Frank & his son Alex were fishing with me today in hopes of getting into pike & walleye. The weather was quite warm with winds blowing from the SW at 10 to 20 knots, getting even stronger later on. We started out looking for pike, trolling weedy areas with very slow action. Although we were getting some smaller ones, I wasn’t satisfied & began looking a little deeper when one of the reels went off. To our surprise, it turned out to be a nice walleye of 4 pounds and went right into the live well. Not long after, another reel fired & this one was a 5-pound walleye as well. We trolled the area thoroughly in anticipation of putting more of these tasty fish into the live well, with only a few pike to show for our efforts. Finally we connected with another fish & this one was a 3.5-pound walleye as well. With all the wind, there were too many floating weeds making trolling this area almost impossible & we looked for fish in other areas instead. Unfortunately, all we could come up were a few more smaller pike & decided to try something new. Casting for bass in the shallow waters, we were able to pick up a few largemouth, but the smallies just wanted to follow. The rest of the afternoon was spent caching a few largemouth & trying to get out of the wind. By 3:00P.M. We called it & ran back to the ramp in 3 to 4 footers due to the winds increasing. Overall, a productive day with the walleye, but slow on the bass & pike.

Back on the water again with Steve & Steve this morning looking for smallies, largemouth & pike. We rolled out at about 7:00 A.M. and went straight for pike action, trolling stickbaits around weeds. It began slowly, but picked up when the sun popped out & reels were screaming with fish almost on cue. Steve # 2 was having some great action catching 5 & 6 pound pike until he finally got into a real good one. Unfortunately it came off at the boat before I was able to boga grip the 10 pounder & no photo was had. I wasn’t worried though as I was sure we would get more, when another reel began to scream. This pike was even larger & we were able to finally get a good picture of another fish over 10 pounds. When the sun disappeared & the fishing slowed down, I decided to go in shallow & try for largemouth. We were deep in the vegetation & working soft plastics slowly to get bites. Several smaller bass were caught & then Steve nailed a 3 pounder right beside the boat, before we called it a day. It was only suppose to be a half-day, but I had decided to stay a little longer showing them a new shallow technique for largemouth. It proved to be a good half-day never the less with many fish landed.

Tom & I hit the water this morning around 10:00 A.M. We were out to have a relaxing day of trolling in hopes of catching some pike & walleye. The sun was out & the air temps were already in the 70’s making this a real nice start to the day. I don’t think the lines were in the water for more than a minute when a reel went off & Tom was reeling in the first of many fish to come. From this point on, we were into constant action for a few hours landing pike up to 8 pounds. It eventually slowed down at one point & I began trolling new water in hopes of finding more active fish. This was lucky as the next fish proved to be a walleye just under 3 pounds. Unfortunately this was our last one & all we found after were pike & 1 largemouth bass. By 3:00P.M. We decided to call it quits and headed back to the boat ramp. In the few short hours out, we had caught 15 to 20 pike & a bonus walleye. This was truly a relaxing day out!

We began the day in a miserable heavy rain that soon gave way to lighter rain & eventually only cloud. Jeff & his wife Carole & their daughter & son, Alex & Chris were on the water for their first time fishing. Not having fished before, I knew I would have to keep it simple, so we began by dragging tubes in 15 feet of water for smallies. A few bass were caught & a few others lost, but the action was real slow. I figured that trolling for pike would be easier & headed for different areas nearby. This proved to be a better choice as rods were firing off almost instantly. Everyone had chances at pike, but Chris & his dad Jeff landed the largest ones. Most of these fish were 3 to 5 pounds but a few of them were in the 8 to 10 pound class too. At one point, Chris was on fire landing one fish after another. At least 20 to 25 pike were caught in only a few short hours when we finally got on them. All in all a good day for four people who never fished before!

Today was a real treat because I was donating my time on the water for a real good cause. The “Cops & Kids” organized in Ontario at the Raisin River in Lancaster, held its 4th annual day of fishing. We were to fish with a big brother or sisters, some cops & plenty of kids. My wife Christiane joined me to help out on the boat as we had Cody & Dylan as well ass their big brother Stewart on board. Everyone caught fish in the morning before we broke for lunch. A great B.B.Q. spread was waiting for us when we returned & some of the O.P.P. officers were doing the cooking. Once we were done eating, we headed back out for a few more hours of “Catching”. It was a beautiful sunny day with very little wind making this an absolutely picture perfect day. The kids really benefited today by receiving not only a great fishing day, but also a rod & reel and tackle box as well. By 3:30P.M. It was pretty much all over & everyone was on their way home. All in all it was a great success!