Today I had the pleasure of fishing with Scott & Manson from Ontario. We decided that big fish would be the choice over a numbers day and headed to lake St-Francis for smallmouth bass. Apparently, it was the right choice as both of them landed the largest smallies of their lives, several times over. With all the rain we had been having lately, the water levels had rose and discolored considerably. This was going to make the presentations more difficult! A heavy, misty rain and fog was what we began our day in and only a few periods in the afternoon had it subside to just a haze. To say the visibility wasn’t too good would have been an understatement! We had another day with very similar conditions to yesterday, no wind, but a bit warmer. The air temperatures were in the mid 60’s but very humid and the water temps were close to 60. Scott dominated the first half of the day, as every fish he landed seemed to be in the 4-pound or better class. His largest went a whopping 5.6 pounds! Manson seemed to redeem himself right at the end of the day as he scored several fish over four pounds in a very short time, just before we were ready to leave. They probably had opportunities at over ten fish in just the last hour that bumped up the numbers before days end! Fortunately, they landed more than they lost! All in all, I would estimate that there were close to 20 huge smallies landed and many others missed on this “Big Fish Day”.

Today was quite a day of fishing as an additional three boats aided me with the 8 clients from Colorado. Marc, Brian & Benji were really helpful as they provided a great day of fishing for all those willing to brave this miserable, misty outing. When this many fishermen get together you can rest assure that there will be some sort of side betting going on! The competition was for; first fish, most fish, largest bass and largest pike! I think that my boat with Kevin & Shawn got the first fish award as they landed a bass within their first three casts. Brian’s group, Dan & Bob managed to receive top honors in the pike category with one over 8 and another over 9 pounds. Marc’s guys, Rex & Doug picked up the other two with the most fish & largest bass awards. They landed about 30 bass and had a couple just under 4 pounds to their credit! Benji’s gang, Mike & Chad didn’t receive any of the glory, but still managed to catch around 20 bass. I would estimate that there was close to 100 bass caught on this cool, rainy day. All I can say is thank god for rain suits! With the air temps below 60 degrees and the water temperatures closer to 57, the bite was rather bizarre. Spinnerbaits didn’t seem to work as well in the morning as they did in the afternoon. Tubes and spider grubs definitely were a better choice, as most of these fish weren’t all that active in the earlier hours of the day. The flat calm conditions made for comfortable riding, but I would have liked a little wind for the fishing. All in all, a great day considering how miserable “Mother Nature” was to these 8 guys from the “Power Motive Corporation” in Denver, Colorado.

Today, I had the pleasure of fishing with a honeymoon couple from Maryland. Megan & Steven tied the knot this past weekend and joined me in Mississquoi Bay for smallmouth bass. Not since my own marriage had I ever come across a couple that loved to fish as much as we do. Congratulations are definitely in order for these newlyweds! The first half hour of the morning was a little slow as they threw spinnerbaits without any success. I slowed down the presentation with texas-rigged tubes and they began to hook up with regularity. The water conditions were poor with low levels and stained visibility. The temps were in the upper 50’s and the air wasn’t much warmer. Winds were once again from the N/NE at 10 to 20 knots and the skies were overcast, all day long. After several hours of battling the waves and the wind, the water became too dirty to fish effectively. I decided that relocation was in order and looked for cleaner water nearby. A slightly deeper flat provided us with the conditions I was searching for and it didn’t take long before the first bass came aboard. Steven had his work cut out for him, as his better half dominated the morning. Fortunately, there were plenty of bass throughout this area to provide action all around. If numbers were what they were looking for, they definitely had that! We lost count, but I am sure there were at least 50 or 60 bass caught & released up to about 4 pounds. Megan may have caught more, but the largest had to go to Steven as he redeemed himself during the second half of the day. They will have plenty of memories & stories to tell about how they spent their honeymoon in the years to come. I wish them all the best in their marriage and hope that this passion never ends!

I fished with Mario, Joe & Tony on Lake St-Francis today. The winds were out of the N/NE at 10 to 20 knots with three-foot waves greeting us on our initial run. The air temps were not quite 50 degrees and there was a light mist in the air. Water temps were in the lower 60’s and the fish were very inactive. A spinnerbait bite was the best choice as covering water was a must. No concentrations of fish were found with one fish here & there. By days end about 15 smallmouth bass were caught with a bonus largemouth of 3.5 pounds as well. A couple of the smallies went over 5 pounds but most were in the 3 to 3.5 pound range. Mario actually caught the biggest but Joe lost one possibly larger right at the boat. There were actually more fish lost than landed as many a fish strike came up empty or lost shortly after the hook set. Fortunately these were all quality smallmouth and some of the largest caught by today’s gang. All in all, a pretty good day considering this kind of weather. I will be glad when the winds finally change direction!

I fished Lake Champlain with Darren today and definitely got into the numbers! After postponing yesterday due to five footers, we were able to get out today. The water had turned to a terrible brown from the 30-knot winds yesterday and visibility was less than 6 inches. The fish were hitting a little short in the morning and we had to slowly crawl tubes in order to land just a handful of bass. Even the pike weren’t cooperative for us as we tried slow rolling spinnerbaits for quite some time without success! The air temps were a cool 55 degrees but eventually went into the upper 70’s by the days end. Water temps were a cool 60 degrees and climbed to almost 64 by mid afternoon. Light & variable winds were a welcomed change from the day before and made for a pleasurable, October outing. The afternoon bite was definitely better than the morning as we caught probably 60 or more smallmouth bass up to 4 pounds in the last 4 hours of the day. Definitely a great day for the numbers of fish caught in a short period of time. Once the water started to warm up, the bass seemed to come alive. On one area, we must have caught over 25 bass in an area smaller than the size of my 20-foot boat! That’s what I call concentrated! Being able to fish in a T-Shirt at this time of year is always a plus but catching that many fish while doing so is an anomaly! What a day!!!!!