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October 17th 2018

Pierre, Francois & Sebastian picked another miserable day to go fishing today. It’s not hard when it’s always blowing 25 to 30 knots and there’s nowhere to hide! I just hoped that they would be able to feel the bites in this wind!

We hit the water about 8:30 in a strong westerly howl and headed to our first spot to fish. As I approached the area I realized that we would be able to fish there due to the angle of the wind. I had high hopes for them under these conditions and quickly showed them what to do.

For about 45 minutes they casted lures in current and managed to get several bites. A few fish were landed but most were either missed or just lost before we slid into the best area. It was here that Phillip stuck a really nice bass that fought great. Several jumps and plenty of surging runs later, it was finally in the net. This may have been his largest smallie ever and the day was just beginning!

We resumed fishing after the pics and release and that’s when everything changed. The winds picked up, switching from a west to a W/NW and just crushed us. I now had to use the kicker along with the electric motor just to hold in place. Apparently the fish didn’t like it either as they just stopped biting. Waves were crashing everywhere! I had to try something different and somewhere else if they were going to catch any more fish!

I had switched to a slow troll hoping for better line control but apparently this was more difficult that I realized. Between all the floating weeds and tangled baits, it was impossible to keep the lures in the water. Eventually I just held with the two motors and tried casting the areas instead. This too proved next to impossible as they were still getting tangled with each other somehow and I spent more time retying. Between the wind and weeds things were getting more & more difficult.

We tried a variety of areas and presentations throughout the morning but to no avail. Eventually they requested a lunch break back, back at the ramp and I agreed. We were going to get out of here for a while and re think our options!

They had taken about an hour out of our schedule in a sheltered area and wanted to head back out for the remainder of the day. I tried a different place behind an island and despite marking all kinds of bait and several fish, we still came up empty. I finally decided to head back to where I really wanted to be and grind it out for the remainder of the day!

Despite the big waves getting there, it actually seemed somewhat better when we arrived. I still used the two motor approach but it was doable. Sebastian was casting from up front while Pierre & his brother Frank were fishing from the back. A few hits were had by everyone but the wind still had too much slack in their lines for them to detect the bites. Sebastian was the only one that actually landed anything and unfortunately they were all fall fish. I had wanted to try a couple of other areas before we called the day and ran to the first one to troll.

We covered plenty of water and didn’t have anything to show for our efforts but tangled lines and weeds. A few hits were had but unfortunately all fish were missed! One last stop and we would end the day afterwards!

I held on a big current break with both motors again and fortunately this time they did catch a couple of fish. Francois landed two nice smallies before we finished up for the day. At least they went out with a bang!

The conditions have been insane lately with all the giant winds but I’ve still managed to get people into fish every day. I know that whenever we finally catch a break, the fishing will improve dramatically. Until then however, I will be forced to deal with Mother Nature’s idea of a joke! With plenty of days still remaining in this season I’m sure it can only get better!!

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October 16th 2018

Today was a difficult one to say the least! Mike & Corey joined me but we had to relocate to a different body of water due to the giant winds. Fishing anything else would have been next to impossible!

We arrived around 8:30 and headed out in 2 to 3 footers hoping it would be better where we wanted to fish. Fortunately the wind direction did reduce the size of the waves somewhat but it was still gusting at over 25 knots. This was going to be a challenge!

I Thought that a troll might make things easier but soon found out that we were unable to go very far without gathering floating weeds on the lures. After close to an hour of this torture, I decided to try something else. I had been marking fish throughout and thought we’d try casting some of the same areas that we had gone over, but the results were still the same. Plenty of floating weeds due to the strong winds! We eventually slid into one deeper hole and I switched them up to the bottom to try a little drop shotting.

I had wanted to anchor up with the electric motor but found this to be difficult as well. In the end, I had to use the small engine along with the electric motor just to hold in these winds and current. Not the first time and probably not the last! This would at least allow us to remain where we wanted and focus on the fishing!

Both Mike & Corey were slowly fishing the bottom now and at one point Corey got snagged. While trying to free his line, something hit the bait and he was immediately locked up. Although strange, it did show just how inactive the fish really were. This thing was a tank and remained on the bottom almost to the end. When he finally brought it up for me to net, I could see why. Definitely a good fish to get on a day like this!

After a few pics, we resumed fishing, but they unfortunately never had another bite. I was forced to pull out of this area and try something else. We were going to try drifting a little deeper with the drop shot and see if this would be any better. After a few tough passes, I realized that this wasn’t the way to go as I couldn’t reduce the speed enough to get a proper drift. Time for another plan and off to a heavy current break!

I had been getting big fish from an area lately and although difficult to fish, thought I’d give it a try. I would have to use the two motor approach again as the wind was not going to make it easy to hold! I did manage to position the boat properly but they only had a couple of missed strikes in the time we held and I was forced to move once again.

