Christiane & I decided to head out mid morning and pleasure fish for a few hours. It was to be another scorcher of a day and the boat traffic would be heavy as well. Once out, we set the lines to troll up a few walleye for dinner and it didn’t take long. Despite the floaters all over the place, we managed to put what we needed for a meal on board and began our search for the bigger ones. Fish up to 26 inches fell victim to our rigs and some nice pics were had. Even a couple of jumbo smallies ate the lures and they too were captured on film. We didn’t want to stay out too long but remained on the water until sometime after 2 o’clock before running back. Although it was to be a rather short one, it was still productive. Not knowing what to expect back at the ramp, we headed in and prayed. To our utter amazement, it was empty. I was on the trailer in less than 2 minutes and we were on our way. I guess we were lucky because more boats were driving in while we were going out. Timing is definitely everything!!

I had the pleasure of fishing with Cotton today, all the way from the Sunshine State of Florida. We met at 7 and hit the lake almost immediately in pursuit of those scrappy smallies. The cool morning air was to soon give way to scorching heat and another high humidity day as we raced to our first location. Water temps were around 74 degrees and the air temps would climb into the 80’s by the end of the day. It didn’t seem to matter where we stopped to fish, there were bass in every location. Cotton was getting them mostly on jigs but several fell victim to a slow moving senko as well. Although there were many bass caught, I wasn’t impressed with the overall size of these fish and kept moving in search of better. The numbers were up but the size was down! Plenty of fish up to 3 pounds were landed but only a few in the 4 pound range were brought to the boat for pics. Another thing that amazed me was the overall lack of boats on the water. Today was officially the first day of the Quebec shutdown for construction and it was light. It’s usually a zoo and careful dodging of boats is the norm! Traffic seemed light but I knew it was going to change sometime during the afternoon hours. We carefully picked the areas to fish based on this and headed to some of the furthest places first just to avoid what might be coming. One of these areas had us locked up for close to 2 hours when fishing was hot. I don’t remember exactly how many Cotton landed, but there were plenty. The jig was the hot item and the bass were chewing! Once we wore out our welcome here, I thought a little drop shotting in deeper water was in order and we moved out. This was fairly new to Cotton but he caught on pretty quick. Both smallies as well as a few walleye were taken but the presentation was difficult, without much current. I normally drift along easily, but today I had to use the motor to stay vertical. A little trickier, but definitely doable! From here we shifted to an edge and began casting the same rig to deep water. We managed several more bass and a few decent walleye before calling it a day. Cotton’s ride was to pick him up at 4 and we had just enough time to travel back to the ramp. I knew it would probably be a nightmare taking out and once we arrived, saw I was right. Smallies were the target today and Cotton definitely caught his fair share of them. The largemouth from back in Florida couldn’t compare to the shear power of these feisty little footballs today. Pound for pound, definitely the strongest fighting freshwater fish on the planet! What a blast he had pounding them all day!!

Warren & his brother Shawn were with me today and what a day it was to be! We met at the lake around 7:00 and headed straight out to troll for walleye. Air temps were cooler than usual but I knew we were in for another heat wave by afternoon. It wasn’t easy fishing the zone I wanted as the NW winds had moved the floaters right into the path I was taking. Constant cleaning was needed and after a few nice fish, I decided that it wasn’t worth the trouble. I moved completely from there and tried another area where they weren’t quite as bad. It was a good choice as now we were able to troll long periods without removing the lines and the fish were biting better. It’s funny how they don’t like salad with their meals! I covered plenty of water before the reels went off and after about an hour, decided to look elsewhere. Several bass and a few walleye were caught before we jumped locations, strictly for smallies. Even here, the fish were rather lethargic as we soon found out. A number of the smaller ones were caught on tubes and senko’s but the bruisers were just cruising. There was no wind and with the lower than usual water levels, no current. It was as if we were anchored! I was going to have to get more in the main flow in order to find current and opted for another move again. I hit a deep drop close to the channel and switched them to a drop shot rig, hoping for a mix of fish from here. On my initial demonstration cast, I hooked up and started fighting a smallie from the deep. Before I could bring it boat side to be released, another boat was idling up to us. I quickly realized that we were about to be checked as they were Game Wardens! Wow, they do exist! I thought they were like snipe and just a myth here in the province of Quebec! I leaned over, lipped the bass and released it right in front of them before they pulled over to check our permits. Two of the nicest guys you’ve ever met and we talked for a bit about some of the encounters they have had recently. Turns out that the Chinese have been banged a few times out here and it’s about time! There have been several boats that they checked that were way over their possession limits as well as size. I wondered why I’ve barely seen them out lately. Hopefully they confiscated the boat and all their tackle! They could see by the way we were fishing that it wasn’t a problem here and after a short period, were on their way. It kind of gives me a better feeling knowing that someone is out there checking the poachers. Back to the task at hand and both Warren & his brother began hooking up on a few smallies. Although smaller than expected, they were still locked up and I held in this area until it just stopped. Moving along, we headed to another flat where as it turned out; we were to spend the remainder of the day. It was full and we weren’t leaving! Shawn must have gone at least 6 casts in a row locked up on bass. They both managed to catch plenty of smallies from this area and we covered it thoroughly in about 3 hours. We even left them biting and that’s not normal. It was almost 4:15 and I knew we would need time at the ramp as today was the start of the construction holidays. There were plenty of boats that had come out after lunch and they just kept coming. I guess people cut out from work a little early as the lake was like a Sunday afternoon right now. Who knows what the ramp would be like! As luck would turn out, I was amazed to find only one other boat launching and it wasn’t long before I had the boat on the trailer. Although difficult conditions were had, the slow approach turned everything around and plenty of fish were caught today. Another successful outing despite the flat, humid conditions!!

