I fished with Michel on a local body of water for smallmouth bass today and oh, how we caught them. The weather started out with us in a fog bank and I had to run almost solely by GPS, It was so thick that I decided to start in an area that I really didn’t want to but was glad I did. First cast produced a fish over three pounds! The air temps were cool but once the fog lifted after 10:00 AM, they warmed up plenty. There was virtually no wind and this made boat control a breeze. Water temps were around 56.5 degrees at best, but I knew they were on a warming trend with the forecasted temps. Every spot today produced plenty of smallies from 1.5 pounds to almost 5 pounds. Michel caught so many fish that he was sore from top to bottom, literally! I never feel sorry for someone that self inflicts pain from fighting too many fish. Not responsible! By the time the day was said & done, there were probably close to 150 bass caught. I can’t even imagine how many were lost as well. To say this was a great day would be the understatement of the year. I don’t think words could describe this one, it had to be experienced!

Today, I fished with Glen & Chris on a local body of water, mostly for smallmouth bass. The weather was a little nippy in the morning with air temps barely over 40 degrees and heavy cloud cover. Fortunately, there wasn’t much wind, but it was still from the NW making it feel even colder. The water temps seem to be dropping each & every night and this morning, the best I had was 56.5 degrees. The fish were a little lethargic at the start, but once the sun poked out, they began to feed. I knew that it would be another slow bite, so we threw tube jigs and slowly dragged then in specific areas for the bass. Both Glen & Chris were new to this type of presentation, but once they began to get into a few fish, they were on their way. The hardest thing about this technique is to have the feel for the lightest tap and know the differences between weeds, rocks or the fish. Keeping a tight line at all times and allowing the jig to bounce along the bottom will definitely produce more strikes! They both caught plenty of bass in the 1.5 to 3 pound range and several that were closer to 4 pounds in a few areas as well. By moving around a lot and taking advantage of the aggressive biters, we were able to get into fish in every location we fished. In the mid afternoon, I decided to try & see if I could get them into a Muskie and started to troll for these creatures. They both knew that there were no guarantees, but were willing to give it a try and relax for a while. I set the rods out and began trolling over deeper water looking for any sign by either baitfish or big fish-hooks, but never really marked anything worthwhile. One of the reels did fire however, but the fish came off before I could get it out of the holder. Apparently, the reel jammed when the fish grabbed the lure and the line didn’t go out. It turned out to be a minor problem that only required tightening the thumbscrews on the side of the reel. Somehow, they came loose and the gears weren’t lining up correctly causing them to jam. Tough break! We weren’t having any success in this area and decided to change locations hoping to change our luck as well. The next area was about as good as the previous one and we just kept on moving until I hit a location that I had never fished before. It looked good and I was marking bait and an occasional hook and then the reel screamed. Finally we were into what I was looking for and Chris took the rod and began fighting the fish. I could tell that it was a good one and we cleared the other rods to make sure there were no mishaps. It was a decent sized fish and I lip gripped her with the boga and removed the hooks before bringing it aboard for the pics. It measured 45 inches and would have gone about 25 pounds or so due to its girth. Looks like they’re feeding well on my smallmouth! I quickly returned her to the water for the release and moments later; she bolted to the depths where she came from. I was glad to have gotten into this fish, but wanted more and reset the lines hoping for another pull. Unfortunately, that was all she wrote and we had to settle for one fish and one missed strike. Not too bad for less than 3 hours of trolling I guess, but I always want more and never seem to be satisfied. It’s an addiction! All in all a good day with about 40 smallies caught and plenty of others lost and the first Muskie for Chris!

