I had a customer from the past back today for a little confidence building. Luc was to learn a few new techniques that he would be able to apply to future trips on his local body of water. A little knowledge goes a long way, along with the confidence he would get today! We hooked up at 7:00 and headed to our first spot to start the day. I thought he should start with a blade bait and within his first couple of casts, it produced. A missed hit was enough to show me that these fish would eat the bait and on the very next cast, he was locked up. It didn’t take long for the bass to throw the hooks though when a leap in the air had him unpinned. Several casts later he nailed another and this one made it all the way to the net for his first of many fish of the day. A couple more fish were also missed shortly after until a refinement had him back in the game. I set up the rods with soft plastics and made a few casts myself in order to show him what he needed to do in this area and hooked into one on the very first cast. Shortly after Luc also locked up and we had a double. What a great start to the day and it had only just begun! I covered the water in this area completely for a while until it just went dead. Time to relocate and the teaching part would begin! I was going to show him how to fish with a drop shot both casting and vertically. This technique would be something that would put many more fish in the boat for him on future trips throughout the year. I also fished alongside him for a while to show him exactly what he needed to do and hooked another fish on the very first cast. Now that’s a demonstration! Once he positioned his rod correctly and slowed down, he too was hit and landed his very first walleye of the day. Looks like someone would be having fish for dinner! We kept at this for a while and put a couple more eyes in the livewell and Luc even managed to catch a decent smallie as well. Another technique accomplished! Next on the list was a vertical presentation and it didn’t take long before we hooked up. Although I wasn’t marking many fish in the deeper water, there were enough sightings on the sonar to keep me interested. After I landed a couple of smallies, Luc too hooked into one of his own and another understanding of a new method was had. He managed to catch a nice smallmouth and a smaller walleye a little later. We hit one more deeper area and landed a couple more smallies before switching gears completely. This time we went to an area where he would be throwing soft plastics once again and as usual, it didn’t take long to bend a rod. Smallie after smallie were on him and many more quality fish were boated for the remainder of the afternoon. By 4:00 we called it quits as both of us were exhausted from the heat of the day. A lack of wind increased the temperatures and the sunshine just baked us completely. The run back felt great as it was the coolest either of us had felt in hours. Luc had also graduated with high honors as he passed every test with flying colors. I’m sure the next time he goes out on his local water he will find it much easier. I’m looking forward to hearing his report!!

Today I had the pleasure of fishing with 3 generations of Robinson’s! Larry, his son Jeff and his grandson Dylan were going to experience some great fishing! The day began flat calm and comfortable air temps were upon us as we headed out looking for a shot at the elusive musky. Despite all our efforts, it wasn’t to happen and I pulled the plug on these creatures in about 90 minutes of lure washing. I wasn’t about to waste the day looking for a possible bite or two and switched gears to something much more reliable. A quick instruction on the soft plastics and it was game on. Dylan & Larry were up front with me and locked up almost immediately. Double header on bass and it was just starting! They both landed several more but Jeff still hadn’t gotten bit yet. It wasn’t until Larry gave up his front spot that he was to finally hook up. It was also a really nice one and everybody was finally on the board. We moved around and more fish were taken but mostly by Dylan. For some reason he was the one with the hot hand, but the others were getting their shots too. Larry managed to land the biggest smallie overall from here, after many others were missed. When we had exhausted all of the possible easy biters, I decided to relocate to another place further away. Along our route with the electric motor, we passed over several sturgeon, smallies and ironically even saw a musky of about 43 inches swimming. To make matters worse, it was only about a couple of hundred yards from where we had trolled earlier. Hateful creatures! Our next stop was a place that I had been to with clients a few days earlier and I hoped it would still be good. The fish were all big here and unfortunately all we ended up getting were sightings as they took to the air and threw the hooks. The five or six fish hooked all managed to get off before coming to the net. Not long after we changed spots again and went to a big flat that was loaded with bass. This was to be our last stop as they were into bass for the remainder of the afternoon. Larry & Jeff were picking at them constantly but it was « Big Bird » that was putting on a clinic with the number of fish he was catching. Dylan was feeling the pain as he wasn’t getting even a single bite for quite a while. The others had slowed down their presentations and the slower approach was working for them. A little fine tuning and a friendly side bet and Dylan would be getting it done. The next fish was worth 5 bucks from each and incentive was apparently what it took for him to land it. Dylan had gone from a long dry spell to making money! His dad Jeff was about to make an impact as well with back to back beasts. We saw a couple of big cruisers and with a little guidance on how to lead them, he managed to catch the largest fish of the day, twice! Several others were landed by each of them before we called it a day. Four o’clock came around pretty quickly and they had dinner reservations at a restaurant nearby. We packed up & headed back to the dock and were on the road before 4:30. I was bringing walleye for them for the appetizer and we met back up before 5:30. The entire day couldn’t have gone better with the beautiful weather, company and great fishing we had. Everyone looked exhausted at dinner, but fulfilled from their outing. I guess you can say that all the stars were aligned today as the three generations got together for a phenomenal day of R & R. Oh yeah the fishing wasn’t bad either!!

