I fished with Tim today as he was in town for a weeklong Mukie trip with a buddy of mine and as usual, took extra time for the smallmouth. We only started to fish around 11:00, but made up for it with the smallies that were caught! The snow was falling, but it managed to subside as we made our way across the water to our starting location. The air temps were slightly above freezing and climbed to the low 40’s in the afternoon. Winds were out of the S/W at 10 to 15 MPH and the skies were cloudy with occasional sunny periods. The water temps were very low at 41 degrees and falling each day with the cold nights we have been having. I knew the bite was going to be a slow presentation with tubes & spider grubs dragged across the bottom to get them to take. Less than five minutes after we wet the first line, Tim had a fish of over four pounds on with a tube and landed her soon afterwards. For the rest of the day, there were fish about every ten to fifteen minutes on and fortunately most were landed. The average size was still over four pounds with plenty in the high fours. There were probably 2 or 3 that even went over five for the photo shoot. All in all a great day with huge football like smallies putting on the feedbag before the winter’s deep freeze arrives.

This past week was a total washout as all bookings were cancelled for one reason or another. The weather definitely played a huge role, as the winds most days were tornado like causing the waves to be three footers at the best of times. As usual though, this weekend showed us a cold, sunny, windless day like it has for the last three. The air temps began below freezing but eventually warmed up to almost 50 degrees by mid afternoon. We decided to head out late in the morning as neither of us really wanted to have ice forming in our guides while fishing today. Four to 5 hours would definitely be enough today! The spinnerbait bite has all but disappeared with the water temperatures barely mid 40’s. We had to fish slowly with tubes and spider grubs to get the dozen or so fish that we did. A small fish today was three pounds with the bulk of them going over four. There were even a few that were over five pounds mixed into the livewell for the photo shoot later in the day! It was hard to believe that no other boats were around to enjoy this beautiful day on the water as we had the entire area to ourselves. This is by far the best time of the year to take advantage of some of the greatest fishing of the season and I think that it is still yet to come. On some lakes the fish have began to school up and 40 to 60 fish days have been occurring, however not all bodies of water are seeing this yet. Last year I fished until the 28th of November and I think this year might even go later. If you can endure the cold temperatures I suggest you give this a try! This is the time of year for a real trophy as the smallmouth feed heavily before the winter arrives. I hope to beat last year’s lunker of 6 ½ pounds that a client took in mid November with possibly one over seven. Who knows, someone might catch the trophy of a lifetime and realize just what they have been missing, by fishing the cold-water period that produces the biggest fish of the year. It could be you! Give it a try this season and you’ll be hooked for life!

After a weeklong steelhead trip that proved to be quite disappointing, I was back on the water with my wife, Christiane and Darren. I decided to head to Lake Champlain in Mississsquoi Bay. The air temps were slightly above freezing and the water temps were in the mid to upper 40’s. Clouds covered the sky and an occasional break showed sunshine now & then. With the winds almost non-existent I knew it would be difficult to get a good drift going and decided to try casting tubes. Christiane hooked up almost immediately with three fish in a row, but it took Darren a little longer to get into his first smallmouth. Most fish were coming from 12 to 15 feet of water by slowly crawling these offerings. The bite was very difficult to detect at most times as the bass were just picking up the jigs and holding on. If you couldn’t feel the weight difference you wouldn’t even know they were there. We fished only a couple of areas, but concentrated on the deeper rocks, finessing these slow biters. By the end of the day, there were at least 40 bass caught up to almost 4 pounds. Most of these fish were in the 2.5 to 3 pound range but there were plenty over 3 pounds as well. All in all a good day with numbers of these medium sized bronzebacks being caught & released.

David & Jeff joined me on Lake Champlain today for a fiesta of smallies! This was the first time Jeff had ever handled a spinning rod let alone landed a smallmouth bass. He was in for a real treat as it was about to become a numbers day for all. It was a beautiful, crisp fall morning as we launched the boat into water below 50 degrees. Air temps were barely over the freezing mark, but the sunshine made it feel warmer. With almost no wind at all, it was easy to teach Jeff the basics of casting and retrieving. I was able to give him a great example of this as I slammed into a smallie of over three pounds on the first cast. I love it when the fish cooperate! Jeff was a quick study, as he didn’t take too long to begin hooking fish on his own. The water was dictating the activity level of the bass and we had to slowly crawl tubes on the bottom just to entice them into biting. This was going to be the ticket to catching the bass today! The water clarity was terrible due to all the rain & wind we had been having this pat week and the strike zones were very small. If you weren’t right in their faces, you didn’t get bit! By slowly crawling these offerings, we were able to land over 25 bass in the first place we fished. The second spot was even smaller and when the wind picked up we were able to get a good drift happening. Each time we passed a certain area, someone locked up on a bass. There were even a few double headers by Jeff & David! We stayed there for as long as the fish were willing to bite and managed to land another 25 or more smallmouth before changing locations again. With the sun beginning to drop low in the sky, I knew we weren’t long for this day. David managed to get a couple more bass, but this time they were largemouth. Jeff got to see the difference between the two before we headed off he water. All in all a great day with over 50 bass landed and plenty more lost. I think Jeff is now hooked for life! He definitely landed more than David, but that was the plan! His was the largest at almost 4 pounds, but David had plenty almost as big to add to the bag. All fish released to fight another day!

After a few cancellations due to foul weather, I was back on the water today with Jay. We were looking for big fish only and knew that they would be hard to come by! The weather called for cloudy condition with sunny periods throughout the day, but all we got were the clouds. Air temps were in the low 40’s and the water temps were in the upper 40’s. Light & variable winds were a welcome with temperatures like these. The fish were a little slow in coming, but every one was big! Jay hooked the first one of about 3.5 pounds and I told him that it was below average. Eventually he caught some over 4 and I informed him that was more the norm for this area. We didn’t catch anything that was over 5 pounds but had several that were between 4.5 and 5 pounds. Plenty of others were missed and lost that were larger, but that’s always the way when you’re on big fish. We did have a slow period during the afternoon but that eventually changed as the day neared the end. Jay caught a few more large fish in the last hour that made up for the dead period we had earlier. All in all a good day with around 20 smallmouth bass caught & released.