Another day off and time to check out the lower St-Lawrence River for future fishing. My wife, Christiane & I were going to see just what the conditions were like! With all the rain and winds we had experienced in the last couple of weeks, I was expecting the worst, but was amazed when I saw the color of the water and it wasn’t brown. The clarity wasn’t great, but I’ve caught them in much dirtier water before! On the first drift in 15 feet of water, I locked up on a smallie of 3 pounds. Christiane caught another within minutes and we began to get into them regularly. The sky was an overcast one and the air temps were mid 40’s at best, but the fishing was worth staying. The wind was from the N/NE once again and against the current flow making for difficult drifts. Water temps were around 52 degrees and cooling like the rest of the lakes I fish also. Everywhere we fished, we caught some bass and I even caught a lost, 3-pound largemouth in a smallmouth zone. That was definitely a bonus fish! In a five-hour period, close to 30 fish were caught and many others were lost as well. The river is definitely fishable, but the water clarity could be a little cleaner in order to get into those 100 fish days. Hopefully in the next few days, it will filter some of the dirt & debris and have better visibility. All in all, a pretty good day for only five hours of fishing!

I had the day off so I decided to fish with an old friend of mine from Ottawa. Keith was about to experience one of the finest fall fishing days of his life as we targeted huge smaallmouth bass. The weather was a beautiful sunny cool one with air temps in the mid 40’s and no wind. The sunshine definitely makes a difference at this time of year for the warmth! Water temps were 53 degrees and cooling daily with the night temperatures nearing the freezing mark. Keith started his day off right with a smallie over four pounds within the first 5 minutes. Nice fish for a starter, but I knew the best was yet to come. Not wanting to let him lead for too long, I slammed into one even bigger shortly after and showed him what a five-pound smallmouth looks like. Several more fish were caught and a few others lost before Keith finally hooked into what I was searching for. This one came aboard and weighed 5 pounds 4 ounces. A personal best for him! The rest of the day was a little slow, as the fishing seemed to shut down after the big one was caught. We covered plenty more water and caught a few other fish, but nothing really over 4 pounds. I figured we’d take a few quick photos and fish for a little longer before we called it quits. With the sun going down and the temps getting cooler, a few more casts were about all that was left in this beautiful day. I landed one more 4 pounder on a tube and Keith should have topped that one if the hooks would have stayed in. A 4.5-pound smallie went airborne and I’m sure I saw it laughing at Keith as the hook went flying out. With this, I knew it was time to call it quits and headed for the boat ramp. It would have been a sin to have not been out there on this spectacular fall day!

I fished with Rod, Craig & Jack today on Lake Champlain (Mississquoi Bay) It was going to be a little crowded being all in one boat, so I got Benji once again to aid me on this day. It started out a little slow for Rod & Craig, but Benji had Jack into a 3.5-pound smallmouth in a few casts. We had to cover a lot of water before the first bass came aboard and were glad to see it. Casting spinnerbaits and crankbaits were only accounting for a few fish here & there so I decided that it was time for a change. With the wind blowing from the N/NE at 15 to 20 knots, I knew that a drift & drag with tubes & spider grubs would be productive. It wasn’t long before everyone was hooking up in deeper water! Doubles and even triples happened several times throughout the afternoon as all three guys started to see what the numbers thing was all about. Plenty of bass from 1 to 3.5 pounds were now being caught with regularity. With the sunshine showing for the first time in several days, the cool 45-degree air temperatures actually felt warm for a change. The water temps continue to drop with each and every passing day and today with this wind we were finding 51 to 53 degrees the norm. By mid afternoon, the winds were subsiding and the drift thing was going to become a casting thing. Without the aid of the wind to push us along we were forced to use the electric motor and this never seems to be as productive. Plenty of fish were still being caught, but the presentations weren’t the same. With this spectacular weather, we decided to hold out till about 5:30 or so and managed to see about 50 to 60 bass landed by days end. Many more were lost as well on this crisp, fall day! All in all, a great day on the water!

Today I had the pleasure of fishing with Scott & Manson from Ontario. We decided that big fish would be the choice over a numbers day and headed to lake St-Francis for smallmouth bass. Apparently, it was the right choice as both of them landed the largest smallies of their lives, several times over. With all the rain we had been having lately, the water levels had rose and discolored considerably. This was going to make the presentations more difficult! A heavy, misty rain and fog was what we began our day in and only a few periods in the afternoon had it subside to just a haze. To say the visibility wasn’t too good would have been an understatement! We had another day with very similar conditions to yesterday, no wind, but a bit warmer. The air temperatures were in the mid 60’s but very humid and the water temps were close to 60. Scott dominated the first half of the day, as every fish he landed seemed to be in the 4-pound or better class. His largest went a whopping 5.6 pounds! Manson seemed to redeem himself right at the end of the day as he scored several fish over four pounds in a very short time, just before we were ready to leave. They probably had opportunities at over ten fish in just the last hour that bumped up the numbers before days end! Fortunately, they landed more than they lost! All in all, I would estimate that there were close to 20 huge smallies landed and many others missed on this “Big Fish Day”.

Today was quite a day of fishing as an additional three boats aided me with the 8 clients from Colorado. Marc, Brian & Benji were really helpful as they provided a great day of fishing for all those willing to brave this miserable, misty outing. When this many fishermen get together you can rest assure that there will be some sort of side betting going on! The competition was for; first fish, most fish, largest bass and largest pike! I think that my boat with Kevin & Shawn got the first fish award as they landed a bass within their first three casts. Brian’s group, Dan & Bob managed to receive top honors in the pike category with one over 8 and another over 9 pounds. Marc’s guys, Rex & Doug picked up the other two with the most fish & largest bass awards. They landed about 30 bass and had a couple just under 4 pounds to their credit! Benji’s gang, Mike & Chad didn’t receive any of the glory, but still managed to catch around 20 bass. I would estimate that there was close to 100 bass caught on this cool, rainy day. All I can say is thank god for rain suits! With the air temps below 60 degrees and the water temperatures closer to 57, the bite was rather bizarre. Spinnerbaits didn’t seem to work as well in the morning as they did in the afternoon. Tubes and spider grubs definitely were a better choice, as most of these fish weren’t all that active in the earlier hours of the day. The flat calm conditions made for comfortable riding, but I would have liked a little wind for the fishing. All in all, a great day considering how miserable “Mother Nature” was to these 8 guys from the “Power Motive Corporation” in Denver, Colorado.