Hugues & his son Oliver were fishing with me today but not until 10:00. With a few hours to spare, I decided to have the kicker shifting cable looked at before meeting up with them. Long story short, the cables were changed and I was on my way by 9:30. I headed straight to the ramp and we were fishing soon after, for giants! Oliver brought a friend and co worker with him for the day and I knew everyone was in for a real treat. I set up in a zone and informed them what to do when someone hooked up. Chris was first and into a pretty good one almost right away. He felt the pain with this fish and never realized the strength of these creatures! After a lengthy fight, I was finally able to get it into the net and aboard for some pics. It was definitely his personal best and first sturgeon ever! He returned his prize, bolting right to the depths it had come from. When the lines were reset, Hugues was into another fish soon after. Although a little smaller than Chris’s, it still fought him quite well. He had this one aboard quickly and after several shots returned to the water. Although we had a few other hits, they never really locked on. Sometime a little later, Hugues set the hook on something that didn’t move. This one seemed considerably larger than his first and really gave him a workout. The burn was intense as he fought this dinosaur and lasted much longer. Once the bubbles started to appear, I knew the end was nearing. The only thing left was a visual and we soon got that as well. Fortunately his fish cooperated and curled once in the net. Hugues may have been exhausted but he managed the strength to hold it for a few pics before the release. He really wanted his son Oliver to battle one and they decided the next rod would be his. Well as luck would have it, Hugues rod went tight and once the other lines were brought in, a hand off was made. Oliver would finally get his chance and we could hardly wait to hear him complain. When you’re use to reeling in small fish you can’t imagine just how strong these things actually are. He was finding out though and moaning the entire time! At one point, the line started to rise and I knew what was about to happen. I didn’t realize just how close to the boat it was until it leaped completely out of the water, almost hitting the side. We had gotten a look at probably the most unbelievable tail walk, ringside! Thankfully it wasn’t a couple of feet closer or it would have landed in the boat. The battle was intense and Oliver was definitely getting exhausted. A little while later I netted his fish and a sigh of relief was had. He was completely spent! Just holding the fish for a few pics was a challenge but we managed nonetheless. We resumed the fishing afterwards and only landed one more smaller fish before shifting gears completely. They had done well on the giants and deserved something a little smaller. I headed over to an area holding numbers of bass but had a rough time fishing it due to all the boat traffic. A combination of picture perfect weather and heat had everyone owning a boat back on the water today. W were seeing the fish but not able to entice even one into striking the offerings. I had no choice but to relocate to other sections of lake. The remainder of the day was spent drop shotting open water with a combination of bass, pike & small walleye landed. By 6:00 we called it a day and pulled the lines to head in. I had extended the afternoon due to a late start and apparently so did everyone else. The water was still full of boats in all shapes and styles. Hopefully this will be their last outing and the majority of people will be taking them out for the season. Weekends are always busier but lately it’s just crazy! Fortunately the wait at the ramp wasn’t bad and we were off the water in only a couple of minutes. Although they didn’t catch great numbers of fish today, the poundage was definitely there. They had all done personal bests and loved every minute of it. Hopefully the air & water temps will drop soon and trigger a feeding from all the bass & walleye. It’s just a matter of time before the lake is almost completely barren of boats and only fishermen will remain. I can’t wait!!

Craig & Steve were back out with me this morning, but on a different body of water. There were just too many boats where we were yesterday and I expected even more today! The weather was almost a carbon copy with no wind and bluebird skies. Although it was a cool start to the day, forecasted highs were to hit the mid 70’s by day’s end. We spent the first 90 minutes this morning looking for a bite from the "Holy Grail"! Trolling for musky doesn’t always work out but we wanted to give it a try. I did mark a few, but was unable to trigger them into biting our lures. I’m sure that if we kept at it for the entire day, the results may have been different. I pulled the plug on them and opted for another species of similar size. We fished for a little over an hour for sturgeon but were only able to get one smaller fish to the net. Steve landed a nice one that put up a great battle, but the fishing was slower than expected. We changed it up after a couple of misses and relocated to an area I hadn’t fished in years. Just like the lake yesterday, there were all kinds of boats on this one and finding place to fish wasn’t easy. Most of them were pleasure boats however but they were everywhere. Looks like the nice weather had lots of people calling in sick today! I wasn’t exactly sure where the spot was so we casted the large area until I had confirmation. Steve had the first follow on his lure and I knew I was close. We slowed down as soon as I started seeing them and they were all over this place. Unfortunately their attitude wasn’t what I had hoped for and we ended up changing presentations, hoping to entice them. You’d think with as many fish as we were seeing that some of them would be feeding but that wasn’t the case. After several change ups, one finally took the jig barely moved on the bottom. Thinking