Norm was back for another round of beat on the bass today, or so he thought! We hooked up and were on the water before 8:30 and well on our way to a great day of bass fishing. What we didn’t anticipate was the lethargic and negative nature of these creatures and just how they were affected by the weather. We began in cloud & sunshine and high humidity. Air temps were in the 70’s and expected to reach into the 90’s by the time it hit afternoon. We started where we had left off last week when Norm had brought Buddha along and expected to get more of those giant smallies. To say it was tough would have been the understatement of the day. It was torture! Oh they were there, just not interested in anything we threw at them. We did manage to get a few of the smaller ones up to 3 pounds to take some of our offerings, but the big ones just cruised us by. I had about enough of this torture, so I decided to change locations and see if we might do better somewhere else. Well, it didn’t get much better with us seeing more smallies but Norm managed to get into one on the fly and that was worth the move all together. Unfortunately, this was the only bass stupid enough to eat and we just kept moving again to more areas with pretty much the same results. Everywhere we went there were fish, just not active ones and it was getting really old. Eventually in the later part of the afternoon, we actually stumbled onto activity and Norm was pounded by a good one on the spinner bait he was throwing. I thought that after this 4 pounder, it was going to come alive but I was wrong! We did get plenty of followers and several attacks on tubes and blades but not the numbers we had anticipated. It was really frustrating looking at all the bass in the areas we were but only some of them were hitting. I’ve never seen this before where some of them attacked like it was their last meal and others just ignored the lures all together. Hopefully, I won’t have to see this again! By covering plenty of water we were at least able to get some hits with the largest ones going 4.5 pounds at best. By 5:00 we had just about enough with the fish and high humidity so we decided to pack it in. Not the best day Norm has had on the water, but at least he managed to hook several bass instead of watching others catch them on WFN!!!!

Richard joined me today with his two sons, Max & Josh for another incredible multi species outing. We hooked up around 7:00 A.M. and hit the water shortly after with high expectations. Although it was still early, the air temps were already in the 70’s and with high humidity felt even hotter. Skies were free of clouds and I knew it was going to be another scorcher! Thankfully, we at least had a breeze of 5 to 10 knots from the S/W and that was a blessing. Upon arriving in our first location, I don’t think it was one minute after the lines were in the water that Max was locked up and into the first of many fish to come. He landed a nice pike of around 6 or 7 pounds and a few pics were taken before the release. Josh was up next and this time he landed a walleye of at least 5 pounds. Another rod fired while we were getting ready to take more pics and Max began battling a rather large northern of over 7 pounds at the same time. I was having a hard time keeping the lines in the water and that’s not a bad thing! After several more pics we released the two fish and continued to troll again. It wasn’t very long in between the fish when we started as maybe 4 or 5 minutes lapsed without hearing the reels fire. We did have several drive byes in the beginning and I really hate that! We trolled for a couple of hours all the while catching pike & walleye and then Josh started to reel in what I thought was just another pike. As it neared the boat, I realized that it was actually a walleye and a really big one too! I slid the net under what was to be one of the largest walleye of the day at close to 7 pounds. More pics and another successful release! The kids were getting bored of catching fish and wanted to go casting somewhere else for another species so I reluctantly packed it up and went for bass. The largemouth bite wasn’t too good where we were so I decided to take a run and go for smallies instead. We managed to get into plenty of smaller bass in this area in the next couple of hours, but nothing big. Josh actually caught the largest one around 3 pounds all on his own and that was just one of the many highlights of this day. Believe it or not, they asked if they could go back trolling because this was too much work and we headed back to where we began our day. By now the boat traffic was insane and so were the above 90 degree air temps that we had, but the run felt great. Once again, the rods began to fire almost immediately and within the first 5 minutes we had landed two walleye and a pike. I had removed one of the other rods while Max was fighting the first fish and if it weren’t for that, we probably would have had fish on all four. As with earlier in the day, these fish were active and Josh brought in another 5 pound walleye along with his brother’s 7 pound northern. Five minutes later the brothers had another fire drill and landed a couple more beautiful walleye with the largest going over 6 pounds this time. This made for a nice double shot as Richard held the two of them up for the pic. Max definitely had the big fish of the day though as he battled a 34 inch northern to the net that went around 10 pounds. I actually lost count of all of the fish caught today but I do know that there were plenty landed by both of the kids. Richard also managed to get a bunch of the fish too, but the day was for his boys and they had a blast! We decided that we would leave after just one more fish and Josh kindly gave it up to his brother Max. What we didn’t see coming was the double header that actually ended the day and both of them got to land another pike each instead. Now that’s the way to end the day!!

