I fished on lake St-Francis with Neil today for Smallmouth Bass and had another tough day once again. We began by not knowing if we would even be able to fish when we drove through a torrential downpour, heading there. Fortunately, by the time we arrived at the lake it had subsided considerably. I do think however that it caught up with us about an hour later as we ended up fishing in rain so heavy that the auto bilge pump even kicked in. Fish were biting senko’s during all of this and the rain didn’t seem to matter! The winds were from the N/NE at less than 10 MPH and the humidity was unbearable. With the air temps in the upper 70’s early in the morning, we knew it was going to be a sticky one. Close to 15 smallies were caught today under extreme conditions, up to 4.5 pounds. Most of the day was spend either putting on or taking off our rain gear! There were so many floating weeds on the surface that presenting these baits was almost impossible in some areas, when the winds died off near noon. If we could have caught all the fish we actually saw today, it would have been a spectacular day on the water. Unfortunately most of the larger fish in the 4 to 5 pound range were lookers and not takers on this bizarre weather of a day. I guess we fended all right considering all that “Mother Nature” had to throw at us!

I had a tournament yesterday but was back on the water again for two days with David. It was going to be a learning experience for Dave as we were going to fish new water and new techniques on two different lakes. The first presentation was the senko for inactive fish. Within the first five minutes, we had our first bass on the line. It didn’t take long for him to see how effective the senko was. In the first hour, about 10 fish were landed up to 4.5 pounds. We had blue bird skies and humid weather with air temps reaching about 90 degrees by the afternoon. We had light winds from the West that eventually died off by about 1:00 PM making for a real hot, sticky afternoon. The bite slowed down once the sun got higher in the morning and we had a tough time getting into lots of fish. We were picking one here and one there everywhere we went. I decided that by the time the wind died, it was time to enter the shallows for largemouth bass. I rigged up a Scum Frog for Dave and let him loose in the weeds and pads. Within the first few casts, he had a fish of about 2 pounds on and landed it quickly. Several more blow-ups on the frog resulted in missed fish and frustration. A largemouth of close to 5 pounds was seen taking the bait within 10 feet of the boat as Dave set into him and lost yet another fish once again. I am not quite sure what was going wrong other that maybe not applying enough pressure when the fish was hooked, but more fish were lost than landed in this jungle of vegetation. We spent the rest of the afternoon until 5:00 PM working the slop for largemouth bass. There was definitely plenty of fish in the shallows once the sun warmed the water. Unfortunately, most of them were only seen from a distance! Overall, it was a good day as close to 25 fish were caught & released. The second day was quite a bit different as we headed to Lake of Two Mountains. To say the bite was tough would have been an understatement! The shallow largemouth waters were really shallow and muddy. We saw only a couple of fish and they were on the move. As for smallmouth, well that wasn’t much better either! With only about a dozen actual bites today, only a handful of smallmouth were caught up to 2.5 pounds. The weather was even hotter than yesterday reaching into the mid 90’s and very high humidity. The water temps were 83 degrees by the afternoon as well. Tough bite to say the least! Lots of water covered with little rewards for our efforts!

What a day! The weathermen called for intermittent showers all day with heavier rains in between. All I can say is thank god for our weathermen. How wrong they were! We had overcast skies all day with comfortable air temps in the low to mid 70’s. No winds were present until after 3:00 PM when a small rainstorm arrived. When I saw that the water temps were in the low to mid 70’s I told Benoit & Richard that this had the makings of a “Big Fish Day”. They were soon about to find out just how right I was! We started catching a few largemouth bass on an outside weedline up to 3 pounds before I opted for open water on the lake instead. The first spot produced at least 6 or 8 smallmouth bass up to 5 pounds. Every other location we fished afterwards was pretty much the same as well. A slow presentation with senko’s accounted for almost all the fish today as we jumped all over the lake looking for areas of the same bottom content. Each time we hit a new spot, a fish was usually caught on the first or second cast. When the winds & rain started to come in after 3:00, I opted for a sheltered area to fish nearby. As they were soon about to find out, this was a great choice as well. They continued to cast the same baits along outside weedlines and managed to land several smaller largemouth bass until Ben set the hooks into what he called “A Panfish”. To his surprise, a huge largemouth of 5.5 pounds was soon dancing across the surface of the water. “Nice panfish” I said! Another big fish added to the already spectacular day we were having. A quick photo and back to the depths she went. With around 30 huge bass caught today, we called it quits by 5:00 PM and headed home. An incredible day of fishing for trophy sized smallmouth & largemouth bass today. The average size was over 3.5 pounds with plenty over 4 pounds. There were even a few in the 5-pound class as well. Great day!!!

After a long, disappointing tournament in Ontario, I was back on Montreal waters once again today. I actually had a double, half-day booking and fished with Eli & his son Joe in the morning. At nine years old, Joe is already a more experienced fisherman than a lot of people out there. He not only landed the largest smallmouth but also caught the most bass as well. We had a light wind from the N/NE and very hot, humid air temps of over 80 degrees by the end of the day. The water was 73 to 75 degrees in mot areas. Tube jigs & Berkley Power Jerk Shads were the ticket and the fish were really shallow. A few walleye were also taken and a huge Muskie of around 40 pounds was seen chasing one of the baits back to the boat. About 15 fish were caught this morning up to over 4 pounds. This afternoon I had the pleasure of fishing with Alex & Lorne on Lake St-Louis as well. The conditions remained pretty much the same with the wind dying out completely by mid afternoon. Presentations were the same as this morning, but the tubes were a better choice as we soon found out. Lorne hooked up on about his second cast and soon boated a bass of near 3 pounds. It was quite some time before another fish was landed and we searched a lot of water looking for them. Eventually we came back to the original area and they started to catch bass again. Alex had a hard time locking up but eventually made a great comeback landing 6 in a row. The largest fish were in the 4-pound class and the average was about 3. Close to 15 fish were caught once again this afternoon.

I fished with Max & Denis today on the Ottawa River for Largemouth Bass. The first time out there is always the hardest, but this time was an exception. Temperatures were in the upper 70’s to low 80’s, and the water temps never exceeded 70. The water was quite low for this time of the season and it was also very stained from the rains & winds. We also had a very strong W/SW wind with gusts up to 25 or more knots. This time we were glad for the wind, as the deer flies were absolutely insane. Without it, there would be no way to fish! It took quite a while to get the first bass as we found out that they were already into the summer patterns. Grass lines and plastic worms accounted for the first few hook ups and slugs caught several more afterwards. We stayed on the same type of cover and caught many more in the afternoon on Scum Frogs & Slugs. The weather began to push a storm front into our area and sent us running for the boat ramp by 5:00. All in all, a good day with about a dozen bass and some pike caught. The largest bass went just under 5 pounds and would have been more if it wasn’t all spawned out.