Today was a real treat as Sam, Matt, Danny & Ben fished with me on Lake St-Francis for bass. Due to Ontario opening 1 week later than Quebec, we were forced to concentrate on the Quebec side of the lake. Winds from the S/W at 10 to 20 knots greeted us on our travels as we crossed the lake to some of the islands. Air temps were in the 70’s but eventually went into the 80’s as the day went on. The water temps were actually lower than I had anticipated and mostly registered in at 65 degrees. It was a tough bite for a while, but Matt finally broke the ice with a nice smallie over 4 pounds on a tiny crankbait. We had several follows and saw many others just roaming around, but no takers afterwards. I thought they might like to have a little action, so we moved to a point leading into a bay for largemouth. It didn’t take long before everyone was hooking up on soft plastics. There was a mix of smallmouth & largemouth here until it became all largemouth when we rounded the corner. Most of these fish were rather small, but a few of them were substantially larger. One of them even saw the 4-pound mark as we pushed further back into the weeds. There were also plenty of huge carp that probably could have toped the scales around 40 pounds or better splashing around in no water. After playing around for the largemouth for a while, we thought we would give a few other areas a try to see if we could get some more smallmouth. Just like before, they were difficult to actually catch as we saw plenty of these fish just cruising around, but not really feeding. Matt managed to hook into 2 others on a crankbait, but unfortunately lost both of them when they jumped. Danny got into a couple and landed 2 nice ones that would have both gone around 4 pounds apiece. One was on a senko and the other, also a crankbait! We saw many more fish in the 4 to over 5 pound class cruising, but were unable to entice even one of them into biting so we called it a day. It wasn’t fast & furious, but we did manage to get into about 25 bass today up to at least 4 pounds on various types of lures.

Opening day for bass in Quebec saw Jim, James & Andre fishing with me on Lake of Two Mountains. Many an opener has seen Andre hooked up with me on a local lake and the results have always been successful. This year would prove to be no different as they were about to have a top-water bite today. With no wind and highs into the upper 80’s there was no way the fish wouldn’t hit the surface baits thrown at them and Andre proved that within the first couple of minutes. Sunshine all day with high humidity made it feel more like Florida though as we casted to these aggressive fish. Water temps were around 73 degrees in most areas all day and climbed slightly as the day went on. Jim & his son were both hooking fish but they were rather on the small side and then Andre finally latched onto one around 4 pounds on a Pop-R. This was to prove to be the largest fish of the day with the exception of the 4.5 to 5 pound beauty that Andre lost late in the afternoon, when the hooks just pulled out. Around the same time, I switched up baits and Jim began to throw a tiny crankbait for a while. He hooked a couple of fish that really fought and to our amazement, turned out to be catfish. The largest one would have gone around 7 pounds or so and it was a total surprise to all of us. By days end there were around 50 bass landed with plenty of others lost as well. A pretty good day for the start of this season!!

Today I fished with my friend Dave & his son Eric on a couple of lakes for smallmouh bass. We started on a trophy lake to see if we could get into some trout as well as big bass, but only managed to get the big bass. Air temps were in the 70’s at the start of the day and the water temps were 58 degrees. Light winds of less than 5 knots & overcast skies, as well as occasional sprinkles were what we had to endure on this lake. We managed to get into about 12 bass on the first lake averaging 4 pounds or better with a couple over five. The action was rather slow so we decided to head to Memphremagog to see if we could get into some top-water action like yesterday. Water temps there were 63 degrees in most areas and there was no wind at all. There was however pollen on the water that made the lake look rather yellow all over and difficult to fish in. We had an even harder time on this lake as we fished for about 3 hours with some top water action but not the likes of the day before. Some fish were also taken on soft plastic jerk-baits but they were mostly smaller in size. Although it was difficult on both of the lakes, there were still about 25 bass caught and many others lost. It wasn’t fast & furious, but it was still pretty good!!

Well, we were back on Magog again today, but primarily for perch. Both Frank & John had fished Magog for many years, but had taken some time away from the lake in the last few years and wanted to eat some more perch fillets once again. The weather was perfect for this slow jigging bite for these tasty morsels and we were happy to see it. Winds were almost non-existent at less than 5 knots and the temps were going to be in the mid 70’s. The water temps were between 59 & 62 degrees depending on where we were & the bite was on. Weed beds in open water were what we were targeting and the fish were thick! We also fished top water baits for the smalllies in the same areas and had a blast for both types of fish. Zaras & 3 inch grubs were all that was needed to catch close to 100 perch and a decent total of smallies up to almost 4 pounds during the day. With a small local tournament for bass on the lake at the same time, I was forced to fish less places than I wanted to and we still managed to catch enough bass to have won the event. All in all it was a great day on the water and with that many perch to clean, we decided to leave the water by four. It would take at least an hour to filet our catch today!!

Frank & John had caught numbers of smallmouth bass yesterday so we decided to try for some larger ones today. The weather was going to be a real beauty as temps were expected to be in the 80’s with sunshine all day long. Water temps were cooler than the big lake with most areas being around 56.5 or so degrees. Unfortunately, the winds were strong from the S/SE at 15 to 20 knots causing some larger wave action and difficult boat control. I started off with several missed strikes and then a lake trout of around 4 or 5 pounds. We saw several large smallies just cruising around, but didn’t have any success with them. In the next area, Frank hooked up with a real beauty around 5 pounds and while he was battling it, John also hooked one as well. Once they were both in the boat I realized that John’s was almost as large as Franks. A quick double photo and back to the lake they went. The rest of the day was a little slow, but there were fish being taken all over from 4 to 5.5 pounds. By the end of the day there were probably around a dozen smallies caught with plenty of others lost or missed of equal or better size. I even had another brown trout on briefly before he went into a death spiral roll and tore the hook out before I could actually get to play him. All in all a great day with good sized smallmouth of 4 pounds or better.