Adam, Pat & Peter joined up today in search of sturgeon, with a backup plan of bass & walleye if need be. It was Adam’s birthday and I was hoping to get him a big fish, but lately they had been on the smaller side. Would today be the day?

We headed to our first spot and set up on an area that I saw a few fish. Unfortunately, we were relocating after about 15 minutes of nothing. This went on several times before I headed to another place further away. This year has been really slow for the big fish bites and I’m running out of time. With the season closing at the end of the month, I really hope that they finally show. This warm weather definitely isn’t helping either!

A new spot and several fish markings had me excited to set the lines. I was sure that they would catch some fish from here and it didn’t take long. Adam was first up, seeing as it was his birthday and he landed a decent fish pretty quickly. The others followed in sync with fish of their own, when they managed to hook into a double pretty quickly. As luck would have it, one of the fish turned out to be a big walleye and Peter’s personal best. It may not have been gangbusters but we were getting into fish and that’s all that counted! We had periods of time that we waited, but the next bite always came. More often than not, they came in the form of a double header too! Adam fought one that I really thought was a heavier sturgeon only to find out that it was a fat catfish when it came to the boat. This was definitely the biggest one I had seen in several years and the largest one Adam had ever caught too! Plenty of pics were taken of all the fish but especially this one!

Time was not on our side today as they were only here for a half day and we were nearing the end. I decided to fish till noon with the fishing starting to pick up and was glad that I did. In the last half hour 4 more sturgeon were caught, including one of the better fish at the last minute. I love ending on a high note!

This morning may have started out slowly but we stuck it out and were heavily rewarded. Although the sturgeon may not have been the ones I wanted, they were still fun to catch. The cat & walleye were just an added bonus and a surprise to us all. In the end, the half day turned out to be a great one and everyone left having caught some of the biggest fish of their lives. I know Adam will be remembering this birthday for some time to come!!

Alex & John were with me before for sturgeon and hoped to get into them again today. The bite had been slow lately, but hopefully this would be the day it would start. With the full moon having passed I could only hope!

We rolled out from the docks by 7:30 and scouted two areas, without seeing much in the way of big fish. I ran all over the lake and set up on the third one as it showed some fish. Unfortunately, after over an hour and a couple of moves, we still had nothing. Time for a complete change!

I ran them to a bass area and here they began to hook up. John had the hot hand with several big fish on a dropshot. Alex had a few chances but only managed to get one decent fish before we left the area to try for sturgeon once again.

I ran back to one of the furthest places we had searched in the morning and set up after looking all over the place for marks. In the last couple of hours, we had shots at 8 bites and they managed to land 5 sturgeon and one walleye. It wasn’t what I had hoped for but at least they caught the right fish!

Today may have been a perfect day for weather, but the fishing was definitely subpar! The high sunshine, zero wind and insane almost 90-degree day for October, wasn’t what I expected. I don’t think the fish did either! The water temps actually climbed up to 70 degrees by the end of the day, making it feel more like summer. With less than one month remaining in the sturgeon season, I hope the weather cools off and sends them into a feeding mode soon. Regardless of the outcome today, both Alex and John had a great time and that’s all that counts! They had a picture-perfect day and caught some fish too.!!

Rich was back for the third or fourth time this season, in search of big bass and walleye. He would also be joined by his girlfriend in the afternoon, in hopes of getting her a few bites too. Hopefully the conditions would let us get it done!

We ventured out in a light NE wind that made it difficult for drifting. What we were able to do however was locate the walleye on the Livescope and cast to the schooling fish. It was good to see them, but their attitude wasn’t great! Most of the fish didn’t want to know anything about us or they just followed the baits and didn’t eat. We did however get plenty of decent fish and a few overs in the time we fished. Floating weds and a reduction of wind was making it even more difficult to get bit and the high sunshine didn’t help either. Eventually we just gave up on the walleye and headed elsewhere for bass!

We pulled up on an area that was holding good fish the last time I was out and Rich began casting. It didn’t take long before the confirmation was made and Rich loaded up on a good one. The next hour or so saw plenty of others and he was hammering them good. Slight bait changes saw many more smallies before we departed to pick up his girlfriend. It’s always hard to leave them biting!