Cindy & Alain joined me on the water today for a real multi species day. We headed out around 7:30 and trolled for a while, catching mostly walleye. Although there were a few smallies landed, it was the large walleye we were after! The heat wave was still upon us and the humidity was high making the temps feel a whole lot worse than they actually were. It had been a while since either of them had caught walleye and they were also looking forward to eating a few tonight. The only problem I was having was getting the slot fish to eat. It seemed that the bigger ones wanted to eat as we were releasing fish from 22 to 26 inches. Eventually we managed to get into some of the 18 inchers that I preferred and kept a few for the table. Once we had the fish we needed, I pulled out and headed somewhere else looking for smallies. A series of stops were made in the next few hours and all had fish. They managed to get into plenty of bass on a variety of soft plastics and a few exotics as well. Cindy had a nice sturgeon that battled her like the prehistoric beast it was and she couldn’t believe its strength. Alain landed another cool fish when a drum over 10 pounds ate a tube, fishing for smallies. These two were definitely a bonus and added to the fish total for today. Towards the end of the afternoon, we slid onto a huge flat where the fish were really active. Once we found them, doubles seemed to be the norm! They ended the day on a high as several big smallies were taken in a short time. Obviously the wind had them active and we were glad. Most of the day had been flat calm and a real scorcher. Even the water temps had climbed to almost 77 degrees with this heat. I don’t really know what the final count was but it was high as Cindy & Alain had caught a boat load. They both had a Grand Slam with an exotic species to complete their limit. What a great day on the lake!!

Today I had a few regulars as Hassan & his brother Sam were joined by their friend Martin for a good smallie day. We hit the lake at the crack of almost 9 and fished till about 3:30. Conditions were the first day with a semi cold front as the morning chill wasn’t the norm lately. They actually had to wear their jackets for most of the morning! The fishing was a little tough too as the water had cooled off almost 4 degrees overnight. Winds were out of the NW blowing 10 to 15 knots causing boat control to be a little difficult during our first drift. They were drop shotting over a series of bumps but I was missing the sweet spots because of the cross current movement. After about 30 minutes or so of this and only a half dozen fish, I pulled the plug and went elsewhere. We continued with the drop shotting technique in another area a few miles away but this time they were casting their presentations along a steep break. Hassan managed to get the best fish here as a long bass looking like a post spawner, fell victim to his offering. It should have weighed close to 5 pounds but barely made the four pound weight. A few more smallies were landed along with a couple of nice walleye but I still wasn’t satisfied with these results. One more move had them into fish on jigs almost instantly and we refined the water here, for the remainder of the day. Most of the fish were averaging 2 to 3 pounds but Hassan managed to pull out a few in the four pound class mixed in. I shifted between senkos and tubes and plenty of action was had by all. I don’t really know the final count of fish landed but I do know it was about 1/3 of what it could have been. These fish were really biting strange and many bass were missed on the hook set. With hot, humid and stable weather for a long period, the first cold night had them fairly lethargic for most of the day. Not one fish chased a spinnerbait and Martin threw it for quite a while! If it weren’t for the slow presentations, it could have been a very poor day for results. This gang had just witnessed the difference between active and negative fish and come out on top. A little adjustment was all that was needed to turn this day around. Overall, a very educational day for these three amigos!!