I had the pleasure of fishing with Jay today on another local lake for “Giant Smallies”. We headed out pretty early in anticipation of the foul weather in the forecast, for the afternoon. The morning was a chilly 45 degrees with light winds of 5 to 10 knots from the east. Overcast skies were upon us as we fished from as deep as 30 feet to as little as 5 feet. Water temps were pretty much all around 56 degrees until the rain began in the early afternoon. This actually dropped the water temps almost a degree by the end of the day. I had informed Jay that he would be into his first fish in 1 to 2 minutes max, but broke my own personal best time when he hooked up in under 30 seconds. As usual, the first one tends to catch people off guard and they usually get off before they come to net. Oh well, that’s fishing! He did manage to land a few fish in the next 15 minutes and lose several others as well. The deep water bite wasn’t great so we decided to try casting a little shallower in the 15 to 20 foot range. Almost immediately, there were fish being caught on tubes in the 2.5 to 3.5 pound range. I was looking for the real bruisers so I decided to relocate after a couple of hours hoping for a few big bites. Soon enough, we found them and 4 pounders became the norm as hooks were being set. It was just a matter of time before we were to contact what I was looking for and Jay was soon tight to one over 5 pounds on a tube jig. We continued to catch some of the larger bass on a mix of tubes and senko’s in 4 to 12 feet of water and decided to break for a short lunch. Up until now, the weather wasn’t too bad with clouds and light winds. Unfortunately, that was about to change as soon as we finished eating. From that moment on, the rain never let up! We continued to fish in a steady drizzle & heavier rain once in a while, but still managed to catch enormous smallies all afternoon long. It was miserable but at least the fish were somewhat cooperating! Many large smallies in the 4 to over 5 pound range were both landed as well as lost during the entire afternoon. By the end of the day, there were 10 fish in the livewells with none under 4 pounds. One side had 5 of them all going over 5 pounds for an amazing sac! This would have made an incredible bag for a tournament! I took several photos in a small window when the rain actually let up and all were released unharmed. Jay was the only one to suffer any injury as his hands were all beat up from trying to hold these monster smallies. At least he will have something to talk about until they heal up. All in all a good day, despite the weather. Over 25 huge smallies were landed today with many more coming off during a long distance release!!

Harry & Peter were to accompany me to a local lake today for more smallie action. This was the first time in a while that either had fished and I had my work cut out for me. The sun was out for the morning, but clouds were soon to follow for the afternoon. Air temps began in the 50’s and barely climbed no more than a couple of degrees by days end. The water temps were also between 56 & 59 degrees depending on where you were. I told both Harry & Peter that at least one of them would be into a fish in 1 to 3 minutes after they began their drift. They looked at me like I was crazy! Well, it took less than 1 minute for Harry to hook into and lose his first as it went airborne and threw the hook. Within seconds after setting the lines into the strike zones again, same thing. Harry was 0 for 2 before Peter could even manage a strike and it began. Fish after fish was prematurely released as both began to drop fish. I think it was somewhere after the 10th lost fish before Peter finally landed one. Nothing too big at 3 pounds, but it was definitely a blessing as they got that monkey off their back. Soon after, Harry was also landing another of about the same size and it began. Many fish were hooked, but many more were dropped as they tried to get them to net. I think the fish were striking a little short this morning! We tried deep water to begin and eventually moved shallower hoping for more success. Pretty much the same thing was to occur as some fish were landed but most were lost. The winds began to pick up and blow much stronger by mid morning and before we knew it, they were gusting at about 30 knots from the S/W. This was making boat control really difficult in some areas as I tried some shallower water. Once again, more fish lost than landed including one over 5 pounds as she jumped and threw the jig back in our face. Harry finally managed to get into a real good one over 4 pounds on a spinnerbait and the hook fell out when I netted her. At least this one came to net! We moved around a little more, hooked a few more and decided to call it a day. There weren’t too many fish landed, but there were probably between 30 & 40 fish on today. I guess the fish have to win one once in a while!

