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Max & his son Easton had never caught a bass before, but that was about to change today! We had tried for sturgeon for about 90 minutes, unsuccessfully, and headed for smallies immediately afterwards. They were only with me for the afternoon and I wanted to get them into as many fish as possible.

We pulled up on the first spot and I instructed them on how to fish the baits properly. They were throwing soft plastics and it didn’t take long before Easton got hit. Unfortunately his hookset was a little early and the fish got off. Not to worry, plenty more where that one came from! We moved around slowly and several more fish were hooked into but they all came unpinned before coming to the net. I reinstructed them on how to set the hook & slowed them down even more and then it started to change. Max was officially into his first smallmouth bass! It may not have been a giant but it was a good fish, acting like it was even bigger. They had never experienced them before and now knew what everybody was talking about. « These things really pull », he said! A few quick pics and they were both back at it, looking for more.

Easton still wasn’t having much luck hooking up, but he was getting them to hit his bait. He just wasn’t setting the hook at the right time, missing them in the end. Eventually with more coaching and another bait change, he finally locked up on his very first bass as well. He too couldn’t believe how hard they fought as they were use to fishing for walleye & pike back home in Calgary. Shortly after I netted his catch and more pics were taken of the smallie. A quick release and they were back at it hard, looking for more of these brownies to battle.

In the next hour or so Max & Easton managed to land a few more bass each before we pulled out of this area completely. We relocated to another spot much further away in order to drop shot for deeper fish. With limited time remaining in the day I wanted to give them another technique to be able to use back home. We set up for a drift in deeper water and it didn’t take long before both of them were hit. Rods loaded but the fish were lost! Soon after and on a delayed hookset, they both landed small walleye. I could see that the bottom was loaded with fish and wondered why they weren’t biting. Several different position drifts were made with similar results before I relocated once again. It was here that on their first drift multiple hookups were had. Both bass & walleye were landed and although they had caught plenty of quality eyes back home, this was the first decent one from Quebec. A quick pic and we were done. The time had flown by so quickly and before we knew it, 4:30 had arrived.

It may not have been the banner day I had hoped for, but they had caught good fish and on two new techniques. They had also landed a fish that they both wanted to experience and that made it all worthwhile! They left happy and that’s all that counts! Good day of fishing!

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Gilles was with me this morning thanks to his girlfriend! She had given him a half day trip with me and today was the day. He was from France, living in Montreal but had never fished the local waters from a boat. This would be a real treat for him as I planned on giving him the grand tour!

We headed on the water shortly after 7 and due to the north winds, I opted for an early morning troll. I thought that with the waves, we might be able to stab a big walleye quickly. With only two of us in the boat, we limited our chances for hookups but were still able to get a bunch of northerns in the process. We spent about 90 minutes trolling the area but weren’t able to scratch up any of the big eyes and pulled the lines to relocate. With the winds dying down, I wanted to get him into fish and drop shotting open flats was up next.

I wasn’t quite sure how our drifts would be with this cross wind, but figured I’d give it a try. With the proper boat angle, I managed to make good drifts along the areas I wanted and he hooked multiple fish on each pass. Plenty of walleye were landed and a few good keepers went into the livewell for him to bring home tonight.

Sometime late in the morning the winds switched to a west and increased, allowing me to drift the paths I wanted. From this point on, multiple hookups were made bringing plenty of walleye into the boat. Unfortunately it was cut short quickly as our time was done. I had extended the morning slightly with the wind change, but time was up for this trip. Half days always pass by way too fast!

Gilles had experienced several different things today and caught plenty of fish in the process. He learned a few new techniques and caught pike & walleye for the first time as well. Hopefully this will open him up to future fishing while in Montreal. Maybe he’ll even come back for the sturgeon when they arrive! Another short but productive day on the water!

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Connie, her husband Rich and their two children, Sandra & Gavin were with me this afternoon. They were in from Ottawa and wanting to catch any type of fish. They were about to do just that and piles of them too!

We hit the water about noon and I headed directly to where I ended the morning trip with John. I had left the fish biting and was hoping they were still eager to eat! It didn’t take long to realize that they were here and they were still biting as we immediately had a triple. Gavin was the only one that didn’t lock up but that was alright. There were tons of fish marking and I knew it was only a matter of time. With each drift we made, multiple fish were landed and even more missed or lost. Gavin however still wasn’t on the board and beginning to feel left out. He was obviously waiting for a bigger fish because when he finally hooked one, it turned out to be a nice keeper walleye. They had hoped to bring a few fish home and this was definitely one they would be taking.

I moved around throughout the afternoon, looking for active fish and hit them everywhere we stopped. Everyone was having a great time and catching tons of fish in the process. Both Gavin & his sister Sandra managed to get some good sized northerns as well in the deep water, as an added bonus. Connie seemed plagued with the day care fish but eventually contributed to the livewell with a nice keeper near the end. We called it a day at 4:30 after the last good keeper eye and headed back to the launch to take out.

I don’t think they had expected this much action today with everyone catching so many fish. In fact, they didn’t even bring a cooler to take some of them home, after their last fishing trip. Today was a different experience all together! They had landed high numbers of fish and we culled through some of them to be able to take home a limit of nice walleye. They would be eating fresh fish tonight and remembering their great day of fishing, here in Montreal. Who could ask for anything more!

