Richard was flying solo this morning as we headed out on the water, in search of a few bites. We tried an area close by and managed 20 or more fish before moving. Unfortunately, all the walleye were small, as well as the bass! Time to move on!

Rich had wanted to try catching a fish on the fly, so it was in the next spot that I made it happen. In fact, he managed to get a couple before switching back to a spinning rod and putting a hurt on the bass. We were pre frontal and the fish wanted to eat! I remained here for long as I cold before relocating to seek cover closer to shore. The thunder was rumbling in the background and I wanted no part of it! We continued to fish, carefully, while the thunder and lightning was happening. In fact, Rich even managed a couple more bass through the ordeal!

After things seemed like they had settled down, we made our way out to deeper water to try a little dropshotitng. It was starting to look good as a few fish were landed, but it didn’t last. We were forced to move back closer to the shore when the storm reappeared. No reason to chance anything in these conditions!

Well after a little longer than I would have liked, we moved back to deeper water and continued fishing. We also continued catching but they weren’t all big. Although Rich managed some nice bass most were on the medium size. Several walleye were also caught but none were legal. We fished a series of places for the remainder of the day and managed fish from each one. Around 3:00 we decided to pull the plug after one final stop. This shallow area was void of fish after the storm, unlike earlier when Rich beat on them. It was officially time to go!

Today was a great day despite Mother Nature’s attempt at ruining it. We caught plenty of fish and some really good ones as well. An earlier postponement opened the door for Rich today and he took advantage of the holiday. Apparently, we were the only ones as the lake was pretty void of boats. Pretty strange for a weekend led alone a holiday, but we weren’t going to let a little rain ruin a perfectly good fishing day. Glad to be on the water, catching fish!!

Dominic & his son Justin joined me today for another outing. After the last 4 days of fly fishing, we were going to be doing a mix of other things. I decided to give an area close by a quick stop and see if they could drop shot up a few fish. Although it looked decent, the scum line was right where I wanted to fish and we had to move after only few minutes. It was just impossible to fish!

Our next stop was further away and here there were a couple of bass landed and a few others lost or missed before moving again. I was jumping around to try and find active fish for them to catch and not spending long in areas that weren’t holding.

Well, two spots later and still no active fish, I decided to switch gears and try a troll. I set the lines and within 5 minutes, one of the reels went off. Justin landed a nice walleye and we had our first fish on the troll. I continued to cover water and change up baits for more bites and both pike and walleye came aboard. Although it wasn’t fast & furious, at least we were getting bit!

The weather was quite overcast and eventually it began to rain on us while we trolled. I decided to raise the roof and continued to fish comfortably, instead of getting everything wet. It was nice having a roof over our heads instead of a hood from our rain gear!

With zero wind and no boat traffic anywhere, the water was like glass. The only issue I had was all the floating grass weeds clinging to the rods as we trolled. I was forever cleaning the rods to ensure the lines were free form them. It was like a never-ending chore!

We continued to cover water in search of more fish and I managed to hit one area loaded with bait and big marks. I knew they were all walleye and adjusted the lures running depths before getting hit. We instantly had a double header! As it turned out one was an over and the other was a keeper. Figuring that I was on to something now, I reset the rods expecting more bites. To my surprise, that was all she wrote! Although I still saw plenty of marks on the sonar, they soon became fewer & fewer. Too bad the floating grass wasn’t the same!

I didn’t want to end the day with only the fish they caught so I opted for a change back to dropshotitng again. After packing everything up, including the roof, I headed to where we had started the day. The scum line was a bit further away allowing us to fish, but there wasn’t anything to catch. I jumped to a couple of other spots and the same thing. Finally on the last one Justin locked up on a nice bass and I was actually marking fish here as well. Several more walleye including a nice keeper and we were done. Oh yeah, his father landed a big perch too!

Today was an interesting one to say the least. We hit so many places, trying to find active fish, but never really keyed into anything significant. With the water temps still about 10 degrees lower than they should be, these fish really aren’t moving much. What should have them in a summer pattern schooled up, still has them scattered all over the place. Hopefully soon this will all change so that I can get back to catching instead of searching. The dropshot bite should be in full bloom by now, making for easy fishing. Instead, I have to do a mix of things every day in order to get into the numbers. Regardless, I still managed to get Dominic & Justin into enough fish to make this day enjoyable and they will be having fresh fish tonight!

The day began very similar to the last three with a few fish being caught on the first spot. Several other follows and no takers had us moving quickly to another area to fish. The second place didn’t produce a fish but we definitely saw them swimming around. I will be glad when they are done spawning so that I can get back to normal fishing!

With each move it produced similar results of a fish here and there but not the numbers I had hoped for. Both Dave’s worked hard for the ones they caught and every fish was appreciated. We hit as many spots as time would allow and picked at them all day long before finally ending the day. The last place we fished had so many followers, that it was discouraging! I was glad to see at least one bass caught before we were done.

This 4-day trip was challenging to say the least. Ironically the first day was the best with the balance being a struggle, but quality fish were caught each day. It’s always tougher on the fly, even when you have perfect conditions like we did! Better days to come!!

Today was a little different than the last couple, with more fish being seen than caught. I don’t know how many bass we saw that didn’t want to eat, but it was a lot. They were tight to nests and not willing to take a fly in most of the places we fished. Some of them were real giants too! Despite the painful attempt at getting them to bite, it was still nice to see this many big bass.

After a morning of running all over the water looking for active fish, we decided to ty for largies in the afternoon. This too proved almost the same if it weren’t for a few aggressive smallies. On the outside of the shallower water, I actually found several fish that wanted to bite and Dave managed to get into a bunch of quality bass. This was where we were to end the day on a high note!

To say this was a tough day would have been an understatement! If it weren’t for seeing all the fish everywhere we went, I would have thought there were no fish at all. The season is quite late this year for bass spawning and it shows! Water temps are still not where they should be causing the fish to a little messed up. Hopefully tomorrow we will end this 4-day trip with a bang like it began. If not, they’ll go out swinging. Flies of course!!

Day two wasn’t as good as the first! NE winds made for a little tougher fly casting and boat positioning. Most of the areas that were holding fish yesterday seemed to have been vacated too. They worked hard for the ones they caught and missed more than they landed. The quality was definitely there though as Dave caught the largest bass so far this trip! Hopefully tomorrow it will all change and the numbers of big ones will increase!