feet of lead and still going! It’s always amazing that the fish can pull so hard with all the drag from the line in the water. The battle lasted quite a while before I was able to remove the board and let her finish the fight. This had to be a 20 minute battle for sure! Once in the net, Greg passed her another rod as it had also just fired and she was back to battling another bruiser once more. No rest for the wicked! After the last fight, this 15 pounder was no match and came in much quicker. Plenty of pics were taken from the day and the conditions changed throughout all the photos. Winds had started to blow from the west and we were fighting a strange current along with a west 15 to 20. Some areas were almost flat calm and others had 2 to 3 footers rolling. Despite all the weirdness in the water, we only had a couple of messes with the lines and no hardware was lost. That’s always a good thing because this can become quite costly! We hung in here until around 4:00 and then decided to head back to the dock. We had seen our fair share of fish and they had slowed down the bite, so it was time to pull the plug. In the two days combined there had been close to 40 fish landed and plenty of others lost in the battles and that was nothing to complain about. Having been out with other guides before on the lake for salmon, I can honestly say that there’s none better. Greg not only puts 100% into the game, but he loves every minute of it as well. I feel the same when I’m out with clients and that’s what separates us from the rest. You have to love what you’re doing and not make it feel like work to be able to perform at your max. Greg is just one of those that loves what he does and wants everyone to have a great time. It never seems to matter how tough the fishing may be, he always comes through in spades! We headed home completely satisfied in the two days, regardless of what “Mother Nature” had to say. If anyone reading this wants to contact Greg for an unbelievable day of salmon action on Lake Ontario, he can be reached at http://www.fishing4tails.com I can guarantee that you won’t be disappointed! Tight lines to all!!

With Christiane officially on vacation, I thought we would hit the lake for a little pleasure fishing. No early arrival, just a relaxing start to the day! The weather was hot & humid again and expected to reach into the upper 80’s with heavy winds. Walleye were going to be caught today along with plenty of smallies as well as we began in a deep area with a drop shot rig. The winds were a little difficult to get a proper line and it took a bit of time before I had it nailed down just right. Several eaters were landed in the first couple of hours and some mid size smallmouth before we hit a few other areas, solely for the bass. There were plenty of other boats on the lake today but most of them were either cruisers or sailboats and not fishermen. Although we didn’t take any pics, there were a load of decent size fish landed, just not giants! Tomorrow will be another day and hopefully several Kodak moments! Saturday had the lake pretty full with nice weather along with the start of the Quebec holidays. There were already 8 trailers in the parking lot and they were all fishermen when we arrived at 8:30. I knew I was going to have to be careful where I fished! We hit an area and tried drop shot rigs right away but weren’t able to get any eater sized walleye, just smallies of all sizes. I thought we would pull the plug on this and check a couple of areas and troll, just to cover water. Well, the walleye once again didn’t cooperate and smallmouth were caught up to almost 5 pounds instead. To say it was a zoo out there would have been too polite. It was mental out there! With high sunshine and flat calm conditions, everyone was out. Although there wasn’t really any wind, there were 2 & 3 foot waves everywhere and from every direction. The gas companies would be the only ones benefitting from today! It got so crazy out there that we threw in the towel after attempting an hour of walleye fishing. We picked up a couple of eaters and were on our way. Gotta love weekend traffic, especially when it falls in the construction holiday period!! Sunday began with a complete switch in the weather as a cold front arrived overnight. Air temps were in the low 60’s and the winds were out of the north as we began our day. After a little business out to sea, we were on our way and headed to smallmouth country. It was a nice cool morning for a change but also expected to get into the 80’s by afternoon. It didn’t take long before Christiane was locked up on a 3 pound smallie on a spinnerbait and the game was on. A few more on the blades and a quick switch to tubes had her getting hit on almost every cast afterwards. There was a lot of fish here with the north winds pushing on the rocks we were fishing and I wasn’t leaving until they stopped eating. I had to help out someone for the second time today when a troller accidently ran over his line, wrapping it around his prop. It’s always easier to get access to the prop from another boat and I lent a hand. I didn’t realize however just how bad it was until I started unraveling the mess. He must have had 30 or more yards of braid around the blades and that’s not always good. Line like this can eat through your seals and cause a water leak into the lower unit. Fortunately for him I managed to untangle the fiasco and all was well. We both headed back to fishing but only one of the boats went back to catching. Christiane was still pounding on the bass and getting snagged in the rocks from time to time as well. I had to show her how to snap the jigs out and several times, got just crushed immediately. At one point she snagged up again and was going to snap it out when the line began to move. Sturgeon hook up! This would be her first one and a 10 minute battle was in progress. Although I had a few eat the jigs this season, she wasn’t as lucky. This one was closer to the tail and double the battle! Eventually I was able to glove the dinosaur and she had another species added to her list. A few quick pics and back the beast went to where it had come. I estimated this thing at almost 25 pounds and an average one for the lake. We went back to bass fishing and kept catching for quite a while afterwards until some idiot decided to troll right over the shoal, twice! It’s amazing just how stupid some people can be and how they ever obtained a boaters card. Too bad they don’t have one for courtesy! When he did this for the second time, the fish dispersed and just shut down. I guess he couldn’t stand seeing us catching and thought he would get his too. We relocated to another area and began hitting fish once more, without any idiots bothering us this time! They were chowing on senko’s here and we were getting them good. After lunch we thought we would try for some walleye and trolled new areas once again. It looked pretty good but all we were able to come up with were more smallies and some big ones too. With the heat & humidity upon us heavily now, we decided to call it a day and head back. It wasn’t just the heat that was getting to me as the traffic was what mattered most. Boats everywhere and going in every direction! All in all a pretty good start to her vacation and tomorrow we would be on Lake Ontario looking for silver. We can’t wait!!