Hugues was back with me today, along with his son Oliver & his friend Daniela. Over the years, he had experienced many days with bad weather in the form of thunder storms that had us running for cover. Some of them even cut our day short! Today would not be one of them though as high heat & humidity would have us in the sunshine all day. We did have that hateful wind again though that blew 20 knots out of the SW. Some areas had huge waves, but not where we were to begin. I was taking them straight to a smallie area and it was loaded! Daniela was pretty new to this style of fishing so I brought her up front with me and let Hugues & his son fend from the back of the boat. Needless to say, she managed to hook up and brought the first bass in for a pic. She even landed a couple of walleye that kick started our livewell early in the day! Both Oliver and Daniela hooked into several and landed a few, but Hugues kept missing his for some reason. I decided to slide in a little giving Hugues a better angle to cast to and unfortunately had another bass boat move in to the area I had been fishing. It was like being back in a tournament again! This guy who I knew, should have had the courtesy to just pass the area by as he was also out with clients. I guess he was still in tournament mode and didn’t see anything wrong with what he was doing. All I know is that If I saw someone fishing an area I wanted to fish, I wouldn’t even think of stopping, let alone fishing on top of someone else. After seeing this, I moved away completely and went another hundred yards to fish somewhere else. It didn’t take long before I had company again and this time he came in from below and tried to fish from the down current side. Absolutely unbelievable! Despite these inconveniences, I was able to position all three of my guests so that they could cast & catch plenty of quality bass. Although it took a while, I guess he finally realized that he wasn’t going to be able to get any closer and slowly moved out of the area completely. This allowed me to cover the water slowly with the presentations they were using and refine the area completely. Needless to say, they pounded on all kinds of real quality smallies! After doing this for several hours we were now late in the morning and a change of location was in order. I knew it was blowing pretty good but wanted to see if we could fish another place further away. As I neared the spot, I realized it wasn’t doable and turned around. The water was a terrible color and the wind was blowing big waves directly on it. Change of plans! We would be going trolling for a bit but first I would have to pick up the rods that I was having dropped off at the ramp by my wife. I didn’t realize just how big the waves were until I neared the ramp. We finished the run in 4 footers as I got closer & closer! This year is just unbelievable! There was also a bathroom break in order for Daniela so it worked out great. We headed back out after the pickup and I set the lines for the troll. Just like usual, the first fish to come aboard didn’t fire the rod, it just loaded. The second walleye did exactly the same and we now had a couple more joining the others in the livewell. Hugues had let them take the first rods and was up next. He had fished this lake for many years and had always wanted to land a musky but never thought it would happen. Well when the next rod bent, the reel howled! I couldn’t say for sure but had an idea that he was about to get his wish. We cleared all the rods and I started backing up on his fish. When I got a glimpse of it in the distance, a confirmation was made. Several minutes later I was able to get the boga grip locked on and he was elated. Bucket list checked off today! With everything in order, I lifted the fish aboard and laid it across his lap. In about 30 seconds I had all the pics I needed and it was released back to the water unharmed. Although we went back to trolling afterwards, I knew anything caught wouldn’t top this. Hugues was reliving the fish in his mind while chilling up front as we trolled. A few more fish were taken but all northerns so we decided to finish the day with more smallies. In the last hour or so, several more good fish were landed and a few more were missed as usual. By 4:00 we called it a day and headed back to the ramp. It was nice to finally have a good weather day with Hugues but even better to have an excellent fishing day with them as well. I’m sure this will be etched in his mind for quite a while as he relives it over & over. Thankfully he has many pics as a reminder too!

William and his two sons, Peter & Alex were with me this morning for a half day of fishing. We began at 7 and were scheduled to fish until noon, weather permitting. As William wanted smallies, I headed straight to an area that was loaded with plenty of quality ones. On his very first cast, he was locked up and battling a decent starter fish. Never good luck to hook up on your first cast! His kids were also catching some nice ones, with a little help from me of course. Many were missed by setting too soon but there were a good number of bass brought to net for some nice pics too. This went on for several hours until Mother Nature decided to rain on our parade, literally! I was forced to raise the roof and that was it for the casting. We switched gears as they decided staying dry was more important and dropped the lines in for a troll. Not long after they were in the water, one of the rods bent and they had a walleye on the line. They were happy to have it after the last trip this spring when they took three home for their dinner. I hoped we would get more but was limited to the amount of time needed to locate them. Unfortunately it wasn’t going to happen and we headed back to take out. The winds may have started out light from the east but when they switched to the SE and picked up, the bite just died. Despite marking plenty of fish, I was unable to get another reel to fire and they left with only one walleye. I know they will be back again this season and hopefully I will have more than 45 minutes to get them enough walleye for a good meal. These fish are only now starting to settle into their summer patterns and it won’t be long before I’m back on schooling fish again. Better days ahead!

