I picked up my guest for the week last night at the airport and informed him that his timing couldn’t have been better. Takeshi had flown halfway around the world from Japan to battle smallmouth bass and that he would! We hit the water this morning under not so perfect conditions once again with cold air temps, clouds and a hurricane like wind. It was blowing in from the E and that meant no drifting today. The wind was actually pushing us up current in many areas, causing us to be on top of our game. The water temps were barely 51 degrees and never really warmed today with the lack of sunshine. Air temps were around 40 degrees but felt more like 20 with the wind chill. He wasted no time getting into the fish and within the first hour we had boated plenty of decent smallies up to 4 pounds and lost even more. The wind was really a big factor making some of the hits quite difficult to detect and we were just missing strikes. Eventually, we hit several larger ones and Takeshi remembered just why he had flown 13 hours for these, « Angry Bass »! Each and every one had a mean streak and fought like champions when he hooked up and all he could do was laugh. We shifted areas quite often due to the winds and caught fish in each & every one we hit. Although the bass weren’t all the size we had expected, there were several large ones landed. I think Takeshi broke his personal best smallie several times over! We continued fishing for the remainder of the day all the while getting into flurries of activity on a mix of baits. Probably the best ones though would have to be the crankbaits that Takeshi brought from Japan. They just worked phenomenal for him and put many fish in the boat throughout the day. I’m sure glad we hit the current breaks today as it allowed him to present the right choice of lures in just the right locations. This may have been the best day I’ve seen in a long time on the river and I can’t wait to get back out once again. Although Takeshi may have had a little Jet Lag, he definitely forgot about the lack of sleep as he pounded smallmouth all day long!!

Norm was back with me once again today but this time he brought Allison along for good luck. I knew we would have a great day with her, but wasn’t too sure about getting into bigger bass as the fishing had been rather slow lately. Oh there were numbers and an occasional large fish, but not what I expect for this time of year. The weather was a dismal, cloudy day that was supposed to be mixed with sunshine, but they were wrong once more! Winds were out of the N/E at 5 to 10 knots and it didn’t feel like the 50 degrees that it reached. Water temps were around 52 where we began and it wasn’t too long before Norm was hooked up. It turned out to be a decent 3 pounder and we were on our way to better things ahead. After several fish around this size, Allison managed to get into one of her own and this one went over 4 pounds. I was shocked and thrilled to see that they were somewhat larger than a couple of days before when I had managed mostly smaller fish with only an occasional big one. From that point on, the fish were coming into the boat all in the 3 to 4.5 pound range and I knew we were in store for something spectacular today. We weren’t getting into piles of fish but the ones we were seeing were well worth the lack of numbers. In another area there were a couple over four and one over five in a small confined current break. After trying to get into a few more without success, I decided that a change was in order and went deep. It was here that both of them started to hit only fish above 4 pounds and we were on them good. I don’t remember just how many, but there were plenty! When this section of the river died, we shifted to another and it was here that Allison got into her personal best. When I saw the size of this giant take to the air, I nearly knocked her over going for the net. It weighed in at slightly over 6 pounds and was a real pumpkin. She hadn’t even managed to break 5 pounds and had jumped all the way to over six! It had taken Norm all of last fall to break the 5 pound mark and she had broken six pounds in only her second attempt. Lady luck shines once more! We knew that this would be hard to follow but kept at it for the remainder of the afternoon all the while hooking into fish ranging from two to over 4 pounds. For the first time this fall, the fishing was what it was suppose to be like and Allison had managed to start the ball rolling. I know the next time out it probably won’t be like today, but I’ll settle for even 50% if it means the fish will be bigguns! Now Norm has an even bigger quest as today’s fish was larger than his personal best just a few short weeks earlier. I’m pretty sure he won’t be getting too much sleep after today!!

