After several emails, Jay just had to get back out and catch some of those big smallmouth that he had been hearing so much about. Unfortunately for him, this wasn’t going to be a very nice weather day! We began with air temps around 34 degrees and it really didn’t get any warmer. Go figure, the weathermen forecasted sun and occasional cloud! We on the other hand had clouds and heavy N/W winds that made it feel more like the lower 20’s. Any wind at this time of the year is not welcomed but a 10 to 20 knot wind from the cold north definitely will take the smile off your face. Water temps also fell and were now barely above the 48 degree mark slowing the fish down even more. Although Jay did manage to land a nice one around 3.5 pounds on the first spot, he was having a difficult time feeling the bottom with all the clothes he had on. The heavy gloves weren’t allowing him the luxury of being able to detect the subtle hits of the bass or even the loose weeds he was having on each retrieve. He did manage to catch several fish throughout the morning but never actually felt like he had gotten a handle on the technique until later in the afternoon. In his defense, I wasn’t having an easy time either with the cross winds affecting our boat control in the current and was missing strikes too. They had to be the lightest hits I had seen so far this fall and detecting them was next to impossible. If you were lucky enough to actually feel the take, they almost always dropped the bait immediately after. They just weren’t actively feeding! All morning and into the afternoon we picked at them and slowly brought up our numbers but not to the amount I was so use to lately. In the last 90 minutes of the day it seemed like Jay had finally gotten the hang of this and he started catching them on a regular basis. In each location we fished, he managed to land a handful of decent sized bass up to just over 4 pounds and the smile was back. By 4:00 we were just about done and after a few more casts it was official, back to the ramp. Along with the ramp there was of course the warm truck and that was the best part of the day. I realized just how cold the day was when I read that the outside air temps were only 33 degrees. I was right, they hadn’t gone up, just stayed the same! Maybe this wasn’t the best day to be on the water, but Jay was away from work and catching fish. When he finally thaws out from the cold I think he might appreciate it a little more. Until then, the only thing on his mind is a warm bowel of soup and maybe a roaring fire. Damn, it was cold!!!

Norm was back once again today to tackle more of those giant brown bass. We hit the water around 8:00 and were into fish almost immediately. With the sun out the air temps of 34 degrees didn’t feel quite as cold and the non existent winds made it even better. We weren’t expecting a much warmer day with the high expected to only reach 40 degrees, but we were pumped. It had been a week or so since Norm was out and saw Allison land the giant that he had been looking for and he wanted his today! Back to the current breaks we went and we began by throwing cranks t to see if we could entice a few of the more active big ones to bite. Several followers were seen and a few of the medium ones actually did commit but not the ones we were looking for. With the water temps below 50 degrees, I decided that we would have to slow down if we wanted to monopolize on them and began throwing jigs. It was definitely the ticket because for the next few hours it was just insane. There were so many fish landed that we just lost count! Bass ranging from 2 to over 4 pounds came aboard, but none of the really bigguns were contacted. It wasn’t until later in the afternoon that a couple of fish over 5 pounds were caught and a few even larger lost. Like all days out lately, there were fish on each and every spot I stopped. This was great because when the sun disappeared earlier and the winds kicked up from the N/NE, it got quite a bit colder. The only reason we didn’t complain about the cold was because we were catching fish. That alone will keep anyone warm! We fished until about four and when the bite slowed, decided to call it a day. Norm may not have gotten any sleep the night before, but he was definitely on his game today. He’s still looking for an honest weighed six pound smallie but he will take days like this anytime. Visions of smallmouth will be dancing in his head tonight!!

Scott & his dad Tom fished with me today for another unbelievable day of catching. We hooked up around 8:00 and were on the water not long after in slightly below freezing temps. The sun was out though, making it feel a little warmer and there was little to no wind as well. The high forecasted for us was to be a chilly one at only 38 degrees max but this time they came prepared. Tom hooked up first but it was only after he had missed 3 strikes on consecutive casts before. A nice chunky 3 pounder had fallen victim to the slowly moved jig and I knew there would be plenty more. It was to be another one of those days where we caught fish all day long in each & every spot we fished. Both Scott & Tom were into bass ranging from 2 to over 5 pounds frequently and loving every minute of it. They even had some bonus walleye today that would be invited to a cook out back home. Somewhere late in the morning, the sun turned to overcast skies but the fish kept biting. At one point it even looked like we might get snow, but fortunately for us, it never happened. We must have fished a dozen areas today and concentrated on the current breaks and edges to monopolize on the aggressive biters. They were there and they were hungry! Although the crankbait bite really wasn’t the ticket like a couple of weeks before, by fine tuning the presentation we were able to have the same results. This river system has all the right ingredients to produce fish right up until ice up and I’m going to be there to test it too. By the time the afternoon neared the end it was getting quite a bit chillier and we decided to call it a day. They had caught more bass in one day than practically their entire season and everyone went home satisfied. Scott had treated his dad to another day on the water and another successful one too! Although they had a long drive back home I don’t think they would run out of conversation along their way as the day would provide plenty of things to be remembered!!

I was back on the water today with Darren hoping for better conditions than I encountered yesterday with my wife, Christiane. We were still in a pretty good wind but it had switched to the west and was now blowing 10 to 20 knots. Air temps were around 40 degrees and expected to rise into the upper 40’s by days end. The winds were also supposed to decrease and be light by the afternoon and I was praying they would be right. I believe it was on Darren’s first cast that he hooked one of the largest bass of the day and soon had a 5.45 smallie in the net. Nice starter fish! We were working a little slower with jigs and found the fish to be in a negative mood for most part. We almost had to dead stick some of them into committing! Several good ones were persuaded into eating and within the first couple of hours; Darren had landed plenty of quality bass. We fished depths from as shallow as 5 feet to as deep as 30 feet with the better fish coming deep. Everywhere we stopped to fish, we caught some bass. I really don’t think there was any lengthy period of dead time during the day, just lots of bass. The afternoon was equally as good as the morning and the weather was even better with the decrease in winds. It was still a little cool out, but the sunshine was a welcomed change as I had been fishing in the rain & clouds lately. We stuck it out until almost dark with the change of the clocks last night and called it somewhere around 5:00. Darren had boated lots of fish and some really big ones today and was kind of glad he had come alone. He didn’t have to share the bass with anyone and had managed to have the best day of his season, so far this year. I have a feeling he will be back! What a great day to be on the water!!

I thought we would try & beat the bad weather coming in so Christiane & I headed out for a few hours on a local lake. Unfortunately, the misty rain greeted us before we were even able to get to the boat ramp and it wasn’t looking good. Winds were light but expected to increase up to 30 or 40 knots somewhere around noon with even stronger gusts. We definitely had our work cut out for us today! Fortunately, the air temps were well above seasonal with the warm southern air and were in the upper 50 degree range. Water temps were still around 51 but leaves were posing a problem in the current when we casted. I believe Christiane’s first 3 casts all produced bass and we realized why we had come. I knew that we could still catch plenty of fish before the weather took a turn for the worse and we kept casting. Somewhere after 1 o’clock, the winds really began to howl and it became more difficult to fish. We were still catching fish, but it wasn’t easy! I decided shortly after that we were going to cut it short and head in. When it stops being fun, I quit! Although we may have only gotten 3 or 4 hours of fishing in, it was still worth the effort as we both landed a bunch of fish up to 4.5 pounds. Trying to take the pics became next to impossible at the end so we just released most of the fish without recording the catch. We really would have liked to be able to continue fishing today but safety comes first and as the winds increased so did the waves. We ran back to the ramp in 3 to 4 footers safely and called it a day. Overall a successful one nonetheless!!