After postponing today’s customers due to the weatherman’s terrible forecast, I awoke to a beautiful sunny morning. I really didn’t want to waste the day so I gave Norm a call and as expected, he was eager & willing to go. We finally hit the water around 10:00 A.M. and fished exclusively for smallmouth bass. There were a few areas that I had been meaning to check out & today was the day for exploration. Although we did have sun, there were also plenty of clouds and for the first time in a while the temperatures felt comfortable. It climbed up to 80 degrees, but a breeze from the south of 5 to 10 knots cooled the air on our skin. We started on a point that I had fished before and almost immediately were into a 4 pound plus blackie. Love the big black smallmouth bass! This was a post spawn fish that had definitely been feeding as it was long & fat. After covering almost a half mile of shoreline with only sightings of fish to show for our efforts, I decided to relocate. The next location also showed signs of life as Norm battled a fish in the mid fours to the boat. This fish was not as fat as the first one, but it was definitely long. Several others slightly smaller were landed by moving around this area but nothing over 3 pounds until the next spot. Here, Norm got into another fish over 4 pounds almost immediately and this one was really feeding by the size of its gut. The balance of time spent along this gravel point only showed us smaller fish again and off we went once more. As soon as we arrived on the next flat, Norm was battling a three pounder to the boat on his first cast. I hooked up quick too, but the fish threw the hooks when it took to the air and another 4 pound blackie was gone. We circled this section of rocks and picked one here and there but nothing big until the end, There, I lost another big fish as it stole my bait and left me with just the hook attached. I was planning on hitting a couple of other areas, but the skies were not looking too good and we opted to pull off before the storms arrived. There’s always going to be another day to fish when you play it safe and I wasn’t about to chance the weather. It proved to be a good decision as we ran through windy conditions and blackening skies on our way back to the boat ramp. We may not have gotten all the time we wanted to fish but in just a few short hours there were some quality fish landed and that’s what it’s all about!!

Well, you could definitely tell that it was a holiday today with plenty of boats all over the lake. Tim was staying in Bromont for a week of vacation and wanted to fish locally with his two sons, so he hooked up with me for the day. Brian & Bobby were so anxious that they were already wetting a line at the boat ramp when I arrived! The weather was going to be a carbon copy of yesterday with blazing sunshine and highs in the mid 80’s predicted. Light winds from the north were nothing to concern ourselves with as the boat traffic waves were much larger! Water temps were around 65 degrees when we began our troll and it didn’t take long before bobby was reeling in the first pike. He followed that up with a beautiful walleye of at least 5 pounds on the next fish and we were well on our way to another crazy day of fishing. Brian was up next and he too was reeling in northern of 3 to over 5 pounds in the next hour or so. Mixed in with the pike was an occasional walleye and the action was pretty much non stop. Tim decided when both his sons had landed 10 fish apiece that he would take the next reel that fired and what a decision that was. The rod went off and he started to reel in what I was sure was a walleye due to it staying down all the way to the boat. When it finally showed itself by the boat, I couldn’t believe my eyes at its length. I netted this beast and boga gripped the walleye for a weight. It went over 7 pounds and all of 28 inches plus. This was the longest and largest so far this year and definitely had to go back after a few quick pics. Brian and Bobby both continued to land more pike and somewhere around 11:30 we decided to switch it up a bit and go for smallmouth. Although the action wasn’t fast & furious, we did see plenty of bass in the 4 pound class but were unable to convince them into biting. Most of these fish were just cruising and not interested in our offerings at all. Bobby did manage to hook up on one of these big ones on a senko but unfortunately it came off on one of its jumps and left him quite disappointed. We covered a lot of water with just a few smaller fish being landed and a couple of largemouth by Brian before we finally arrived in an area that the fish seemed to cooperate. Tim was the first to hook into one of these feisty acrobats and Bobby doubled up immediately afterwards. A quick pic and back they both went unharmed. Bobby managed to get into another in the same spot and that’s all they wrote! We moved on and a little while later on some huge boulders, Brian finally locked up on a real beauty. He couldn’t believe the strength of these bass as he was use to catching largemouth and never really battled smallies before. I finally was able to slip the net under a 4 pound plus smallie and his personal best too. Another couple of quick pics and back it went. Bobby had another on briefly but was unable to catch up with the fish as she charged the boat creating slack in the line. We shifted to another point for our last shot at more of these bruisers and Tim was into one almost immediately. Brian also followed with a couple of his own and after getting into four or five of these scrappers, it just stopped. We tried for a little longer but were unable to scratch up another hit and packed it in for the day. Before we ran back to the ramp, we decided to take a few pics of the walleye in the live well and release them back in the same area they had come from earlier in the day. To say that Tim and his sons were satisfied would have been an understatement; they were elated with the numbers and size of fish for the day. All of them had caught at least 3 different species of fish and some of them were their personal best. All in all a terrific day to be on the lake!!!