The winds were completely dead when Jen arrived and I decided to hit a walleye area first in hopes of a few more fsih. We worked it hard for about an hour or so and struggled to get bit. The fish were still there but in a bit of a funky mood and they weren’t eating. Only a few of them managed to come aboard so we opted for plan b and the smallies. We were going back to where we left them biting!

Rich didn’t waste any time once we arrived and was into another big fish on his first cast. He also hit a few more after, confirming that they were still here. With a little help, Jen even managed to get several bites and boated a couple of beauties, including her personal best! They had to work hard for their bites, but the size was definitely worth the effort! Almost every fish was big from here making the stay very worthwhile! So much so that there was never a need to hit another area before we were done. By 4:00 we headed back to take out.

Overall, today was a great fall day both for fishing as well as the weather. Despite the slow walleye bite at the start of the morning, there were still a good number of fish landed. The bass fishing however was on fire with big fall smallies! There were so many footballs caught today that it felt like a different lake! All I know is that they both left completely satisfied with the outcome and Rich can’t wait to get back out again. Plenty of fall fishing action ahead and hopefully mother nature will allow us to stretch it out into the next month, before we’re done. Great day for fishing!!

Day 2 with Herm and it was a beauty! A very light NE in the morning and flat calm in the afternoon. The fishing wasn’t too bad either as plenty of bass and walleye were landed!

We started out dropshotting and jigging, deep open water flats and it didn’t take long to hook up. I think Herm barely made it to the bottom when he was locked up on a good smallie. Walley and perch followed and there were many! We covered water and anchored where the volume was and got into them big time. We had a good luck charm helping us when a pigeon decided to land in the boat to rest. We could tell that it was exhausted by the way it was breathing. That and the fact that we were so far from shore! It actually stayed with us for a couple of hours, until I ran it back to shore. Once back at the dock, it flew a short distance and landed on the ground, no worse for wear! This was definitely a first for me!

Herm & I headed back out, but this time I decided to try for smallies, due to the flat calm conditions. Apparently, it was the right choice as he just hammered them for the remainder of this trip. High numbers of quality bass were fought and landed, by dropshotting. We decided to call it a bit earlier as we were going out for his birthday dinner. By 3:00 we were done and ready to roll.

These last two days on the water were amazing despite changing conditions, with plenty of fish. I split the days up between walleye and bass and Herm caught them both! Today however was picture perfect for the end of September. The weather was cold in the morning but warmed up to a beautiful day in the end. Loads of fish also cooperated, making the entire trip end with a bang. Oh yeah, dinner was great too, as we sampled some of the fresh fish from the day before! Great way to end, on a high!!

Herm was back for a couple of days, and this morning we headed out in search of some walleye. I had been getting them pretty good lately, but today we had a hateful north east blow. I only hoped that we would be able to fish the open water areas effectively and put a few of them in the boat!

The wind and waves weren’t going to make this easy, but I had a few methods that might help. There was to be no proper drifting, but we did manage to slowly drift against the current. It worked somewhat, but casting up current while drifting worked even better. We managed to put a limit of walleye in the boat in the morning and released plenty of shorts as well as a pile of perch. When the fish began to refuse our offerings, I decided to make a move. This time however, we were heading for bass!

We had been dropshotting all morning and I continued with the same presentation where we were. Herm also wanted to catch a big bass on an ultralight rod and was into one on his very first cast. Too bad it didn’t stay on when it decided to jump! I knew there would be plenty more chances and not long after he was hooked up again. This one was even bigger and it did stay pinned all the way to the net. He had gotten his wish with the largest bass of the day and did it on an ultralight rod & reel!

We continued in the same area for a few hours and managed to get into lots of bass. Not all of them were big but plenty were and Herm had a blast with his light tackle. When this place slowed, I decided to head back to the open water once again to see if we could add a few more walleye to the livewell.

The waves hadn’t gotten any better when we arrived, but I knew it was fishable after enduring the hateful NE winds this morning. We finished up the last hour of the day here and were lucky enough to put a few more keepers in the box before we were done.

Today was an interesting one to say the least, with no rest from the wind. We fished through the big blow and managed to make it work for both bass & walleye. The entire time was spent out in open water rocking and rolling! It would be nice to finally get on solid ground, as we headed back to take out. Despite the not so perfect conditions, today was still a great day and Herm caught plenty of nice fish. He also managed to get a few to take home. Who could ask for anything more!!