I fished with Jim and his wife Marie for 2 days on Lake Champlain for smallmouth bass. There is always a competition between these two, but today Marie brought a score pad! Apparently, she wanted to keep score of the beating she planned on giving to her husband! The weather was a little chilly as we began day one in temperatures below 40 degrees. Fortunately, there was little to no wind as a wind chill would have really made it feel cold. Water temps were barely 56 degrees at the start and almost 60 degrees by the end of the day. Jim wasted no time drawing first blood with a nice smallie of 3.5 pounds on a tube in 5 feet of water. Marie couldn’t let him get away with that one and hooked up on her own bass at the same time and landed it before he did. The bet is usually first fish, biggest fish and most fish. Score one for Marie with the quick landing! Plenty of other smallies were being taken by both parties on tubes and spinner-baits, but not to the degree that I had expected. I think the water was a little too cold to get into the numbers of aggressive fish and we tried another area nearby. This time it was to be slightly deeper as we dragged tubes in water 10 to 12 feet. A number of smaller fish were being caught once again and I relocated once more. When the sun finally warmed the shallower water, the fish began to cooperate. We spent the rest of the day in anywhere between 2 & 8 feet deep and they continued to land a mix of both small & large fish up to 4.5 pounds. Day two found us more in open water on the lake and at the mercy of Mother Nature. The weatherman had called for light winds and waves of 1 foot or less. We were greeted with 10 knot winds from the south and 1 to 3 foot rollers in our starting spot. The water temps on the open lake were almost 60 degrees by the start of the day and slightly higher towards the end. Air temps were upper 40’s at the start and closer to 70 by the end as well. Spinner-baits and jerk-baits were thrown at the start and some fish up to 3 pounds were landed soon after. The wind was making for tough casting in certain areas after a while and I thought we would try some of the deeper water offshore. By utilizing the wind and doing a drift & drag, we were able to get into some of the larger smallies of 4 pounds or better. Marie managed to catch a bunch of fish on spider grubs and football jigs whenever we drifted over the rocky areas in 25 to 30 feet of water. There were definitely plenty of fish as well as bait marking out in 20 to 30 foot deep. I wish some of these fish were a little more cooperative! There was even a freshwater drum of about 7 pounds landed in amongst the bass. From the deep water, we decided to try a little more shallow water once the sun had warmed the rock piles and both Marie & Jim managed to land a few more before we called it a day. They probably managed to land around 60 fish in the two days on the water and Marie lost track of who led who. Eventually, they decided to call it a draw! It was a chilly weekend, but a good one nevertheless!

Today, I had the pleasure of fishing with Mike and his father Steve on a local lake. The last time Mike was with me, it was with his son Ryan and he thought it would be nice to have his dad experience some of the same action. As it turned out, this was to be an unbelievable samllmouth bass day! Unlike the last time, today was a day with sunshine and occasional cloud cover. No Rain Gear! The air temps hit the mid 60’s and the water temps were around 59 degrees in most areas. We began by dragging tubes and spider grubs in some deeper water and it wasn’t long before Steve was into his first smallmouth, ever. The start of a good day is when it takes less than 30 seconds to hook up! Mike had a rough time just hanging onto the bass as many were lost before his first one came aboard. The fish were biting a little light and letting go shortly after they were hooked. Eventually, we made the necessary adjustments and they were into plenty of fish on each and every drift we made. The winds were almost non existent making for a pleasant day on the water. Smallies averaging 2.5 pounds were being caught regularly and an occasional 3.5 to 4 pounder as well. By mid day, the sunshine had been out long enough to warm the shallower water and I thought we would give it a try for a while. It was definitely the right decision as Steve & Mike had multiple hook-ups, mostly on tubes. A few of the larger fish were taking senko’s too! From deep to shallow to mid depth, they had action all day long. If all the fish were to be landed, the total would have exceeded 75 bass, but they had to settle for about 60 percent of the hook-ups instead. All in all a great day for both size and numbers.

