After another cancellation today, Tom was ready to take over for the no show. One person’s loss is another’s gain! We hit the water after 11:00 and were almost immediately into fish. With the overcast skies and intermittent sunshine I thought we were going to just crush the walleye, but we had to work for every one. The wind was the biggest factor blowing from the west at 10 to 20 knots creating a 2 to 3 foot chop on the lake. The air temps were in the low to mid 70’s and the water temps were around 72 when we set the lines and began our troll. Unfortunately the first fish was a northern of around five pounds but the next fish was the real deal. Tom wanted to keep a couple of walleye if we were to get into them and I didn’t think it was going to be a problem as we put this 2.5 pound fish into the livewell. In the next couple of hours we were able to land a mix of northerns, bass & walleye up to 4 pounds. As luck would have it, we had a real big smallie come unpinned as Tom was reeling it in and it might have been close to 5 pounds. Oh well, crap happens! We had landed about 7 or 8 walleye and gone through a long stretch of nothing when another reel fired and I knew this was a good fish. With an approaching weather change moving dark skies in, we had contemplated heading out, but held in for one more fish. This was to prove to be the one as I slid the net under a 24 inch walleye and we were both glad we hung it out! A couple of quick pics, a quick release and we were off to the ramp to take out. This may have been a short 3.5 hours of fishing, but it was productive. Tom landed a real nice walleye and got to take home a couple of fresh fish for dinner. What could be better!

I was back on the water with Alain & Cindy this morning in search of more smallmouth bass. We had a different type of weather with cooler air and stronger winds from the west blowing 10 to 20 knots. Skies were filled with mostly sunshine as we began casting a variety of baits for these big bass. Alain was throwing a jerkbait to try & locate fish while Cindy tossed a spinnerbait over the area. When the first fish actually hit, I think Alain almost had the rod torn from his hands with the violent strike. Five pounds of brown fish took to the air and the battle was on. This fish bull dogged & leaped, fighting for her life as he reeled it to the boat. The hooks came free not a second too late as I netted the beast and admired its overall mass. It definitely went 5 pounds and into the livewell for later pics she went! Cindy was the next to be blasted by a freight train as she too had the rod nearly torn from her hands with another violent hit. Locked up! After a brief battle with one of the meanest fish that swims in freshwater, I netted another really quality fish of almost five pounds. After unhooking her, Cindy was in awe with just how big it actually was before I put her into the livewell once again. Size really does matter! We continued fishing this area for a while and picked a few more here & there with Cindy losing another real hog. Although there was a slow period during the afternoon where we were subjected to seeing them & not catching, we did rebound later when the winds kicked up a notch. I realized that they no longer wanted the reaction baits and switched up to tube jigs and the bite was on. Alain managed to get several more real giants with this technique while Cindy somehow struggled. She did redeem herself a little later though when she started to get the feel for the subtle bites and slammed several of her own. We fished till just after five before we decided to call it a day and headed back. This new area had produced some quality fish for us today and everyone caught their share of “Big Heavies”. Oh yeah, this time they weren’t camera shy and there were some pictures to prove it too!!

I hit the water early this morning with Alain & Cindy, trolling for pike & walleye. They wanted to get a couple of walleye for dinner and catch a bunch of fish so a troll was definitely the best way to go. We had a wind blowing out of the SW at 10 knots or so causing a pretty good chop when we started, but eventually we were able to find calmer seas to fish in. Although sunshine was present all day, the cool morning air had us dressing up more than I had done in over a week. The humidity had fallen and the upper 60 degree temps this morning actually felt cool for a change. I had also noticed that the water level had gone up considerably since yesterday and this also made it interesting. I set the lines in an area that I hadn’t fished this season to try & see if the fish were relating to the same type of stuff that I had been doing well in lately and it didn’t take long to find out. Cindy had the first of many fish locked up and reeled in a northern of around 4 pounds. After many other pike, Cindy finally hooked up on a nice walleye of over 3.5 pounds and confirmation of their presence was definite. We continued to troll, catching more pike and an occasional walleye all the while covering the water. I had noticed a really big color line and decided to try the cleaner water to see if we could find more active fish there. Although there were a few, they were pike and we decided to hit the dirtier water once again. Immediately after we were in it, one of the reels fired again and another 3 pound walleye came aboard. We were to get into 4 more of them and lose a few others on the way in before we decided to switch areas and try for another species of fish. We casted lures and soft plastics for a while and caught a bunch of smallies up to 4 pounds in the last couple of hours of the day before we called it quits. Unfortunately there were no pics of anything today as it seemed that everyone was just camera shy. There were definitely worthwhile fish for a “Kodak Moment! We released all but two smaller eyes of 2 pounds for them to try for dinner and headed back to the ramp to take out. It was a day full of action as they boated fish from all over the lake with many different techniques and had a blast!!

