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!

Bill fished with me today on a local lake for bass with a friend from Arizona as well. Air temps reached into the low 80’s by the end of the day & water temps were as high as 73. The morning started out a little slow as I began the search for the smallies. Not many were caught but they were quality ones all around 4 pounds. Frank even t managed to get into a nice walleye of over 6 pounds while tube fishing in the same area. Without any wind today, it was a real scorcher on the water! I checked many areas looking for a concentration until I eventually realized how shallow they still were. Finally we were into bass, both smallies & largermouth, mostly on soft plastic baits. In the next few hours plenty of quality fish up to 4 pounds were caught & released before we called the day. There was a big storm brewing & I wanted off the water as quickly as possible! All in all a great day!

Jim & André on two Mountains on the first day of bass. Opening day proved to be a strange one with mostly smaller males of 1-2.5 pounds caught. Weather was warm & sunny with temps reaching 80. Water temps were around 70 in most areas & bass were shallow. Only a few fish caught on top water with most taken by slowly working tubes & soft plastics. Almost dead sticking the baits! No wind today in most areas until late made for a great season opener. Over 50 bass caught & released up to 4.5 pounds.