Peter & Dave joined me today for a morning trip and it was a great one! Despite the NE winds blowing strong, we were still able to get to and fish the area I wanted, with success. Many, many pike & walleye came aboard in the short time we were on the water. Overall, it was a great trip!!

May 12^th 2024

Courtney & Grady spent a great day chasing northerns today! Although the weather could have been a bit nicer, it was still much better than forecasted. The original rain ended up being only a light sprinkle, for just a brief period. Light winds from almost every direction had me adjusting areas often to monopolize on the bites. Concentrations of fish were found in deeper water, due to the 53-to-55-degree water temps and large numbers of fish were caught by both Courtney & Grady by the time we were done. The trolling bite may not have been on fire, but it was a great way of covering water and definitely got the job done!!

Today’s weather was absolutely spectacular for a mid-November day! So much so that it seemed like everyone who owned a boat, was on the water too! Leslie opted for a half day trip that put us right in the middle of the day and hopefully the best fishing.

We started around 10:00 and I wasn’t surprised to see as many boats as I did where we fished. It was almost T Shirt weather out there! It’s too bad the fishing wasn’t as hot as the air temps though as we struggled to get the bites today. The fish just weren’t cooperating much in the beginning but we did find some good ones to play with. Short strikes and light bites were more common, but several of the bigger bass just crushed the baits too! I found myself moving around more than usual, just to avoid the traffic!

Four hours passes by quickly and it definitely was a blur today. Before we knew it, it was time to go! There weren’t too many pictures taken today and every fish was a bonus. I would have liked to get a few pics of the beast Leslie landed, but a light bleed had us releasing it quicker than usual. We both wanted to ensure that it lived! Overall, today may have been tougher than usual but it sure was a pleasure to be on the water, on such a beautiful day. There’s no telling how much longer I’ll be able to remain out before winter storage arrives. Mother nature will decide my fate!!

Craig & Herm were back again, for their last trip of the season. Craig has a bad habit of bringing weather and today was no different. Lucky we were on the downside of the snow that fell yesterday, when he arrived. Today was going to be a cool one with cloud all day, but hopefully the fishing would be hot!

We began fishing for walleye but despite seeing all kinds on the sonar, only a few of them actually wanted to bite. We spent several hours covering the water before giving up and going elsewhere for bass!

Craig was on fire with the smallies and hammered some nice ones in the last few hours of the day. Herm managed a few of his own but struggled somewhat, fishing beside Craig! He was like a vacuum cleaner today!

Day 2 saw us heading straight for smallies and apparently it was the right choice. We were in sunshine and I knew they would be reacting much better today. Craig drew first blood with a few nice ones and herm managed a couple of small ones before the tank! We had slid into an area and he set into a huge fish. When it jumped, I released the anchor mode and began drifting towards his fish. It was definitely bigger than anything else we had seen! Once in the net, I realized that it was probably the biggest bass of the season too and took several pics before it was released. Herm may not have been catching as many as Craig but this bass more than made up for the numbers!

We slowly covered the water and both Craig and Herm continued to catch several more bass. After a brief bite for lunch, I made a move to an area I hadn’t fished yet and Craig immediately was tight to another huge fish. It went ballistic when he set the hook and acted more like a steelhead than a bass. It screamed out line and raced across the surface, totally pissed off! Not wanting to have the hooks pull out, I released the spot lock feature on the electric and slowly headed towards his fish. Eventually I saw an opportunity to net it and ended this scary fight. It may not have been as big as Herm’s previous fish but it was pretty close! A few more pics and a quick release and we were right back at it, looking for more!

The rest of the afternoon saw overcast skies and much slower fishing. The temperatures also began to fall and they struggled to get bit. A few more bass and one nice wallye were landed, before we ended the day.

These two days were filled with lots of laughs and some pretty good fish as well. Craig & Herm both landed big fish and ended their season on a high note. We were also fortunate to have had a couple of decent days for this time of the year and Mother Nature held back from her fury. With only a few more days left for my open water boat season, I only hope she continues to be nice. You never know what can happen this late in the season!!

Scott was back again and this time he brought Cory & Obey with him as well. We were gong for smallies and I hoped that the big ones would cooperate today. With daylight savings time upon us, we met up shortly after 7:00 and headed out. It would be a chilly run in a big east wind!

Our first couple of spots saw fish, but only of average size. I moved around in search of the bigger ones and eventually stumbled upon better fish. Cory was on fire hooking most of them, but Obey also brought a few to the boat. Scott was positioned in the front and having a hard time getting proper casts to where the fish actually were. He did however hold his own in the end and boated several good ones too.

With the winds picking up and switching to the NE, boat control was becoming difficult. We were fishing in current and it seemed like the wind was stronger, almost turning us sideways. Eventually we just pulled the plug on this area and headed elsewhere to fish. We were now heading to try for walleye!

Well, the bite for walleye wasn’t great either but not because of the wind. The fish just weren’t cooperating! Scott was the only person that managed to get one, despite all the other perch caught. After about an hour or so of moving around, we finally called it a day.

Although the bite wasn’t fast and furious today, there were definitely some quality fish landed. I almost expect a slower day at this time of year and was pleased to see some big fish. Colder water temps have the bass in a more lethargic state and by slowing down presentations, they managed to take advantage of the larger ones. A little sun might have made it even better, but we weren’t fortunate enough to have any today. At least it wasn’t snowing like the last time!!