we were on to something, I had them slow down completely and drag their baits along the edge. Still seeing them cruising but not taking had me going insane. We tried several other presentations but they all had the same results. It was like watching pre spawn bass coming in from deep water, in preparation of their spawn. When this happens, I usually change lakes but wasn’t prepared to do that here and just changed locations. We idled over to another area and saw cruisers pretty much everywhere along the way. I spot casted to them with a variety of baits and lures hoping to turn at least one. Apparently they all felt the same as none of them showed any interest. I decided to use the kicker to increase my speed and idled over the flats looking for larger concentrations and rock piles. Once I found what I was looking for I immediately shifted the small engine into neutral. I also dislodged the shifter connection once again and wasn’t happy. After 15 minutes of trying to get it back in place, I just gave up. We had fish to catch and I wasn’t going to waste any more time on the motor! They casted jigs and cranks everywhere but despite all efforts, came up empty. I had a couple of other places in slightly deeper water to try and pulled out of here quickly. These shallow fish were driving me crazy and I didn’t want to see them anymore! The next area had Craig locked up almost immediately on a jig and I hoped it wasn’t the only one. As luck would have it, it wasn’t and he landed several decent smallmouth and a walleye. Steve wasn’t fending as well and only managed one bass. Every time I mentioned last cast, Craig hooked up again and we had to stay longer. In fact, one of his fish was a rather large smallie and I remained there hoping for others of similar size. The next move had Craig locked up on a rather nice walleye that chose to go home with him tonight. Too bad it was the only fish however and we moved once more. Last stop saw us in an area that I hoped would be the honey hole. After just a few bass I decided to call it a day and headed back. This was one of those days that showed lots of fish with only a few eaters. Our season has been a roller coaster of weather and the fish have been feeling it as well. I’m sure that when the temps begin to fall, their attitudes will change and feeding will be an all day thing. Hopefully in the coming weeks, cruisers will become more active and high number days will be the norm again. I guess I’ll just have to stay deeper until then, avoiding all the sightings that drive us insane. Bring on the cold!!

Craig & Steve were with me for a couple of days, looking for some early fall smallies. They weren’t use to this warm weather as a late October or November cold was their normal time to fish. With water temps near 65 degrees and today’s high expected to reach into the mid 70’s, I didn’t know what to expect. I stopped in an area that I thought might be holding some big fish but soon found out different as it was void. We jumped around for a few hours checking several other places before pulling the plug and making a long run. I was looking for big smallies and didn’t really want to settle! Unfortunately it seemed like everywhere I wanted to fish, there were already boats fishing! With a big tournament just around the corner, people were pre fishing pretty much everywhere. I would have to make the best of it and hit some smaller areas hoping for a few fish on each stop. One of those such places provided nonstop action with largemouth for well over an hour. Although not giant, they were still fun and I wasn’t about to leave anytime soon! Craig & Steve just pounded on them and plenty of doubles were had before they just stopped biting. They had put a beating on these fish and educated most of them, causing us to finesse them towards the end. Although a few around four pounds were landed, most were smaller. I shifted gears once again and made another long run to a spot I had always wanted to fish. I had used Craig as a guinea pig before on other lakes and the outcome was usually good. Hopefully this time would be too! As we were in search mode, I had both of them tossing baits that would cover water quickly. I was seeing some big bass cruising just about the same time Steve hooked up & knew he had one of the giants. This fish took him out to the open water almost immediately and the fight stayed vertical. We could see the bass down deep and even there it looked big! When he finally worked it to the surface, I wasted no time netting his catch. This would turn out to be the largest smallie of their day but many more much bigger were seen frequently. I snapped a few pics and returned her to the school of others. Craig tried fishing deep with a jig and managed to get a couple of smaller fish to take his offering. With flat calm and bright sunshine, seeing them was about all we were doing here. I decided to go elsewhere and return a little later when the sun was lower. We had similar experiences everywhere we went with only a few fish landed each time they fished. Most of the shallower spots were holding quality fish, but catching them was a different story. We even went deep at one point and caught only small fish. Later in the afternoon I decided to head back to where Steve had landed the best fish and almost immediately we were hooked up. To everyone’s surprise though, it was a walleye of three pounds. Craig managed to catch another one and a few decent smallies, but nothing the likes of earlier. Eventually we headed back but not before making a few more stops along the way. Some smaller fish were landed once more before we called it a day. Finding fish today wasn’t a problem but catching them definitely was! I’m not sure if the heavy pressure or the conditions had them shut down, but most of the larger ones didn’t want to bite. I was grateful for the flurry of fish they got into this morning and looked forward to hitting a different lake tomorrow. Who knows what’s in store for us there!!

