My cousin Geoff & his son Michael were in from the Toronto area and joined me on Lake St-Francis today. They had caught smallmouth bass before, but nothing like what they were about to experience! We started the day with a S/SW wind of 10 to 15 knots in overcast skies and the air temps were a cool 70 degrees with light humidity. Water temps were hovering around 75 degrees and never really rose throughout the day. We began by casting crankbaits and senkos for the bass and found them to be really inactive for the first hour or so. A couple of smaller fish under 3 pounds were caught before Michael finally landed his first trophy. This fish was in the 5.5 class and a real thrill for him to fight. Geoff followed up right after with a long, skinny post spawner of 3.5 pounds that should have been closer to 5 as well. I knew that the fish were finally coming alive and decided to cover some water. By spending more time in specific areas, we were able to monopolize on the most productive locations and hooked up everywhere we went. It wasn’t long before both of them were catching 3.5 to 4.5 pound bass regularly. Michael even managed to get another monster of 5.5 pounds on a crankbait that really gave him the fight of his life! Late in the afternoon, the rain began to fall and the wind died off making the fishing quite a bit slower. We caught more fish, but had to really work for them once the lake went calm. Close to 25 fish were caught today with the bulk of them being 3.5 to 4.5 pounds. Overall, an excellent day with plenty of memories and pictures for all to remember on this Trophy Smallmouth day!

I had the pleasure of fishing with Scott, Bob, John & Mack today on Lake Champlain. With four fishermen a second boat would definitely be required! I called on the help of a former fishing partner of over 15 years, Randolph, to aid in this day. The weather was a cool 63 degrees in the morning, but made its way into the 80’s by days end. The wind was from the N at 5 to 10 knots with heavier gusts at times. Water temps were pushing 80 degrees as well in some places of the lake and the surface algae made for quite stained, green surface water. Realizing what was happening on the lake, I decided to try for the smallmouth in deeper water first. The first fish of over 4 pounds was soon to come aboard by Bob and the rest of the day was no different. Both boats concentrated in deep water all day and were rewarded by many more fish over 4 pounds and a couple over 5 too. All in all, around 35 or more fish were caught & released on this beautiful day on Lake Champlain. A side bet between the two boats was made in the morning for largest fish and it was difficult to determine the winner. Bob & John had a couple of 5 pounders that would have required weighing to determine the winner. Not wanting to stress the fish too much from this, we called it a draw. They’ll have to wait for the photos to determine a winner! A great day for deep-water smallies!

Alex & his three daughters joined me this afternoon for about 6 hours on Lake St-Louis. The weather was spectacular as we had sunny skies and temps upwards of 90 degrees. Water temps were over 75 degrees and the winds were light from the S/SW under 10 knots. It didn’t take too long for Erin too hook into the first smallmouth on a tiny crankbait. Unfortunately, the bite wasn’t fast & furious for the balance of the day, as we were soon to find out. There were several larger bass that came up for a look many times, but apparently didn’t like what they were seeing and disappeared back to the depths. Alex managed to get into a few on tube baits, but Erin had the hot hand today. She landed more than anyone with at least 4 fish on a couple of rods. She seemed to hook a fish on any rod she picked up. Even during a bad tangle of lines at the boat she still got the hooks into a bass that was staring down the crankbait on the surface. We covered plenty of water on a series of shoals, but managed to move only about a dozen fish. Lots of boat traffic and beautiful temperatures made for a tougher day than expected. With the Quebec holiday period in full bloom right now, everyone is taking advantage of this fantastic weather as well.

Warren & Yves joined me on Lake St-Francis for smallmouth bass today. The air temps dropped to 68 degrees overnight when a cold front came through and the water temps also went down to 74 degrees. A 5 degree water temp drop since Sunday can’t be too good, I thought! Light winds from the S/SW soon increased to 15 to 20 knots early in the morning and never let up through the day. Blue bird skies and high pressure were going to make for a tough day! Senko’s were used right off to get a couple of fish in the 3 pound range, but each place we tried only produced one or two bites as well. We did see plenty of big bass cruising around that just didn’t seem to want to hit. Yves had the worst of luck, as he just couldn’t seem to keep the bass on the end of the line for very long. At one time while fighting a 2-pound bass for 30 seconds or so it came off and a 4 pounder nailed his crankbait immediately. Unfortunately, that one came off as well! There was only one spot that had any real concentration of fish and they spooked shortly after Warren boated a few on a spinnerbait. I knew that this was going to happen and tried to monopolize on the situation by changing lures quickly. We must have seen about 12 to 20 big fish in this one area, but only got into about 4 or 5 of them. Typical of schooling smallies in a tiny area, spooked! We continued jumping around the lake looking for more active fish and even went for largemouth bass during the afternoon when the temps warmed up. Several blow-ups in heavy vegetation on surface lures only turned up a couple of largemouth, so we opted for the smallies once again. More cruisers, but not many takers in the afternoon were what we had the pleasure of experiencing once more. A few more fish were caught, but the activity level was definitely not what we would have hoped for! A tough day to say the least with around 15 fish landed up to 3 ¾ pounds. We must have seen over 40 fish, but not many takers! Tough bite today!

I had the pleasure of fishing with Benoit once again today for the first half of the day. This time however, he had two young boys with him. Alexi was from Isles des Madelines and David was from here. The run to the first location was like riding on air as we had mirror calm conditions. The humidity was almost unbearable but the air temps were only in the upper 70’s. Water temps were between 75 & 80 degrees depending on the location of the lake you were fishing. Fishing was a little slow to start, but Ben boated the first largemouth of 2 ½ pounds on a buzzbait and lost another larger one right at the boat shortly after. I decided that we should relocate & try for some smallmouth when the fishing didn’t improve. The winds also decided to move and began to blow from the S/SW at about 10 to 15 knots making for rougher water conditions. It wasn’t long before both Alexi & David both had smallies on and finally felt what they fight like. I could see that the weather was going to take a turn for the worse and opted for another move, closer to the boat ramp just incase. We continued to catch more smallies on a flat with crankbaits and Ben got a bonus walleye of 24 inches also. Unfortunately we were going to have to get out of there as thunder, lightning and heavier winds were approaching fast. We did get somewhat wet on the run back, but managed to wait out the storm in the truck for a half hour. Back we went to the same area when it cleared and the sun came out. About another 4 or 5 bass were caught in an hour making for a total of around 15 fish for the morning. All in all, a pretty good day!!