Darren was back again today for another shot at some big smallies. I knew he would get into them as the weekend traffic was over, leaving more water for us to fish. Hopefully not too many fish were relocated again!

Our first spot produced several decent fish for Darren, but nothing really big. It wasn’t until we were a few hundred yards away that he managed to get into a couple of nicer ones. When I realized what was going on, I switched techniques and for a while, the action was nonstop. Bass after bass came aboard and more of them were quality than not. As much as I would have liked to refine this area, I was forced to keep moving due to two other boats moving in. They had seen multiple fish come aboard and slid over to where we were. Time to move on as I wasn’t about to educate them!

We were completely off the spot now and covering water thoroughly for a while when I noticed the two boats leaving. They hadn’t caught a thing from what I had seen and got discouraged quickly. Once they were gone, I moved back to where we were getting the fish and it started all over again. We began catching more smallies of various sizes and I realized we had made the right decision to have left. Lately there has been so much pressure on these waters that I have to fish in a defensive mode almost all the time. A small price to pay for quality fish, I guess!

With the sun hitting the water all over now and temps rising nicely, I decided to give the shallower waters a try. In fact, I thought I’d make a few casts as well just to see if anything had moved in! Immediately I was tight to a good fish but didn’t realize just how big it was until it was right beside the boat. It was a giant! Now I wish that I hadn’t made that cast!

I had wanted to leave some time for Darren to catch a few walleye and around 1:00 we switched species and made the move. For the remainder of the day, he hammered walleye until we were done. They may not have been big but there were plenty. He finished up by catching 3 more, just while I was prepping the boat for the run back.

Today was a pleasant day on the water with light winds as well as boat traffic. It was finally nice to be fishing when it wasn’t a weekend of insanely summerlike weather. The past couple of days saw everyone taking advantage of the Indian summer we were presently in. I’m sure that after this heat wave I’ll be seeing much fewer boats out. Bring on the cooler weather please!

Alexandre & his son Thierry were joined by Alain & his son Jordan, hoping for a good day of walleye fishing. We were going to try and get in as much time as we could, before the scheduled winds arrived. Hopefully Mother Nature would be kind to us for a while!

Alexandre had seen the pics from just a few days back and was looking forward to possibly catching some big walleye of his own. He started off with a bang! On his second or third cast, he was into a nice one that definitely wouldn’t be a keeper! This was just the beginning of another insane day!

Once I had everyone oriented on presentations, it wasn’t long before they were all catching fish. I refined the areas and slowly moved around, searching for the fish. It seemed like every few minutes I was netting someone’s catch. They all managed to fight their fair share of big fish, along with a good number of keepers. In fact, getting a limit of walleye was not an issue!

Throughout the day we saw a mix of both walleye & bass but it was Alain that hooked into the monster of the day. He somehow managed to have a lunge eat his bait and eventually landed his first ever musky. We shot several pics and returned his catch quickly.

Although the winds did pick up at times, it never really got out of hand enough to end the day. I was worried this morning when I saw the reports and informed them that we would stay as long as we were able. In the end, we finished just about the same time as I would have done. The last hour was probably the slowest period of the entire day and they still managed to boat several good fish.

I don’t think anyone had imagined the fishing to be as good as it was today. Right from the start they began catching and they never looked back. It was one fish after the other for the entire day! The fall fishing is at its prime right now and although the weather remains nice for the moment, it definitely will change. I only hope that I can fish through this entire month once again as the last couple of years have shut me down much earlier than expected. Only time will tell!

Mario joined me today with his friend, hoping to catch some fish to eat. They would be fine fishing just about anything but walleye & bass were what we were after. Hopefully the bite would be as good as the day before!

They began by throwing a dropshot rig along a current break and both had hits almost immediately. New to this technique, they unfortunately missed the fish due to their hook sets. Several casts later, we had our first bass of the day and it was a good one. I think they expected to keep the fish but I informed them that it was to be released and not to worry as they would have better fish to eat!

They only managed one more smallie from this area but I landed several good ones trying various techniques to see what was working the best. I eventually decided to go and do a little trolling on the outside edge, as the boat traffic was building and it wouldn’t be getting better, anytime soon!

The trolling bite wasn’t what I had expected but they did have a few chances. Unfortunately they pulled the hooks out of the fish by applying too much pressure when reeling them in. I would have to rethink what I wanted to do next as the areas I wanted to fish were filling up fast with other fishermen! It was becoming a zoo with the mild weather now and it was only a weekday! What would the weekend bring?