I hit a new lake with Norm this morning, in quest of a dinner walleye and succeeded in spades! We began trolling around 7:30 under sunny skies and N/E winds blowing at 5 to 10 knots. I could feel by the morning air that this 70 degree temp would climb much higher by afternoon and wanted to take advantage of the low light period early. Water temps were 63 degrees and really stained from all the cross current winds from yesterday making visibility just terrible. Norm’s first scream on the reel ended in a northern pike of 3 or 4 pounds and we were on our way. The next fish was taken when he picked the rod from the holder to clear weeds from the lure and ripped the bait. It just stopped and he had some weight attached to the end of the line. As with most of the walleye, this one stayed down until it neared the boat and we caught a glimpse of the beast. It looked to be 7 or 8 pounds in the stained water and I thought he had a real giant for this lake! When I finally got it into the net I realized that it was big. It was 27 inches long & I put her on the scale for a second to know for sure. She pushed the 6.25 mark and after a few quick picks I slipped her into the live well for a later release. I wanted to make sure she was in good shape before letting her go back to the lake and pumped plenty of water and oxygen into the tanks. We went back to trolling and managed to get 3 more good walleye and many, many more northerns trolling stick baits. Norm wanted to try for some largemouth bass and I decided that the mid day period would be a good time to see if I could get him a few, so we headed to the jungle after releasing the walleye & began. I had him throw a scum frog due to the pockets of open water and sparse vegetation and apparently it was the right choice. He had a few missed explosions before he finally contacted with something way in tight. I told him to winch it out of there and soon slipped the net under his personal best largie. It weighed exactly 5 pounds on the nose and was a surprise after the big tournament held this weekend. I guess they left one out there! We saw several other fish in the 3 pound class spooked as we covered the water and managed to get a few more up to about the same size as well. Smallmouth were the next ones to target and it didn’t take long before Norm was tight to a real blackie on a senko. When it took to the air I knew it was at least 4 pounds or better and oh what a fight. I eventually netted the fish and took a quick weight and a few picks before releasing her back again. It went 4.34 pounds and completed his “Grand Slam” for the day. We stayed a little longer and he caught several more slightly smaller bass before we called it a day. I don’t think he expected to have the combination that he had for this heat wave of a day as the temps reached around 90 degrees under scorcher sunshine. I was glad for him as he now has another great memory to add to the already many from all the previous trips on different lakes. It seems that there’s always something special each day to remember and this day definitely would be the “Big Grand Slam”!

After yesterdays outing, Curt & Eric wanted to try another lake nearby for a half day of fishing before they headed home, so I went back to meet them in the morning. I was glad I had left the boat somewhere nearby and travelled without it in tow as it may have been a different outcome. Along my drive to the lake I came so close to wiping out a deer that I don’t think I would have been able to swerve away towing the boat. That’ll kick start your day with a bang! We hooked up and headed on the lake by 7:30 A.M. and began fishing slightly different methods from the previous day. The topwater bite was on, but the fish were acting somewhat strange. The bigger ones weren’t hitting and some of the smaller ones were also slapping at the baits trying to move them away. I hit plenty of areas in this short time trying to find bigger biters but all I could come up with were small to medium fish. The weather was somewhat different as well with cloud and plenty of sunshine all around. Winds picked up to about 10 knots from the north by mid morning unlike the dead calm conditions yesterday. Water temps were in the mid 60’s and the air temps were closer to 80 when we were done. Although there were plenty of fish caught, they weren’t the size that I was looking for and that was a little disappointing. It’s surprising how fast a half day goes when you’re on the clock! We cut out shortly after noon and headed back to the dock to take out. Wouldn’t you know it, the clouds let loose and poured on us for about three minutes as I put the boat on the trailer, soaking us all. You gotta love “Mother Nature” !!

I took a little road trip today to fish with Curt & Eric on a lake for smallies and lakers. They wanted to catch some big bass & oh how they did just that! We hooked up just after 7:00 A.M. and were on the water shortly after. The weather began a little misty in the clouds but soon cleared to just cloudy conditions for the rest of the day. Air temps were in the 70’s and the water was at best, 64 degrees where we fished. The bait of choice was definitely the jig as several lures were tried without success. Curt was just hammering the bass from the back of the boat as Eric was watching in envy until he finally joined in and the game was on. From that point, they were both hooking into smallies in the 3 to 4 pound class on a regular basis and loving every minute of it. I think the largest was one that Eric caught that weighed 4 ¾ pounds after Curt had caught one slightly smaller as well. I wouldn’t say there was any competition going on, but there was a lot of needling as each of them just kept catching fish for hours. I’m sure there were at least 50 or more of these big bass caught & released before we switched up to lake trout somewhere after 3:30 P.M. Neither of them had ever actually seen or caught a laker before and wanted to spend a little time trying, so we set the riggers down and began. Although I wasn’t marking any bait in this area, I was seeing some fish on the sonar and set the lines in those zones. We had a release on one rigger over 200 feet of water shortly after and Eric was tight to his first lake trout. This one was over 23 inches and made it into the live well for them later. We trolled for another hour or so with only one other fish on the cheater. Curt landed this one that went just over 19 inches and it was returned unharmed. A couple of other hits on the sliders but nothing to show was what we had for the remainder of this fishing. We were unable to troll through the zone I wanted as a boat moved in and anchored as soon as they saw the first fish come aboard making it impossible to troll around the shoal from where it was taken. These fish were suspended beside the hump 30 to 40 feet down adjacent to a bump that tops out at 26 feet of water. Although we had taken fish with a depth of 200 feet under us, shallower water was very close by. We called the day somewhere around 5:00 and packed everything up to go. It was a great day by anyone’s standards, but an incredible one by ours as plenty of big bass were landed by all. The lake trout was just the icing on the cake!!