It had been quite some time since I had Charlie & Tony on the water, but they were back today for some incredible smallmouth bass action. The weather was a carbon copy of yesterday with warm air temps reaching into the 60’s and little to no wind. The sunshine didn’t help though as there were more boats out today than I had seen all fall! Tony hooked into the first bass and was amazed to see its size when I finally got it in the net. It weighed 4.10 and was a great starter fish! Charlie followed up shortly after with a couple that were slightly smaller. We moved around fairly often today trying to get into a larger concentration and found fish just about everywhere. The larger ones however, were slower to come by until the afternoon, when Tony started the ball rolling with a fish that went close to five. After that, there were plenty of others that came aboard in the same size range as well. There were even a couple of nice walleye in the 3-pound range that were taken and Charlie gladly volunteered to take them home for dinner. All in all it was a pretty good day despite the beautiful conditions. I can’t wait for the cold to arrive once again!!

Andre & Jim joined me today on the water and Jim decided to bring his daughter Corrine along for the trip as well. We got a rather late start with all the traffic and only managed to hit the water sometime after 11:00 A.M. We wasted no time heading to the first spot with the air temps somewhere in the 50’s and absolutely no wind. It actually felt like Florida! Sunshine held on throughout the entire day making this a picture perfect outing. I actually expected the water temps to increase more than they did but they maxed out somewhere around 49.5 degrees at best. Jim managed to hook into the first smallie of about 3 pounds and it began. Corrine matched that with one over 4 pounds and proceeded to land another pair even larger soon after. We didn’t get into too many fish in the first area so we decided to try another spot hoping for better results. It was almost the same with several more bass caught but not the numbers or size I expected. I moved out a little deeper and then we began hooking up with larger fish all together. Jim landed a few decent fish along with a nice 3-pound walleye that Andre gladly accepted as his dinner. Everyone was getting into fish now and Andre & Jim even managed to get into a double headed that would have topped the scales at over 10 pounds combined. It seemed that all of the larger fish were finally coming now and Jim brought another walleye of about 5 pounds to net on the very next cast. We fished around for a while after with everyone hooking up now & then before we decided to call it quits for the day. In the few short hours we were on the water there were plenty of quality size smallies and a couple of decent walleye caught. With daylight savings time upon up, the days are now cut shorter. Before we knew it, the sun was setting and it was time to call it quits. This had to be the nicest day so far this fall, weather wise and we were glad to have been able to take advantage of it by being on the water!!

Scott & his dad Joe joined me today in search of some giant smallies. Scott had fished with me several times in the last few years and was even here a couple of weeks ago, but his dad had never experienced our bass. We hooked up around 8:30 A.M. and were on the water not too long after. The weather was a dismal and damp morning with light drizzle making the 31-degree temps feel more like the 20’s. Would this be the first morning that ice would be forming on the guides? Winds were out of the east at about 5 K and the water temps were around 48 degrees. I knew we were going to have our work cut out for us with these conditions! We found a few fish rather quickly but they weren’t the size I was looking for and they weren’t really hammering the lures either. I had a few pick ups that just dropped the bait almost immediately leaving me swinging at air. Joe even managed to bring in a scale on one of his casts confirming the negative feeding moods they were in so I relocated. The next area wasn’t much better, but we did manage to catch a few decent fish in the 3 to 4 pound range and hung around a little longer. After seeing that it really wasn’t getting much better, I headed out once again and this time it was for the better. By now the drizzle had blanketed us and it almost seemed foggy, but they were catching bass. Joe & Scott hooked up simultaneously and had the first double of the day. Ironically, Joe’s fish turned out to be over twice the size of Scott’s, confirming that size does matter! In fact, when I put her on the scale even I was amazed to see that it was over six pounds. This was by far the largest smallmouth bass he had ever caught and he was thrilled. All the stories that Scott had told his dad about the fishing were now confirmed! We fished all over in many other places throughout the rest of the day and caught many more bass, but nothing that would top that giant. Both Joe & Scott were hooked up regularly and that’s all that counted. Plenty of smallies were caught today and Joe even managed to land a walleye of almost 5 pounds that was to become a dinner. It was a slow start to the day but ended up finishing with a bang!!