We tried various methods and spots when they became available, but the only thing that saw fewer fishermen was the trolling. Unfortunately they didn’t seem to be getting bit with this method and I wondered why. I was marking plenty of fish in the area I was covering and decided to take one of the rods for a minute to try. It didn’t even take the minute and I was locked up almost instantly! There was something with the way they were fishing the baits that wasn’t working because the fish were definitely hitting! I passed the rod to one of them and let them bring the fish in. Although not a giant, it was a good one and released after they took a few pics.

We had spent several hours trying to manoeuvre around the other boats to get a place to fish and I had seen just about enough. Add to that the strong SW winds and it was time to pull the plug on this area. We were going to try for walleye now and I packed everything up and left. Along the way I actually counted 14 other boats in sections of this area and was glad to be social distancing from all of them!

As soon as we arrived in the new place, I instructed them on where to cast and what to do with the dropshot. It may have taken them several missed strikes but eventually they both got the hang of it and began catching fish. There were a few that made it into the livewell and some others that had to be released. The good news was that they were both catching fish and we were away from all the other boats. We were alone too!

We spend the remainder of our time fishing a few different spots and they managed to catch enough fish for a limit of walleye. They would both be having fish for dinner!

Although this day didn’t go completely as planned, I did have a backup that worked out well. We may not have been able to get the bass we wanted but at least the walleye bite was great. In the end, they both caught plenty of fish and even managed to bring a few of them home. They would be eating good tonight!

Well it finally happened! Val actually got a perfect day on the water this afternoon with little to no wind at all. The usual hurricanes didn’t crush us today! Instead, he crushed the fish with one walleye after the other. No real story to report, just an unbelievable day of fishing. I even managed to fish some and we both boated good numbers of big eyes! Several doubles were landed making for some really nice pics. The only thing difficult today was being able to catch a limit of keepers for Val to bring home. It took us all day to filter through the big ones. It was a tough job but somebody had to do it!

Curtis was looking to do a trip with his family after his previous, successful sturgeon outing. We would be fishing bass & walleye today and with any luck, they would have a great day. Julie, Angela, & Adam were all wishing it was warmer though as we ventured out looking for that first bite!

With 4 people fishing, I didn’t want to have everyone casting and decided to begin with dropshotting. It wasn’t easy making a drift as the wind was blowing opposite the current flow. Angela was the first to hook up and a quality walleye was soon in the net. Her mother Julie also landed one but it was probably the smallest walleye I had ever seen from this area before!

I managed to make several drifts with the aid of the electric motor, but it was tough. Plenty of fish were marking and I really thought we were going to get them good! I guess the fish had other ideas as the bites were few & far between. They had missed several fish, before I pulled the plug on this method and tried something different. We were going to try trolling, with everyone on board!

I began on a break and covered plenty of water, unsuccessfully! These fish just weren’t chasing at all and a much slower approach would be needed. Time for plan “C”!

I moved to another area nearby and held with the electric motor. Three of them started to drift baits in the slower current and after missing a couple of strikes, Julie latched onto a real giant. These fish were here, just not moving very much! When it jumped, I realized just how big it actually was and released the lock on the motor, to drift down. I didn’t want to put any unnecessary pressure on her fish that might end in disappointment!

With the fishing being as difficult as it was this morning, every fish counted and I wanted this one in the net. Eventually the boat and fish came closer to each other and I slid the net under the biggest bass of the season! I don’t think Julie actually realized how big this thing was until she had to hold it for the pics. We shot several good ones before releasing her back to where she belonged. A recent article on big fall smallies confirmed that releasing these trophies where they came from can be beneficial to their survival as well as the spring spawn. I’ve been practicing this for many years!

We remained in the area for a little while longer without another fish. I guess if you’re only going to get one, that’s the one to get! With plenty of time remaining, I decided to switch it up and headed somewhere for walleye. They were hoping to bring a few fish home with them and I was sure it wouldn’t be a problem getting them some eyes.

I had been marking some good hooks in slightly deeper water and after setting up, was tight to a fish almost immediately. I passed it off to Adam for his first fish of the day! Plenty of other fish were also marking but for some reason only a few of them actually bit. The bites were light and not detected in time for the others to hook up. After one more fish, we moved to another area where the action got much better!

Angela was tight to a fish on her first cast and put another quality eye in the well. She also boated a couple of smallies on the next couple of casts too! Julie managed to get a few walleye as well and pretty much everyone had their chances. Curtis added to their limit with two nice keepers, but Adam wasn’t as lucky. He did miss a few fish but wasn’t able to bring anything to net!

The afternoon flurry of fish was great, but the highlight of the day definitely had to be the giant smallie from this morning! We had made several adjustments and moves to catch the fish we did today and unfortunately we were done. At least everyone had plenty of chances and landed enough fish to keep them warm, on this chilly fall day! Better temps are coming and with any luck, many, many more fish too!