Jonathan & Marc were to accompany me to the lower St-Lawrence River for a day of smallie fishing that they would not soon forget. Both of them were anxious to learn some of the fall patterns that have allowed me to consistently produce both large numbers as well as huge fall smallies, on a regular basis. The day actually began better than it was to be as sunshine and light winds were what we were faced with as we began the day. Air temps were in the low 50’s and water temps were in the mid to upper 50’s in most of the areas that we were to fish today. The biggest problem was to be finding water clean enough to be able to fish effectively! Most of the areas were absolutely filthy, making a presentation almost impossible. There were even a few bass that were actually foul hooked due to the lack of visibility! I knew they were there, but the fish had a hard time seeing our baits. On our first spot, it took a while before the first bass was caught as Marc landed one over 3 pounds on a tube jig. Jonathan wasn’t far behind as he soon had another bass slightly larger of his own, on the line. Unfortunately, Marc was a little slow with the net and the fish threw the hook at the boat. No big deal as there was another of equal size just a few casts later. There was a very small area off of a current break that had a bunch of fish stacked up and as long as their casts drifted through the area, they hooked up. I held the boat in the current for them until some other boat decided that they were going to anchor directly in our path, making casting absolutely impossible. Jonathan even managed to catch their anchor rope on one of his drifts and I decided to just relocate. It’s too bad that some people are just so inconsiderate to have to park in an area that someone else is fishing. Oh well, it takes all kinds! Having this done to me is almost a daily basis I told them and we just moved on to another location. They drifted mostly tubes in 15 to 25 feet of water and locked up on plenty of smallies, but the best they could land was a few in the 3.5 to 4 pound range through the day. As usual, most of the fish were lost before landed, but they still managed to get into about 50 bass throughout the day. The weather took a turn for the worse in the afternoon as the winds kicked up from the S at 15 to 20 knots when it began to rain. They still managed to land and lose fish on a regular basis, but the drop in air temperature made it hard to feel anything. As usual, lots of jigs were lost, but as I have sad before, ” if you’re not on the bottom, you’re not in the strike zone.” We stuck it out for as long as they could stand before we decided to call it a day. Overall, a good day and a very educational one as well! They even managed to take a couple of nice walleye home for dinner as an added bonus! Superstitious or not!

I fished with Scott & Manson on a local lake today and even though it was Friday the 13th, we still did great! The day started with air temps in the 40’s and they climbed only into the low 50’s be days end. The water temps were 60 degrees in most areas and slightly cooler in the shallower water. With a light wind from the S at 5 to 10 knots, I knew we were going to have a great day. Most of the day was sunny with a few afternoon cloudy periods causing some of the shallower fish to relocate to deeper water. On the first drift in 20 to 30 feet of water with tubes, it only took about 30 seconds for a fish to come aboard. Manson was to draw first blood today as he still had a grudge with Scott after their trip last year! It wasn’t a huge fish, but it was the first. It didn’t take long before both of them were tight lined frequently and everyone was fighting smallies on a consistent basis. The only bad thing about this was that they were dropping most of the fish they were hooking! Eventually they were both managing to keep more on than they were loosing and fish in the 3 to 5 pound range were coming aboard regularly. Manson dominated the morning hours, but Scott regained his title in the afternoon by landing plenty of huge fish of his own. Later in the afternoon, Manson was bringing in what seemed like a decent sized bass until we saw that it was actually a Muskie, when it neared the boat. It took a long run and drag peeled off the reel before he began to gain on the fish. Unfortunately to everyone’s surprise, he only reeled in a 2 pound smallie. This little fish was pretty scarred up, but it was his lucky day as we released him back into the lake. Too bad Manson wasn’t able to catch the Muskie as it would have been his first! By the end of the day, there had to have been close to 40 smallies landed and almost that missed as well. This definitely had the makings of a spectacular day for both size & numbers. All in all, it was still a great day on the water!!!

I was back on the water again today with Joe & Steve on Lake Champlain. Joe was a bass fisherman from Texas and Steve was more of a fly fisherman than a spinning rod fisherman, but was willing to give it a try. The temperatures had taken a dive from yesterday’s high of 75 degrees and began in the mid 50’s. Water temps were just below 60 degrees and pretty much remained that way through the day. In fact, the air temps barely went up either as they topped out at 60 degrees too. The winds had turned 180 degrees and were now blowing 5 to 10 knots from straight north. This was going to be interesting as I wasn’t quite sure how it would effect the fishing. It took a while before the first bass came aboard as we were covering plenty of water with tubes, spinner-baits and jerk-baits trying to entice these bass into biting our offerings. Joe managed to get the first one on a crankbait and Steve soon followed with a nice bass of 3.5 pounds on a tube. A few more smaller ones and a northern were hooked into on a spinner-bait before we tried another location. It was strange as there didn’t seen to be any concentration, just single fish here & there. Everywhere we went, there was about one fish caught so I decided to try some deeper water and see if they might be more interested. Once more, it took a while before the first fish was hooked into and as soon as she went into the air from 25 feet deep, she threw the hook. “There goes a 4 pounder”, I said! Shortly after, another fish was hooked up and she also came off. Instantly another 4 pounder took to the air and I knew it was the same one just hooked. We travelled around quite a bit looking for some concentration, but never really got into them. Just a fish here & there as Steve hooked into a good one close to 4 pounds on a spinner-bait once again. I figured we should just move when he got this fish, but stayed a little longer without any more strikes. Off to another area and we worked a strip of shoreline with rocks & weeds and here there were actually several fish hooked, but most were lost. The last spot of the day produced a handful of fish, mostly by Steve as he once again landed a nice one of 3.5 pounds. We stuck it out for as long as we could before calling it a day and heading back to the ramp. It was definitely tough to swallow after a day like yesterday, but that’s fishing. Overall a harder day with about 20 bites in total. Unfortunately, not all were actually landed!