This time I went shallow and had them cover water with some faster moving baits, looking for any active fish. I even switched one of them to soft plastics when I sighted a few big bass just cruising the area. Nothing seemed to change though and the results remained the same!

We had fished through the morning and into the afternoon and finally took a short break to eat. While anchored up with the electric, I decided to make one cast and slammed an absolute giant! Apparently they do occasionally eat too!

After lunch I switched them up to slower presentations and covered the water that I had hooked the fish. They worked it for almost an hour without any success however and I eventually pulled the plug. Another relocation was made!

While drop shotting a bunch of deeper places, Mike finally hooked into a small bass and brought it in the boat. I thought we were going to get into several others as well as I was seeing many on the screen. Too bad this was the only one that wanted to open its mouth!

With time winding down, I decided to go back to where Corey had landed his big fish earlier and apparently it was the right decision. It was here that Mike hooked up almost immediately and it was another giant. After several jumps and powerful runs, I netted his best fish of the day. It was an absolute beast! I only wish that there had of been more just like this one but all we could manage were a couple of decent ones afterwards.

This was definitely not the typical day that I am use to seeing at this time of year and although tough, it was still rewarding. Big fish were landed but no quantity! I only hope that the winds diminish some or at least change direction so that I can get back into the great fall bite again. Definitely better days ahead!!

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October 14th 2018

Darren, Mark & Dave were back with me again today but this time we were searching for smallies. We had decided to go elsewhere, looking for some big bass and took another road trip. Hopefully it would be the right decision!

By the time we arrived and hit the water we were looking at about 8:30 before the first line was in. I had stopped on a current break and all three were tossing baits to the same area. Dave managed to hook into a couple of fish but was only able to land one smaller bass. Mark on the other hand, hooked into and landed a really nice bonus walleye that surprised everyone. We weren’t really fishing for them but you just never know!

With the fishing rather slow, I decided to switch it up a bit and headed shallower. Darren wasted no time, hooking up on his very first cast and it was a giant! They had a little competition going on again today with a three fish limit and this was definitely going to help. Nothing was to be kept in the livewell , only weighed and released! A little while later Mark also hooked up on a good fish but wasn’t able to bring it to net when it jumped and threw the hook. Dave did however match the fish that Darren had landed, with another of equal size. This bumped up his total slightly with his previously landed bass.

I mixed up a bunch of different techniques throughout the morning , depending on where we fished. Pretty much every one of them caught, but it was one in particular that was producing the best. With plenty of other boats in the area I had to do something different if they were going to catch fish! Today was too beautiful of a day and everyone was taking advantage of the conditions. Nice weekend weather always brings out the people!

The morning had seen a good amount of action but I still wanted more and moved off shore to find it. I held in one area for a while and it seemed like someone was always tight lined here. Although not all big, Mark did manage to get a really good one that put him in contention with the others. Darren and Dave had bumped up their weights several times with larger fish, but only slightly. It was still anyone’s game!

Throughout the afternoon, I hit many places but unfortunately not the ones I really wanted. It seemed like there was always a boat or two where I hoped to be. I had to settle once again by fishing secondary spots instead! One of them was pretty kind to Darren, giving him another big fish that took his total way up. The others were really going to have to bump up their game if they stood a chance now! I thought Darren was going to close the door completely but somehow he managed to lose two more big ones in a row. We eventually pulled out when the action just died from this place and tried once again to fish a spot I really wanted to, all day!

I was shocked to see that the area was finally clear and made my way over to try. I stayed slightly above it as I planned on fishing my way down slowly, when another boat ran right in ahead of us. We just couldn’t catch a break today! I was forced to settle once again and although they did manage to land several more bass, they weren’t really the ones I wanted to see. Darren did however bring to net another huge walleye in the final few minutes. Dave also had a couple of good chances at heavy fish that unfortunately, just came unpinned. We were officially done for another day!

The numbers may not have been great today but the quality of the fish definitely were. In the end, Darren won out over the other two and for the second year in a row! Everyone had their chances at a big bag if they could have kept the fish pinned. It didn’t really matter though as it was all for fun and only bragging rights. Regardless, there were still plenty of fish caught in their two days together making for another successful trip. They may be done, but I will be back looking for more of those fall football giants, many more times before the year ends. Who knows, maybe I’ll even be able to fish the places I want and not just settle on other areas instead!!

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October 13th 2018

Darren, Mark & Dave joined me again today for their annual fall fishing trip. We were going for walleye and would hopefully have better success than I had recently. If the weather would hold, I was sure we would hammer them good!

The water level was much lower as the dam upstream had been shut down to be able to remove boats from marinas. I also had very little current and didn’t know how the fish would react as they dropped their lines in. My drifts were quick ones over the flat as we were moving across the area instead of along the entire length. This made for much shorter drifts until the wind started to pick up!