Alain & Cindy were to accompany me today on yet another local body of water in pursuit of more smallie action! We were to get off the water a little earlier today due to other engagements so we met at 7:00 AM and rolled immediately afterwards. Overnight, the air had dropped down to only 3 degrees above zero and I knew it would have an effect on some of the areas we were to be fishing. It would definitely be a slow presentation until the water warmed up, if it ever did! Fortunately for us, the sun was shining and that made the air feel no quite so cold. We were all wearing some sort of gloves for most of the day however and were glad to have them on. Winds were out of the W at 5 to 10 knots with slightly higher gusts at times feeling more like sub zero temps rather than above zero. The fish were still in the areas I had caught them yesterday and it didn’t take long before both Cindy and Alain had bent rods. Some of these smallies were a little on the below average size, but still a blast to catch. Eventually we were to shift areas and finally fell into a zone that was holding better quality fish of 3 to 4 pounds. We stayed in this area as long as the fish were cooperating and everyone was catching. When it finally slowed, we relocated again and did the same thing all over again. I think Cindy might have caught more than Alain, but to Alain’s defence, she was in the front of the boat casting to where I pointed. Just like yesterday, we caught fish in practically every location we fished. I wanted to see if I could hook up with a Muskie for one of them so sometime after lunch, we began to troll. Unfortunately by this time, the winds had kicked up a little more and it had started to rain. Add to this all the floating vegetation and it darn near made it impossible for me to have a chance at getting into one. We trolled for about 90 minutes or more in a few areas, marking some fish and plenty of bait, but had no takers. It wasn’t to be today given the short time frame were allotted to try for them and we had to call it quits for the day. It was still a great few hours for smallmouth though with over 40 fish landed and plenty more lost as well. The largest today would have gone close to 4.5 pounds and still another day without a five pounder to our credit. I anticipate that this will only improve with the cooler nights ahead and falling water temps in the next few weeks and can’t wait for all of those 100 fish days to come!!

Jim & Andre joined me today on a local body of water for some incredible, smallmouth bass action. The weather began a little damp & misty following a heavy downpour all night long. The weatherman had forecasted a 100% chance of rain for the day and for a change, he was wrong! It let up somewhere around 11:00 AM and never came back. There was also suppose to be a high wind advisory that predicted 15 to 25 knots with heavier gusts and that never arrived until we were ready to leave. For the first time, they were wrong for the good! The first area we stopped in produced fish almost immediately and both Andre & Jim were catching smallies on practically every cast. Water temps had dropped a bit since the last time I was there 4 days ago and were now barely 62 degrees, but the fish were on fire. Tubes were the hot ticked for the day with numerous hook-ups on both fish as well as rocks. Sometimes it’s hard to detect the difference without a really tight line during a drift & drag and they were both being fooled at times. Fortunately, we were in the right zones and multiple doubles and an occasional triple-header occasionally occurred! I fan casted some of the areas with a crankbait to see if I could bring up a school, but caught only the occasional bass. I believe that by the end of the day, the water temps were still above the air temps that stayed no higher than 50 degrees at best. Most of the day saw heavy clouds but an occasional appearance from the sun now & then made it feel great. By the time it was all said & done, there were close to 100 bass caught & released up to 4.5 pounds. No 5 pounders, but still plenty of quality bass to keep anyone happy for the entire day. A typical great fall fishing day was had by all!!

With the onset of foul weather coming in by the end of this week, I thought I would get a day in before the rain arrived. Darrin & I hit the water for a few hours of fishing and began trolling for Muskie around 11:00 AM. The lake was flat calm and the skies were heavily overcast with dark clouds. Perfect trolling weather! The water temps were down again to 62.5 degrees and the air temps were in the mid 50’s making fall seem like it had finally started to arrive. We trolled for about 90 minutes without any luck and decided to stop and cast for smallmouth bass. What a tough way to kill time as it didn’t take too long before we were bringing up schooling bass and locked up. We didn’t catch many, but they were all big fatties and close to 4 pounds on average. It doesn’t take too long to spook the school and this was not the exception once more! Within 30 minutes or so, they disappeared to the deep and never showed again. We tried dragging tubes for a little longer, but no takers. The sun had just appeared through the clouds and the sky looked like it was going to clear, so I decided to give the Muskie another try. I don’t think the lures were in the water for 15 minutes, before the shallow, long rod fired. The reel screamed line with what sounded like a big fish attached and Darrin was fast on the rod. Moments later, we both caught a view of this beast and realized that it was a good one of around 25 pounds. A quick jaw grip with the boga and I unhooked her from the trebles unharmed before bringing her aboard for a few pics. She was a beautiful 45-inch spotted fish that was almost perfectly flawless and one of the prettiest muskie I had seen in a while. I snapped several shots and back she went for the release. A few more pictures and she was gone, back to the depths with a flip of the tail. I knew we would score! We trolled for a little while longer without any takers and then went back to bass fishing. We caught a few more smallies but they were definitely off the feed as we saw giants just cruising around looking at our baits, without a take. We switched back to trolling again and continued marking fish, but they too were really off and we never had another reel fire. Around 4:15 PM we decided to call it quits and headed back to the ramp. We had another successful half day on the water with about 10 big bass taken and many others seen! The highlight of the day however, definitely had to be the 45-inch Muskie we landed. Just a spectacular mottled design on her sides made her just picture perfect!