We began the day in a miserable heavy rain that soon gave way to lighter rain & eventually only cloud. Jeff & his wife Carole & their daughter & son, Alex & Chris were on the water for their first time fishing. Not having fished before, I knew I would have to keep it simple, so we began by dragging tubes in 15 feet of water for smallies. A few bass were caught & a few others lost, but the action was real slow. I figured that trolling for pike would be easier & headed for different areas nearby. This proved to be a better choice as rods were firing off almost instantly. Everyone had chances at pike, but Chris & his dad Jeff landed the largest ones. Most of these fish were 3 to 5 pounds but a few of them were in the 8 to 10 pound class too. At one point, Chris was on fire landing one fish after another. At least 20 to 25 pike were caught in only a few short hours when we finally got on them. All in all a good day for four people who never fished before!

Today was a real treat because I was donating my time on the water for a real good cause. The “Cops & Kids” organized in Ontario at the Raisin River in Lancaster, held its 4th annual day of fishing. We were to fish with a big brother or sisters, some cops & plenty of kids. My wife Christiane joined me to help out on the boat as we had Cody & Dylan as well ass their big brother Stewart on board. Everyone caught fish in the morning before we broke for lunch. A great B.B.Q. spread was waiting for us when we returned & some of the O.P.P. officers were doing the cooking. Once we were done eating, we headed back out for a few more hours of “Catching”. It was a beautiful sunny day with very little wind making this an absolutely picture perfect day. The kids really benefited today by receiving not only a great fishing day, but also a rod & reel and tackle box as well. By 3:30P.M. It was pretty much all over & everyone was on their way home. All in all it was a great success!

John & his son joined me today on a local lake for smallmouth. The weather turned out to be a little of everything. We had mist & rain, cloud & sun, wind & calm and finished with calm & really humid. Fish were caught just about everywhere we went, but no numbers. John even managed to get into a small muskie on a spinnerbait that came off at the boat when I tried to boga it for a pic. We caught fish in as little as 1 foot of water to as deep as 15 feet. Overall, a rather tough day, but some big fish taken under a mix of conditions.

Pierre & Mike fished with me on this wet & windy day. We tried some shallow water that had produced well on Sunday only to find out that the water temps had dropped 10 degrees & were now only 63 degrees. Other than a pike or two, all the bass were gone. By now, the rain had become a miserable mist with occasional heavy rain now & then. We decided to try another area, but this time for largemouth bass instead. This turned out to be a better choice as Mike began to land several fish in the 2 to 3 pound range, mostly on soft plastics. The fish here were very lethargic with the 65-degree temps & the baits had to be almost dead sticked to get bit. Pierre wasn’t as lucky missing more strikes than hooking up. After several hours of enduring strong winds & rain, we opted for another area hoping for better smallmouth fishing. Crankbaits & spinnerbaits proved to be the lures of choice as both Pierre & Mike hooked many bass in the next couple of hours. Most of these fish were over 4 pounds making it a perfect end to the day. I’m sure that by the time we were done, there must have been at least 15 of these bronze beauties caught & released. Overall, we made out quite well under these cold front conditions and actually caught close to 25 bass!

David joined me today on a laurentian lake for smallies. We met up north & made our way onto the water before 8:00 A.M. in pursuit of big bass. David would be strictly fly fishing today & hoped to get into some fish on the surface. On his first cast with a popper, he hooked a small bass & was on his way. We worked quite a bit more water with no takers & I knew we would have to make some adjustments. I had him switch up to a sink tip line & slow right down. By going deeper he would hopefully be into fish soon. The water temps were 69 & plenty warm to have active smallies shallow but they weren’t showing any sign of life. David finally hooked up near a dock on my 5-weight rod & was into a real nice bass. He fought this old timer for a while before I lipped the 4.5 pound smallie to photograph. A couple of quick pics & back she went. He had finally broken the ice on this lake & we were both happy & eager for more. It was real slow fishing but the fish were mostly quality sized from 3 to 4.5 pounds. With the overcast skies & heavy cloud cover, I knew the fish would stay inactive unless we had some sun. A little later in the afternoon David went back to the surface popper rod & caught a couple of small bass once more. We had a little wind making casting difficult & eventually dangerous. He had somehow buried the hook into the top of his hand, well past the barb. Fortunately it missed the veins & we needed to get it out. This was to prove to be a learning experience for David as he is a doctor & had never seen this technique. I cut a decent length of heavy braided line off of one of my reels & tied off the ends creating a loop. By wrapping it around my wrist, I was able to have the control I needed & looped the other end around the bend in the hook. By applying pressure downward on the head of the hook it in turn dropped the barb lower as well. One quick snap of the line & it came out without any damage & was ready to cast again. A light coat of liquid skin on the wound & so was David! The rest of the afternoon was also slow with a fish here & there, but good ones never the less. We had caught all the larger ones by fishing a bit deeper & slower. They were really inactive today! We pulled off the water just in time, as a storm was pushing through with heavy rain, thunder & lightning. Tough bite, but a good day!