We had made a few unsuccessful passes, despite marking all kinds of fish and I was happy to see the wind finally start to blow. For a change it was from the direction I wanted and as if on cue, the fish realized it too. Everyone started locking up and walleye were being landed often. We had singles, doubles and several triple headers in the next few hours and the net got quite a workout. Most of the fish were in the slot and several were placed in the livewell as they all wanted to take some home. Although not many were overs, there were a few unders that were returned for future fishing. Amongst all the Walters, several smallies and a few northerns were also landed, making this a great combination spot. They even caught several big perch in the mix as well before the winds grew even bigger, making it tougher to fish.

We all knew that sometime in the afternoon, the lake was going to roll and took advantage of the fishing before it arrived. I had gone from a perfect drift to a very fast one with the increase in wind and fewer biters were present. I was still marking lots of fish however and stuck it out when I saw this. The last couple of hours were more difficult to fish and less & less bites were had with each pass. Talk of an early departure was even tossed around! I think everyone was feeling the cold as they were bundled up with more clothes than usual for this time of the year too! Only thing left to do was call it and head in!

It had been an interesting day to say the least with zero flow in the morning followed by three footers when the winds picked up. I had gone back to an area I tried this past week in a big east wind and knew the fishing would be better. As soon as we had movement, the fish turned on! Plenty of good ones were landed by everyone and they even managed to bring several keeper eyes back with them. Tomorrow we will be back out again for another shot at success but this time targeting the smallies instead. Hopefully they too will cooperate, giving them another successful day of fall fishing!!

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October 12th 2018

After yesterdays difficult day in absolutely miserable weather with Herm, It was nice to get back out for bass with Tino. We met up around 8:00 and were on the water not long after. The strong NW winds were not going to be our friend today but at least they weren’t calling for any rain!

This was the 5th time this season that I had fished with Tino & I hoped it would be as memorable as the previous trips. We were looking for big bass and it wouldn’t be easy in the giant winds, but I would try to make it happen. I realized early that I was going to need the assistance of the small engine along with the electric motor to be able to hold in the current. This little trick has aided me in the past and would definitely help us today! It would also save the batteries from draining quickly!

First spot we fished wasn’t loaded with bass but Tino hooked into a nice one that soon came off due to the heavy current. I managed to bring another to net right after on a demonstration cast, showing him just what he needed to do. Too bad they were the only two fish willing to play, making us change locations quickly.

I decided to do a drift in these strong winds and we both drop shotted another area nearby, looking for more active fish. First pass yielded a decent smallie but it wasn’t easy with the wind & current. I tried several more passes without any luck and eventually made another adjustment.

I idled over to a shallow place and anchored up with both motors. I was going to fish the current break hoping to show Tino a few more bass. As luck would have it, this is where he managed to get into several good ones, finally understanding what he needed to do. A couple of his fish were real footballs and he was amazed at just how fat they actually were!

We had held on this spot for quite a while and had several other boats close in, trying to fish as well. They had a difficult time in the waves and wind and never really dialed in on exactly what they needed to do. All they did was just get in our way as we waited for them to leave! Each time they left, fish were caught!

After camping out for a while in one area, I finally made another move. I also showed Tino another presentation that I knew would work. We were going to cover water with hard baits and it didn’t take long to get bit. This was also the easiest method with the windy conditions we were fishing in. Tino locked up on many other bass while doing this and he was starting to understand just why it was so effective. We stuck with this presentation for quite a while again and managed to land a bunch more fish while doing it.

I had really hoped to get Tino into some bigger bass and decided to make another move back to where we had started the day. Although not easy to hold, I did manage to position the boat for him to get the right bite. He had locked up on a real beauty! Several jumps confirmed its size and I was forced to drift down in order to land the fish. This was by far the biggest bass of the day but unfortunately it wasn’t fat. If it was. it would have been his personal best! It was probably one of the thinnest ones I’ve seen for this time of the year too! Regardless, it was a nice fish and released after a few quick pics.

We spent the remainder of the day just covering water and several more smaller bass were landed before we ran out of time. Tino even had a close encounter with a toothy critter that ended in disappointment and the loss of a lure. He had managed to get into a decent musky and broke the line when it made a leap into the air. After this, we tried a little longer but had nothing to show for our efforts and decided to leave instead.

Although today may have been tough it was still rewarding for Tino to learn a few more techniques and see just what fall fishing is all about. We may not have gotten into the real monsters but there were still some memorable moments that were had. He had landed several fish on different presentations and almost caught his very first lunge! Too bad because he really would have ended on a high! Either way it was still a good day with many fish both lost & landed for what will likely be his last open water trip of the year. Better luck next season!!