I had a full boat today as Bram & Neil brought their sons, Alex & Jake along for an incredible day of fishing. The weather was a humid 70 degrees at the start and was going to climb into the 90’s by the end. Thankfully, we had a S/W wind of around 10 knots and this was really welcomed! Water temps were between 72 & 73 degrees where we were and the skies were bluebird clear. We were on the water and had the lines in shortly after 8:30 and it didn’t take long before we were locked up! With the weather looking like another scorcher, I was hoping for a quick morning bite and the fish came through. Alex was first up and he was into a northern right away with plenty of others to follow. Alex countered with a nice walleye of around 3 pounds before both dads got into more & bigger northerns. I’m not sure what round it was but Alex eventually took the rod with a beautiful 5 pound walleye attached to the lure that fell off in the net immediately after I scooped her up. Lucky guy! He was on fire with all the fish and it seemed like he was getting most of the larger ones as well. Jake on the other hand decided to hit the sack after a long night and forfeited most of his rounds at bat. In the first couple of hours there were plenty of decent to large sized northerns and several mid sized walleye brought aboard before Alex hooked up with another biggun. When I finally caught a glimpse of the fish I realized that it wasn’t a pike like I had thought but rather, a pretty big walleye. As luck would have it, this one too fell off in the net as we watched the hooks fly out. I had to weigh his catch and was not surprised that it held right at 7 pounds on the scale. What a trophy for this lake at this time of year! After a few quick pics it too was released to swim where she belonged. No sense killing the large ones and there wasn’t any hesitation to release her. We kept trolling for a few more hours all the while catching pike and walleye but it was getting tougher. The sun was really up now and the fish weren’t cooperating like before so we decided to relocate for the remainder of the day. Alex had wanted to try casting and it was the right choice. After a quick dip for most of them in the middle of the lake, I headed to another area a little further away to try for some smallmouth. Well, it didn’t take long here either to have a confirmation that it was the right decision. Immediately, Bram was into one on a spinnerbait that had everyone pumped. In the next couple of hours there were shots at around 20 bass ranging from 2 to 4 pounds on a variety of lures and plenty were caught. Everyone was hooking up and this was a great way to finish off the already fantastic day on the water. We called it around 4 and headed back completely satisfied on the results for the day. Alex had managed a grand slam and if it weren’t for the largemouth bass of over 4 pounds that just came off at the net, he would have had a home run to add to the equation too! Oh well, crap happens! All in all a really great day to take your kids out and have the experience of their lives, even if one of them did sleep through most of it!!

After a few unsuccessful attempts at finding someone for today, Cindy accepted my offer and joined me for an incredible day on the water. She had fished with Alain & I a couple of times last week and was just dying to get back out once again. Alain on the other hand had to work and was a little jealous that we were going fishing, but Cindy felt little remorse in accepting the offer! We launched a little later than usual, but were fishing before 10:00 A.M. nonetheless. I brought all kinds of rods & tackle, but we ended up trolling the entire day all the while catching fish everywhere we went. It was the day of northerns & walters and we caught a bunch! Reels were firing off every few minutes and a few double headers were thrown into the mix as well. Cindy caught so many fish that I think the next time she goes out with Alain, he better be careful. She became quite comfortable with the rod holders and taking the reels out without breaking the rods as well as steering the boat and trolling as I set the lines. By the time it was all over she had landed close to 40 or 50 fish with a couple of the smaller walleye kept for dinner tonight. I guess the largest walleye would have been close to 5 pounds and was released with the exception of just two. With the beautiful weather today it would have been a shame not to have gone out and we were glad we had done so. Sunshine and air temps in the 80’s with a little breeze from time to time from the north made for a pretty comfortable outing. With all the nice weather in the forecast coming up in the next week or so, I’m sure the 72 degree water temps will rise even more. Overall, a great day to have gone fishing!!

Yesterday’s weather forecast of high winds and thunder showers for the afternoon had my scheduled customers, rescheduling for better weather. Too bad the weathermen were bang on once again as the day was picture perfect with only clouds in the afternoon instead! Today however I had Norm out once more as he really wasn’t satiated over the weekend, landing only a few fish with his nephew Adam. Smallies were the order of the day and we were going out looking for only bigguns! He was unable to get a sitter for his dog today, so I told him to bring “Buddha” along as well. I’ve had clients that weren’t as well behaved as this dog and for 130 pounds, he never really got in the way! The weather wasn’t looking too good as we drove through a light misty rain on our way to the lake, but It did clear up shortly afterwards and the rest of the day was a mix of sun & clouds. Air temps reached the 80’s and the water was around 72 degrees in most areas. The biggest thing was the 10 to 15 knot winds from the W/SW causing a pretty good chop on the water. I love the wind! We started out fishing shallow and almost immediately were into some big heavies on a mix of baits. Norm was throwing a reaction bait and I was fishing slow to see what they wanted and both were hooking up. Within the first 15 minutes there were several large bass landed over 4 pounds and a few more lost along the way in. We kept fishing over this area until we were satisfied that we had covered it completely and then moved. We jumped around to several areas throughout the day all the while catching fish everywhere we stopped. Although we didn’t catch a ton of them, they were all big. Big & angry smallies always take precedence over quantity as far as I’m concerned and Norm had the same opinion too! We ended the day in an area that gave him the most satisfaction he had in a while (gigity) as he just pounded the big ones. By the time it was all over he had definitely been satiated as far as the bass fishing and his dog was exhausted too. I really think Buddha enjoyed the day almost as much as Norm did and he’s welcome in the boat anytime the sitter isn’t available. Great day all around!!