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I had the pleasure of fishing with John from North Carolina this morning. He had never caught a walleye, pike or smallie and I planned on ticking all three of the list. We met up at 7 and headed out in a really nice chop for a change and from the right direction too! Although most would shy away from open water in a wind like this, I welcomed it with open arms! Two footers are always appreciated and make for a great drift as well as a great troll.

We settled on an offshore spot right in the heart of the rollers and began drop shotting the deep, open water flats. I had figured on ticking two species off his list quickly but was surprised to see only the walleye biting in this area. Several drifts later he still had only landed walleye so I moved a ways over to see if I could lock him up there. Same thing here as one small walleye after another was brought to net! Eventually I just decided to run elsewhere to see about the pike and pulled out completely.

With lines in, we began the troll and he was into a nice northern pretty quick. Although not a really big one, it was fine with him to have actually caught another fish on his list! We kept at it as I wanted to see if we could upgrade and possible get a big walleye from this area too. Well the northern cooperated as he locked up on one of the larger ones that live here and was really happy to have this fish for a pic. Unfortunately the big eyes never showed and we eventually headed to another spot looking for a big brownie.

The first stop proved to be useless as nothing even showed! I decided to go much shallower and it was here that he managed to hook into a quality smallmouth. This was something he had hoped for and enjoyed the aerials and intense fight! Although he had caught plenty of largemouth & spotted bass back home, this was to be his first ever smallie. Not a bad starter fish indeed! Several pics later she was released and we were back at it again. Although he managed to land one other bass, smaller than the first and missed a few others, it really wasn’t on fire. I opted to finish up the last half hour in deep water looking for those schooling smallies!

We were back where we had began and this time marking more fish than previously. I had high expectations but they still didn’t want to cooperate! In the last 30 minutes he must have boated 6 or 8 fish but they were all small and we were done. We pulled the plug a little after 11:30 as he had a Taxi coming at 11:45 and I had an afternoon booking as well.

This day couldn’t have gone any better except maybe a big eye for his pics. He had managed to catch all three of the fish he wanted and some really good ones too! Let’s just say that he left on a high! Maybe with any luck the next time he gets back to Montreal it might be a little later and the sturgeon bite will be on. Only time will tell but in the mean time, he’ll be savoring the results from today for quite a while!

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A half day booking was made for this morning through a hotel concierge, for a party of two. Turns out it became three and the third person was someone I had taken out just this week. Honas (aka John) from Czech was accompanying Tomas and his son Sebastien and conditions looked great. The winds were light from the SW and this would make for a great drift to start their day. I headed directly to a deeper area to drop shot and instructed the others on what to do. Honas had fished this technique before, so he had a good understanding. His last time out saw us in 3 footers or better and having to use two drift socks just to slow down. Today would be much easier!

A triple header was how they began their fishing day, as we managed to stumble upon a small school of walleye on the first drift. Right after the lines were back in, Honas locked up on a nice smallie and the others weren’t too far behind. Fish after fish were being hooked and some of them even managed to make it to the net while others were either lost or missed completely. This place was loaded this morning and our drift speed was perfect! I just continued to make multiple passes over different sections and they just kept hooking up. Tomas finally got his shot at fighting a nice smallie and the battle was aerial. It must have jumped 3 or 4 times, but the fish stayed pinned and finally came to the net. Everyone was having a great time and the fish were cooperating. There’s no better way to initiate someone than to constantly have them locked up!

After a couple of hours of catching all kinds of fish, they wanted to try for something bigger. Pike would be what we would be going for and trolling would be the technique used. They would love this easy method of fishing and hopefully these fish would cooperate too!

Lines were set and almost on cue the first reel fired with a good northern. Then a second one and we had our first double header! Tomas & his son Sebastien reeled in a couple of big northerns and several pics were taken before they were returned. Back at it, reels continued to fire for a while but with slightly smaller fish. Each time Honas was up, it was really small. Although bigger fish were being caught, it seemed like it was from everyone else. The bite went on for a while with good numbers of fish being caught but we were running out of time. I really wanted to get him a larger fish but it wasn’t going to happen today.

With less than an hour remaining in their morning trip, we headed back to deeper water again to drop shot. This last 45 minutes saw about ten more fish being landed and a pile more lost. A mix of bass & walleye once again and some nice ones too! All three of them had landed good numbers of fish in just a few hours of fishing and with very little down time before we were done. Tomas had a tee off time scheduled for 12:30 and we had to leave.

These last couple of weeks had seen many Czech fishermen in my boat and all from one common denominator. Peter Svoboda had brought me several new clients and I don’t think it will slow down anytime soon! All these people are connected to the hockey world and training here in Montreal during the summer. In fact, Honas will be here in Canada for an entire year training while attending school at the same time. Who knows, maybe we be seeing him in the NHL soon! All I know is that these guys love to fish and I love having them on the water catching. In the next couple of weeks I will hopefully have some of them battling giant sturgeon that will keep them coming back for more. Big fish days ahead!