With the daylight savings time going into effect overnight, I was in no hurry to get on the water this morning. Temperatures fell to about 20 degrees or –7 and it would be a brisk morning to say the least. I purposely didn’t have any bookings set up for today in order that I could take my wife out for a day of bass fishing and the warmer it would be, the better! A buddy of mine tagged along as well and the three of us hit the water somewhere around 9:30 A.M. We were surprised to find that the air temps were still hovering around the freezing mark when we arrived and along with that, there was an E wind of 5 to 10 K making it feel ever colder. Bluebird skies were a welcomed sight as that was all we had to help with the temps. The water was still around 48 degrees and with the aid of the sunshine, climbed all the way up to 48.5 by the end of the day. I think it was on Christiane’s second cast that she was locked up and a 3.5-pound smallie was her reward. I knew there were plenty of other fish in this area, but we were unable to convince the others into committing and left shortly after with only short strikes. In the next area, Rick was tight to a big fish almost immediately as I drifted through a deeper weed & rock zone and soon landing a 5.7 pound bass. Not bad for a starter fish eh! Although the bites weren’t fast & furious as we like them to be, there were still plenty of fish caught throughout the day. Christiane had a slower day than usual and finally managed to start hooking big fish later in the afternoon. The bites were quite subtle and if you weren’t really in touch, you just missed them. Lots of fish were picking up the baits and almost immediately letting them go instead of sucking them in and this was making it more difficult to detect. Although there were lulls in the day, we knew that at any moment another 5 pounder could fall victim to our jigs and waited anxiously on every cast. In the end, with the changing of the clocks, we were calling it a day just around 4 o’clock and heading back to the dock. It was probably one of the coldest days so far this fall and add the east wind to the mixture and any skin exposed cooled off quickly. We still managed to get a number of quality bass and that’s all that counts. Great day anyway!!

Mike & his son Ryan were to fish with me today for another eventful day of smallmouth bass action. Usually when this father & son pair gets together, Ryan manages to outdo his dad, but not today! The conditions were slightly better than yesterday with a little less wind at 10 to 15 K from the W/NW & the air temps reached into the mid 40’s by afternoon. Water temps remained constant at 48.5 to 49.5 degrees and sunshine was upon us for the entire day. I believe this time out, it was Mike that drew first blood with a solid 3.5-pound smallie and the gloves were off. It didn’t take too long before Ryan countered with one of his own and outdid his dad with a larger bass of over 4 pounds. The ball bounced around several times in the first hour or so, but Ryan had the largest at 4.75 pounds under his belt. We fished several other areas in hopes of getting into a mother load of quality fish but only picked at them slightly. Although the fish were of quality size, I still wasn’t happy with the numbers and continued my search. Mike locked up with a real heavyweight in deeper water and we thought he had a huge bass until it showed near the boat. To all our amazement, it turned out to be a big walleye of over 7 pounds instead. This was a bonus fish and I snapped a few pics before releasing her back to the water. Although it wasn’t fast & furious, the action was still constant as we managed to get into fish all day. They were pretty much hooking & landing bass on regular basis and equally as many. Towards the end of the day I hit on an area that was holding better fish and both Ryan & his dad had a flurry of activity that lasted for over an hour on some of the better quality fish of the day. They were catching 3 to 4 pound smallies on average and Ryan even hit one that weighed almost five. He had beaten his personal best so many times throughout the day that we lost track altogether. By the time it was all said and done, I would have to say that both of them had caught about as many fish, equally. Although Ryan had landed the largest smallie, his father took top honours with the walleye! This time out, Mike had held his own and Ryan didn’t walk all over him. I can’t wait to see what happens the next time out!