Darren & Jack were back with me today after a long lapse from the last trip. Darren was going to meet me a little later, so Jack & I fished for a brief period before we ran back to pick him up at the ramp. The weather was nicer than it had been with warm air temps of almost 60 degrees under cloudy skies, right through the day. The weatherman had called for strong winds around noon that were to gust as high as 25 knots from the W and that never happened. The winds never went above a 10 knot blow at the worst and for once they were wrong for the better! I was shocked to see the water temps had fallen to 49 degrees in the first area but apparently it didn’t matter to the fish. Jack locked up in just a few short casts on a spinnerbait and was officially on the board. Within 20 or 30 minutes we had probably 10 or more bass on and even a walleye to add to our catch. It was a good start before we picked up Darren and raced off to another area to begin his day. As with Jack, Darren also was locked within a cast or two and I thought it was going to be one of those days. They both landed several smaller than usual bass in this area and I began looking for bigger ones in some other areas nearby. Pretty much every spot was holding fish, but I was seeing below average smallies and that wasn’t what I wanted today. Jack was catching most of his fish on a crankbait and Darren was into his on a tube but both of them were landing smallmouth. We literally ran all over in our quest for larger bass but couldn’t bust one bigger than 4 pounds. Plenty of fish were caught today but the caliber just wasn’t there. Somewhere around 4:00 in the afternoon, I dropped Jack off at the dock and Darren & I continued to fish after for another hour. Many fish were missed but only a couple of bass were landed on these last locations before we packed it in and called it a day. I think the next time I fish this spot I am going to concentrate on the cleaner water rather than the stained, cold stuff just to see how it goes. At least there they will have the visibility needed to intercept a moving bait. November temps in October definitely have the fish in a different mood and they are just all over. I need them to begin to concentrate in order to take advantage of the higher number spots instead of covering all kinds of water through the day. Overall, it was still a pretty good day to be on the water!!

Richard wanted to take his father Maurice fishing, so he hooked up with me for another day of bass fishing. His brother in law Sheldon joined us as well as we ventured onto the lake. It was a brisk morning again, with air temps around 27 degrees at the start and not expected to rise any higher than the mid 40’s during the day. Although the winds weren’t too strong, they were from the N/E making our drifts somewhat difficult. Water temps were hovering around 51.5 degrees and didn’t climb much higher even with all the sunshine we had. Maurice drew first blood with a smaller than usual bass lost right at the boat. He managed to land another one not too long after that actually went closer to 4 pounds and that was worthy of a photo. We caught a handful of small to medium sized ones in the first hour or so with only one fish above the 5 pound mark and decided to move to another area in hopes of better fishing. It was here that the other two managed to land their first few fish as they began to have a better understanding of how to work their baits. We mixed it up with both casting as well as drifting where we could and caught fish with both methods. Most of the fish were a little smaller than I was use to but at least there was action. The day eventually warmed up to what turned out to be a beautiful, sunny fall one but there was still a crisp bite to the air. Whenever the winds kicked in, it felt a whole lot colder! We hit several other areas throughout the afternoon and caught fish in each & every one with the largest ones around 4 pounds. By 4:00 we had seen enough action to pack it in and headed back to the ramp, calling it a day. Overall a slower than usual day, but it sure beats sitting on the couch!!

Craig & Herm were back once again for another day chock full of surprises. They had a difficult time on Champlain yesterday and were really looking foreword to battling some active smallmouth this morning. We started out with cold temps of just 33 degrees when we launched and they never really warmed to more than 45 throughout the day. The winds were definitely better than their previous trip when we had 3 footers and were N/E around 10 knots today. This made drifting a challenge with the current slower than the wind and I had to improvise with a few tricks of my own just to get some movement. Overcast skies were also upon us for most of the day and the water temps were hovering just below 52 degrees when they made their first cast. Within a couple of minutes, Craig was locked up and I knew it was going to be one of those days! Herm followed up not long after and they were both starting to get into them when Craig set into what seemed like the bottom. After just a couple of seconds, the line went limp and we both knew that one had teeth. I won’t say that the fish came easy today as we had to really work for them and stay on our toes with the bites. Several hits were quite difficult to detect and many a missed fish was had in the process. Although there weren’t any real giants today, there were some real good ones of over 4 pounds landed. The largest fish of the day though would have to be the walleye that registered just under 6 pounds. We never really got into the mother load of bass but we caught some fish in every area we stopped. We literally picked at them all day long! Tougher fishing than usual but still a productive day overall!!