Today I had the pleasure of fishing with Hugues & his son Olivier as well as a Gilbert, a business associate of Hugues. We headed to the St-Lawrence River & dragged tubes & spider grubs all day long. With this many people on board, safety comes first. No treble hook lures rigged! The weather held out for us all day with overcast skies and cool N winds until afternoon. Fortunately they were light and not too cold! The air temps were in the mid 60’s and the water temps were 59 degrees. The biggest problem we were going to have to face was the water clarity. It looked like coffee with two cream! I had a hard time finding areas that the fish would actually be able to see our presentations. The action wasn’t fast & furious like I had anticipated as we picked a couple here & there in pretty much every spot we fished. Olivier definitely had the hot hand in the morning as he surpassed everyone on board. Gilbert managed to land the biggest with one over 5 pounds and another topping the 4 pound mark. Hugues also had a bruiser on for a short while until she decided to go airborne and threw the hook. In the afternoon, we finally got to an area that began to produce steady action for a while. Both father & son hooked up and landed a couple of smallies at the same time. Finally, a double! Gilbert stood his ground as well with a couple of bass and a nice walleye to his credit. All the usual areas had some fish, but the visibility definitely played a role in the numbers today. We hit a couple more areas and they all landed a few more fish before we called it a day and headed to the ramp. It was definitely a challenge today as 25 or so smallies up to & over 5 pounds came to the net. There were plenty of others lost and missed as well. All in all a pretty decent day just drifting & dragging!

After a long and disappointing tournament on Lake Champlain recently, I was back on the water today with Joe for more smallie action. He hadn’t caught too many of these bronze beasts before and was in for a real treat! We were blessed with beautiful weather & sunny skies almost all day long. Air temps went into the low 70’s and the water temps were around 61 degrees, depending on where we were. Light winds from the S/E turned to heavier winds from the N at the end of the day, but the fishing was great. We mixed it up a little with deep water being the best areas we were to encounter. The shallower water produced some big fish, but the majority of them were rather spooky in the sunshine. Tubes, spider grubs and senko’s were about all we needed to use today as Joe learned several new techniques. The 20 to 30 foot range proved to give up more of the bigger fish in the 4 to 5+ size, so we concentrated mostly there. By the end of the day, there had to be between 40 & 50 smallies landed and plenty more missed or just lost. Overall, a great day on the water!!

I had the pleasure of fishing with Jeff once again, for the past three days. To say the fishing was good would have been an understatement! Day one saw beautiful sunny skies and temps that went into the 80’s by afternoon. Light winds from the S/E caused only a ripple and the water temps were around 64 degrees. Jeff started the day out with his first hook-up in under a minute when a 3 pounder inhaled his tube in 25 feet of water. This was the kind of day that was to continue as fish after fish fell victim to our offerings on each & every drift we made. There had to be at least 35 fish landed up to 5 pounds by the time we called it quits. Day 2 proved to be quite similar as Jeff managed a 5 pounder immediately on the first drift once again. The weather was somewhat different though as we had light drizzle that eventually turned to rain. Our air temps fell overnight & we were only in the mid 60’s by afternoon. Fortunately, the rain was here & there and most of it was spent in the clouds. Water temps remained the same as we fished deep as well as shallow. A few good fish over 4 pounds were caught on senko’s in the shallows but it was the deep water & tubes that consistently produced for us. We ended the day on a high note as Jeff landed another 4.5 pound smallie on our last drift. What a day once more! The total count must have been equal to yesterday as neither of us could remember by the time we headed out. Day 3 was to prove to be somewhat different as we opted for another body of water. With sunshine and clouds expected to move in later in the afternoon with winds of 25 knots, we opted for a body of water that provided some shelter. Water temps were around 65 to 66 degrees and the air temps remained about the same as we began. It took a little longer before we were able to hook-up & the first 3 pounder came from deeper water once more. It seems that everywhere I fish lately, the better fish are at least 20 feet deep! Once we began, several others were caught as well before we relocated. Almost each & every spot we fished produced at least one fish and a few areas had multiple hook-ups. Unfortunately, Jeff lost his best fish of the day when she went airborne & threw the spinnerbait. Overall a tougher day with around 20 fish seen up & over 5 pounds once more. The fall fishing has definitely not began quite yet as the fish are still remaining deep! It will only get better in the weeks to come!!