I had Stephanie & her husband Keith out today on local water for some bass action. They had hit the timing just perfect last season for the deep water bite and hoped it would be as good. Unfortunately with the cool water this season, the real deep never actually occurred. We would be moving around plenty to try and find fish today! I launched the boat and ran in a thick fog by GPS to our starting location. Visibility wasn’t great but we could see about 50 feet in front of us at times, making it less dangerous. I had them both throwing twitch baits for suspended bass and Keith locked up quickly. A chunky 3 pounder came aboard and was immediately released back without any pics. We were searching for the giants here and soon after he had the one we wanted. Although we never got to see the fish, I knew it was big by the way it was acting. Instead of taking to the air, it sounded to the deep water nearby and never really came back up. Just the weight of the fish showed me that she was big and soon after the hooks just pulled out. With a light drag set on the reel, it required a little more finesse and a lengthy battle was expected. It was too bad that a couple of the hooks opened enough to release this fish as I’m pretty sure it was a real trophy! This fish would be haunting Keith for quite some time as I know the feeling! We resumed fishing and hoped for another chance but only small fish were taken. I moved around and when the fog lifted, switched gears completely. Another area had concentrations of largemouth and I had them into fish immediately. Plenty of bass were taken here up to 3.5 pounds in the next hour, before they became educated. Sunshine was upon us now and the temps were rising so another move was in order. I had them casting blades over weed flats in hopes of some aggressive smallies. Flat calm conditions and bluebird skies had the fish locked in tightly as we were about to see. Several big fish were tucked into the weeds and didn’t want to move on the lures. A slight adjustment had Keith hooked up quickly as we went to slower moving baits. We actually got to see the take as the bass opened her mouth and sucked it in. A really decent fish was Keith’s reward and soon after, having its picture taken! A few more good ones were also taken from here on a couple of different presentations. I really wanted to find some aggressive fish for them to get into and had to leave this area when they just stopped biting. Back to the blades and an offshore rock & weed flat and it was "Hammer Time"! Keith pounded several medium sized fish here and Stephanie missed a few as well. Although it wasn’t loaded, it did provide some action on this difficult day. We slid into another shallower spot and watched all kinds of fish just swim around. A few of them took the jigs but most didn’t even look twice! With limited time remaining in the day, I decided to go real deep and brought them back to where we crushed them last year. We drifted over several deep spots and almost every time I marked fish, someone hooked up. Unfortunately they weren’t stacked up anywhere but they did pick a few more before we called it a day. I had an issue with the kicker shifter and needed to have it looked at before I headed home. Fortunately it was just a linkage that had popped out and was fixed in less than five minutes! Despite the rather bizarre day of fishing, they managed to catch a bunch of fish from various depths. On top of that, they have another story of "The One That Got Away"!!

Nick & Depeche were with me this morning looking for a few big fish. I had discussed the day with Nick and we were heading directly for the monsters. Running in low 40 degree air temps felt more like below freezing and I wore gloves for the first time this season. The water temps were still holding at 64 degrees but the air was only expected to reach upper 50’s by afternoon. Winds were out of the NE once again at 5 to 10 knots and sunshine was forecasted throughout. It was going to be a great day for fishing! We set up quickly and played the waiting game in hopes of a quick bite but it didn’t come. This was the first time I had hit them so early and I wasn’t sure how it would be. I think we had been there for about an hour or so before Nick was locked up and loving it. He battled his dinosaur for quite a while, feeling the burn the entire time. The first sighting had him in awe when he finally brought it to the surface. Soon after it was in the net and hoisted aboard for a few pics. Although not a real monster, he was quite happy with the overall size and released it back to do battle again. We regrouped and set up for another shot, hoping that Depeche would also have his chance. Well not long after, he was tight to one and began the battle with his beast. As he was new to fishing, I instructed him on several of the do’s & don’ts for the fight. I knew he would wear himself out long before the fish would and hoped these tips would help him conserve some of his energy. The burn was hitting him early and the size of this fish wasn’t helping! He was locked up on one of the above average giants and it was taking a toll on his strength. I knew that this was definitely going to be the largest fish he had ever landed and wanted him to succeed. Eventually we began to see bubbles and I knew it was nearing the end. When he finally saw the size of this thing, he was in total shock! I even had a difficult time getting it in the net! Once it curled, it was all over! I lifted the sturgeon aboard and prepped Depeche for the photos. He had a really hard time getting a hold of this thing but managed to lift it up for a few shots before turning her loose. We resumed fishing and I knew he was just praying that he didn’t hook up again. Nick on the other hand was ready and just dying for a really big one. They both had a few shots in the next couple of hours but either missed the strikes or lost them soon after hooking up. These fish were hitting weird and keeping them pinned was becoming an issue until Nick locked up with a beast of his own. This time the battle was a long one and a great workout for him as the fish really fought hard. Three times he brought it to the surface only to have it sound immediately after. It was definitely a struggle for him but eventually he won the battle. I slid the net under the fish and had a hard time lifting it aboard. This one was going to be the largest one of the day! Even he had a difficult time gripping hold of this slippery prehistoric animal for a few pics. Once released we saw it swim off and head directly down to the bottom. Instead of setting right back up, we took a small break and headed to land as Depeche wasn’t feeling well. In fact, we only got to fish for about another hour after returning, as he was feeling even worse. Nick landed one other fish and lost another one as well before we called it a day. It wasn’t fair to continue fishing while Depeche felt like he did so we finished up and headed back. Despite the early departure, it was unbelievable while we were there! They had both caught personal bests and had a great time while fishing. I only wish we could have remained there for a couple of hours longer as I’m sure they would have landed at least a few more. Oh well, there’s always next time! I just hope that it wasn’t anything too serious and that Depeche will be able to make it back out for more of this insane fishing. There’s still plenty of time left in the season to do battle with more of these monster sturgeon and I wouldn’t want him to miss the action, again!