I Spent the day with Christiane and Dan & his wife Maibbeth on the lake for a variety of fish. We targeted walleye when we got started and managed to put three good keepers in the well before changing it up to fish for bass. The weather was not like what I was use to as the winds were practically nonexistent.  Lately I’ve been out in some pretty good rollers and it was nice to see this for a change! I set everyone up with soft plastics and let the games begin. It didn’t take long before fish were being hooked and coming aboard. Dan may have managed to get the first couple of smallies but Christiane hooked into a giant and everyone was in awe as she battled this beast. She had only gotten out with me once or twice this season as bookings have been good and she was thoroughly enjoying the fight. It was definitely her largest in quite a while! I took several pics before releasing it back and they all resumed fishing. Both Dan & his wife Maibbeth were hooking up as well and all the fish were decent size. Dan was use to catching smaller ones on a drop shot rig at the lake he usually fishes and was real happy to get fish of this quality. He even managed a personal best that was soon to be broken a little later in the day. The fish were cooperating pretty good and numbers of good sized bass were getting caught until Christiane hooked another giant. She may not have been getting as many bites as everyone else but the ones she did get were good ones! After a couple of minutes I slid the net under another slab and shot a few more pics. We were definitely on the fish and it wasn’t long between bites. Eventually this area slowed and I moved to another and it started all over once again. Fish were coming in hand over fist and all quality! It was here that Dan finally got one over 4 pounds and his personal best! It was the icing on his cake for the day! He was catching all kinds of others but this was the one he would remember today. After beating on many, many more smallies, we decided to try for a few more walleye before calling the day. The troll was the way to go and 45 seconds after the lines were back in, one of the reels fired. Dan landed an over and immediately after the release, another one went off as well. Two fish in as many minutes! This one was a keeper and added to his others in the live well. I moved around a bit and managed to get two more eyes, a northern and a jumbo perch before ending the day. A little chaos at the dock due to the weekend warriors and I was out. We had spent the day on almost flat calm waters and they had landed a ton of fish. What more could you ask for?

Just another day in paradise, not! It began with strong west winds blowing 10 to 20 knots and intensified throughout the day. I had a single person today, unlike the boat load yesterday and was looking forward to fishing. Too bad Mother Nature had other ideas as she tortured us all day long! Christy was hoping to get a possible musky as she had never landed one before, but it just wasn’t meant to be. We hit a few areas early and trolled them hard, only to come up empty. By about 10:30 or so we pulled the plug and targeted the smallies instead. It seemed that the winds were stronger now making the fishing even tougher. The light bait approach for bass was difficult as the big blow was causing giant bows in her line, making it almost impossible to detect the strikes. I was on a bunch of good smallmouth and had to reposition the boat in order for Christy to feel any pickups at all. She eventually overcame these problems and began hooking many fish, but landing them was a different story. More than half of them managed to jump the hooks, leaving her in disappointment. She did catch plenty but it could have been a whole lot more! I moved around a few areas and in every one, had a rough time positioning the boat for her to cast. We held out here for a few hours until neither of us could take it any longer. I thought I would be able to run around a point and fish shoreline further away but soon realized that this idea was impossible. The waves were three & four footers and blowing right on the area I wanted to fish. Plan B was to troll another spot but the water clarity looked more like coffee and after 20 minutes there, I moved again. By now the waves were rolling pretty good and despite an attempt at trolling into the wind, I was forced to go in one direction. Downwind was the only way to go and I hate settling! We managed to get several pike but no walleye. I would have loved to make turns and cover entire areas but unfortunately, I had to keep going with the wind. To make matters worse, the floating weeds were in the entire water column. It didn’t matter if I got the lures in clean because there was so much more below the surface and likely all the way to the bottom. A constant rotation from each rod was needed and even at that, they kept coming in dirty. By 3:00 we had just about enough of this crap and headed to the ramp to pull out. I know that even with the hurricane like winds, I would have been able to catch if it wasn’t for the weeds in the water. Despite all the obstacles we encountered, we endured most of them and even managed to catch some fish. I only hope the winds lighten up soon as the fish are getting away with murder. So many places to fish and very few areas doable! It’s just got to lighten up soon!!

I really had a full boat today as Tony, Antoine, Kevin & Ray were with me. Smallmouth were on the list and I decided to start with them as it had been a while since they were targeted. As usual, the winds were blowing but for some reason, they didn’t seem as bad. Maybe I’m just getting use to it! With the air temps scheduled to get into the mid 80’s the water temps would surely be on the rise. I hoped that this would make for more aggressive fish today. I ran for a while and stopped in an area that held fish and set everyone up for the challenge. Kevin drew first blood with a blade fish and I knew it was going to be a great day! The others were all throwing soft plastics and getting hit as well. Some were coming aboard but many were being missed by poor hook sets. With a little instruction, this was soon a thing of the past and more fish were being landed. I never had to go far and fine tuned this area, keeping them on the fish the entire time. Amazingly, it was almost 1:00 before we decided to break for lunch and change species and locations. The winds had picked up considerably by now and we were drifting while eating and getting closer to where I wanted to troll. Despite the high winds, the SW direction made the waves smaller than I had seen all week. It may have been  gusting 25 knots but the conditions seemed perfect for a troll. I set the lines and began where I had been having great success. This was the latest that I had fished this area and hoped it would still produce. After about 30 minutes with only a small eye to show for our efforts, I moved on to another place nearby hoping it would be better. The first fish was a nice 24 incher and just like usual, the reel never fired. I just noticed that the rod was bent and informed Tony to grab it. Ray, being from Florida, had never seen a walleye and was quite impressed at how the fish looked. Too bad he never got a chance to eat one because he would have really been impressed at their taste! A few pics and a release and back she went. In the last hour or so they managed to land a couple more northerns, a giant perch and another nice walleye before we called the day. They decided to end it at 3:00 as they all had things to do tonight and needed time to get ready. I definitely made the right choice this morning by starting with the smallies as they put a beating on them. So much so that we were able to stay pretty much in one area the entire morning and catching the entire time. Everyone had landed a good number of fish today and had a great time in the process. Hopefully with all this warm weather finally upon us, things will stabilize and the fish will set up in their summer locations. It’s definitely beginning to look that way now!!