After multiple requests for today from clients, Darren & Serge were the winners as we ventured out in not so perfect weather. We met at the boat ramp around 7:30 and it wasn’t pretty! Three foot waves were crashing directly into the launch area and the forecast was for thunder showers a little later in the day. Although we were scheduled to fish a half day, I wasn’t even sure we would be able to do that as I slid the boat into the water. We were in and we were going to make the best of it! The humidity was with us in the 70 plus degree air temps early this morning and it felt like every scorcher day this week. The water temps remained in the low 70’s as we hit our first spot for smallies and Darren wasted no time showing Serge that they were there. He locked up on one of the better fish of the day on a spinnerbait and brought a 4 pounder to the net on his 2nd cast. They had a bunch of fish on in the next couple of hours and landed several including a few walleye, on a variety of lures and baits. Ironically, after the first 15 minutes of fishing, the wind layed down and went almost completely flat on the lake making for better boat control. The only downside of this decrease was the arrival of the “Dog Pecker Knats” and they came out in full force. It began raining after a little while as well and with the humidity and misty precipitation, rain gear was almost a waste of time. I felt just as damp inside as I did on the outside! As usual, the weatherman was bang on again today with the forecast of possible thunder showers in the afternoon. We received rain after a few hours that just never let up! For the remainder of the morning into the early afternoon, we fished in the mist and clouds. I thought we would change it up a bit seeing as how they wanted to try for walleye and began a troll to cover some water. The floating weeds along with the drifting green slime were relentless and I had to check the lines frequently in order to keep them clean. We did however lock up several times with both smallies and walleye and Serge got the top prize today with a walleye just under 6 pounds. Darren wanted to keep a couple of the smaller ones so we released everything else after a few quick pics and dashed back to the boat ramp in black skies. I knew we were cutting it a little close but I always like to end the day on a good note and needed one more fish before we could roll. Back at the ramp we were greeted with a heavy downpour while trying to get the boat on the trailer signifying the perfect end for this day! Although the fishing was pretty good, the weather wasn’t and this just made the day a little bit more miserable, but it still beats sitting on the couch back home!!

What do you do on your day off? Go fishing of course and that I did! The weather was just too perfect to pass up so Christiane & I decided to hit the Lake for a few hours to see if we could repeat our trip a couple of days earlier. Unlike yesterday, the conditions were back to normal and the wind was almost non existent today. High humidity and overcast skies were what we were faced with along with air temps in the mid 70’s. We were planning on starting with a troll to see if the walleye were active and then moving on to smallmouth a little later. Well that never happened as the walleye were just on fire once more and we stayed on them the entire time. We caught fish from 2 pounds to over 5 pounds on a variety of baits along with smallies and some really big northerns of close to 10 pounds. The reels were firing like popcorn and fish were being reeled in every 5 minutes or so for several hours. Although we got a late start to the day by getting on the water just before 11:00, we made up for it between then and 4:00 P.M. when we got off. Days like this make the fishing seem just too easy and I’m glad that Christiane got to experience it several times during her vacation week. After this weekend, it’s back to work and reality for her, but she’ll have the memories and pictures to show to everyone once again!