Fred & Chris joined me this morning for a difficult day of fishing. Instead of the usual 3 to 4 footers, we were blessed with flat calm and dog pecker knats. Throw in air temps in the upper 80’s with high sunshine and you have a recipe for hell. They decided at the start that walleye was what they wanted and we went trolling immediately. At first there was a light wind out of the NE that gave us a little chop on the water and I thought it was going to be easy. I soon found out that it was anything but simple and covered all kinds of water in order to get bit. Shallow to deep and everything in between was where we fished and it was tough. I’m sure I could have switched to bass and done well casting elsewhere, but we were committed to trolling and I would make it happen! Chris had first crack at the walleye and almost got it to the net before the hooks just pulled free and away she went. Fred managed to get a couple of others into the net a little later and at least they had dinner for tonight. I eventually moved out to slightly deeper water in hopes of locating a school but it never happened. Instead the reel fired and I knew what Chris had on the other end by the way it went out. It was to be his first musky and we all hoped it would end well. After several minutes we caught a glimpse and it was definitely a good one. Too bad it was on 12lb test! After a few more minutes it came up to the surface and the hooks pulled free. It was to end in disappointment, but at least we got to see what was on the other end of the line. We resumed the troll and I eventually found some fish for them. It was a mix of bass & walleye and they were getting a few more hits, finally! We stuck to the area until the end and had a couple more fish that hit hard but just got off. Today was one of the most difficult days so far this year and if it wasn’t for the wind picking up slightly in the afternoon for about an hour, it may have been even worse. Most of our bites occurred when this happened and went dead when it died. Despite these conditions, they managed to land several good fish and ended up taking some of them home for dinner. It was still a good day to be on the water!

Scott & Neil met me early this morning for some smallmouth action. Light N winds were a pleasure for a change and it wasn’t a scorcher, yet! Water temps were holding steady around 75 degrees with all the warm weather we had been having lately and I expected the bite to be on. Neil had brought a fly rod and I instructed him to set it up for our first spot. The fish were shallow and he would be able to get them no problem. Once we arrived, Scott worked soft plastics while Neil casted a bright Clouser pattern along the rocky edge. Well it didn’t take long before Scott was into his first smallie and they were officially on the board. He also managed to get the 2nd and third before Neil finally hooked into one of his own. The wind & current was making it a little difficult for Neil to get where the fish were and I had moved a little closer to give him a better target. These fish were pretty shallow and I didn’t want to put the boat on the rocks! They both managed to hook into many fish here but not all of them came to the net. The bites were light and several of them were getting off on the jump. We hung in there for a while until we had exhausted all of the active fish and then moved to another area nearby. There wasn’t as many aggressive fish here and they had to work hard for their bites. After a while I decided a change of scenery was in order and made a long run to an area much further away. It was here that they got to see some bigger bass and unfortunately the lack of current had the fish a little lethargic. Both Scott & Neil managed to hook into a few of these bruisers but weren’t able to keep most of them pinned up. Scott was the only one to land anything and we moved once again. They wanted to try for largemouth bass so I went somewhere where I knew they were but we weren’t rigged right for the conditions. The search baits just wouldn’t cut it today under the bright sun and flat calm water. I would have needed to set them up to flip heavy cover and it’s always tough with light spinning gear! We searched for about 45 minutes for a taker but it just didn’t happen. Back to smallies we went and Scott was back in the game once again with about another 10 fish to Neil’s zero. Although they both had shots at many, Neil was unable to keep them hooked up and frustration was setting in. He could have switched to spinning gear but by now he was in too deep and it was personal. He was determined to hook up on the fly and stuck with it until the bitter end! Scott was giving him a hard time with every fish he landed making it even worse. Neil stuck to his guns and on the last spot finally managed to hook into some quality. Not before he pulled the fly out of a big fish’s mouth however! Fortunately this fish was hot and as soon as he tossed it back out, the fish hit him so violently that it would have been impossible to miss it this time! Not only did he finally break his long dry spell, but he even managed to land a couple more before we were to leave. Today may have been a bit of a grind but by having many places to go to, they monopolized on catching plenty of quality smallies from most of them. By 3:30 we were done! They had an evening planned at the comedy festival and needed some time before. Fly fishing for smallies may be tougher than conventional tackle but the thrill of being hooked up makes it all worthwhile! Neil had gotten his reward by sticking to his guns and ended with a bang!!

Dan was back with me again today for a half day with his daughter Carina. She had seen the results from his previous outings and wanted to experience it for herself. We met at 7:30 and went trolling for walleye. Despite being difficult, she managed 3 nice ones in less than an hour. I moved around and she caught another northern before I decided to go for smallies. I set them both up with soft plastics and went to an area that was loaded with some nice fish. Carina was new to this technique but caught on pretty quickly. Her hook set could have been a little meaner but she still managed to land a bunch of decent fish. Dan was in his glory after the weekend and knew exactly what to do. He too boated a number of good fish over the morning as we hit several areas holding the bass. There may not have been any giants landed, but the numbers of mid range bass were great. Both of us had places to be in the afternoon so we cut out shortly after 1:00 to head home. I’m sure I will see both of them again soon and especially once the sturgeon bite begins. I can’t wait to get Carina into a fish over 50 pounds! Hopefully in the coming weeks we will be able to make it happen!