I finally got to wet a line once again as my wife & I headed out for our annual Christmas fishing trip. We fished for a total of about two days worth of time and had a blast. Despite the weather raining on us for most of the first couple of days, it was still fantastic. We arrived somewhere after noon on Friday and by the time we hit the water, it was after 1:00 P.M. We fished for about 3.5 hours and managed to get into several good fish. I think between the two of us, we landed about 7 of the 10 possible fish that we had on. Not too bad for a short time! The second day saw us arriving on the water just before 9:00 A.M. due to the torrential rains that were falling prior to this time. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen with the runoff and decided to wait it out. We still fished in plenty of rain, but began when it had let up a little. Christiane managed to land 3 nice steelies on her own once again and I had 5 of a possible 7 to my credit. The largest would have gone possibly 13 pounds but all were fresh and powerful! We decided to cut out for lunch around noon and realized later that this was a big mistake. When we arrived back on the water after 1:30 P.M. it was virtually unfishable. The colour was absolute mud and the visibility was practically none. Although we gave it a shot, we soon realized that it wasn’t to be and decided to cut our losses and just go shopping instead. The third day we were to fish with Kevin Davis from “Catch The Drift” and hooked up with him just after 7:00 A.M. The water level had risen quite a bit and the colour wasn’t great either, but we were going to make the best of it nevertheless. We decided to put in further up river to avoid some of the muddy water and hoped to be able to fish slightly cleaner water by doing so. Christiane really had the upper hand on me today as she landed 4 fish before I even managed a strike. Unfortunately, the strike soon became a break off and I was still at zero! Everywhere we stopped to drift a presentation, it seemed like she was hooking up. In one spot, I hadn’t drifted ten feet and she was locked on her first cast. The water was starting to get dirty as we floated further down river and at one point, we could only fish part of the river due to a huge mud line down the middle. To make matters worse, we were losing temperature and the winds were gusting at about 50 MPH. It wasn’t pretty, but we continued nonetheless! By the time it was all over, we had landed 9 fish and I had only managed 3 of them. We probably had chances at over a dozen or so, but under these conditions, were happy to get what we had and called it a day. Based on the conditions, I don’t think we would have had anywhere near the number of fish on our own today. By booking a trip with Kevin, we turned a terrible day into another great one. He really knows the river and fishing from a drift boat gives you another advantage that you just can’t get from any shoreline. You can see the pics from today on his website at www.catchthedrift.com I urge everyone to give this a try as he will definitely make your day a memorable one! All fish throughout this entire trip were released to fight another day!!

Kevin & Rob accompanied me on this damp & miserable day to have a chance at some jumbino smallmouth. Kevin had been trying for a couple of years to hook up with me, but never managed to confirm an outing date. Today was a little late in the season to get into any numbers, but he was just looking foreword to seeing some quality bass. We began in a light rain and winds from the S/E that seemed more like the S/W blowing at 15 to 20 knots along with 34-degree air. Water temps remained the same at just under 41 degrees and they seemed a little dirtier than usual too! The first fish to come aboard weighed a little less than 6 pounds and they couldn’t believe just how fat she was. With a length of only 20 inches, I can’t imagine what her girth must have gone! A couple of quick pics and back she went. The next couple of fish to come aboard were close to five and Rob landed another that topped the scales at over 5 pounds as well. Once again, more pics and back they went to the depths from where they came. The fishing was slower than usual and bites were being missed by all, with hook ups occurring now & then. A couple of pike were hooked into also along with one walleye, but the bass were being real finicky. By moving around plenty, we were able to get into a fish here & there, but most were either coming off or just missed altogether! With the later than usual start today, we ran out of daylight quickly and before we knew it, we were heading back to the dock to take out. There weren’t a lot of fish caught today, however there were some really nice ones and that what it’s all about at this time of the year. It’s big heavy season and there are bigguns to be caught. It won’t be too long before it’s all over and done for the year and ice fishing will be the only game in town!!

After Monday’s trip, Norm & I headed back on the water today to see if he could better his personal best once more. The weather was a little different with winds out of the W/SW blowing on us at 10 to 20 knots. Overcast skies and light snow flurries also added to the already cool air temps of 34 degrees making it feel quite a bit chillier. The water temps hovered just below 41 degrees and never really changed throughout the entire day. I had a feeling that this one was about to become more difficult than the last trip out and instructed Norm to really be on his game. The bites were so subtle that feeling the pick up was next to impossible if the line wasn’t tight. Most hits felt more like a weed than a fish and we began setting on anything that didn’t feel right. Hook sets are free and we took advantage of them! In the early part of the day we were zero for 10 before we actually brought one into the boat and those are incredibly terrible odds by anyone’s standards. The fish were just barely picking up the baits and not moving. After we figured out what was going on and made the necessary adjustments, the game was on. From that point on we were really giving the fish time to tighten up the line and move off with the baits before we set into them. This proved to be a much better technique as our landing ratio began to climb. We were still missing plenty, but at least most of them were coming aboard. Norm even managed to land a couple of nice walleye that would have gone better than 5 pounds apiece! The best we could manage on the bass though was not quite 5 pounds and most were 3.5 to 4 pounds as well. Moving around seemed to be the best choice for us as I was never really able to find any concentration of fish in one area. We even foul hooked a couple and came in with scales from time to time as well. Before the day was done, there were a number of smallies, a couple of northerns and five walleyes landed along with numerous missed strikes and dropped fish and oh yeah, several bite offs. Not the perfect day, but it was still nice to get out before it’s all done and freeze up occurs having us resort to hole drilling for entertainment!!

We headed out this morning in pursuit of that elusive, lunker smallmouth bass for Norm. He had wanted a fish over 5 pounds all fall, but would this be the day? The weather was a chilly 27 degrees when we arrived at the water and it really didn’t climb that much. A high of 35 degrees was all that we were to see today along with overcast skies and winds from the S/E at 10 to 15 K. Water temps were a balmy 41.3 degrees at best and I knew it was going to be a tough bite! I told Norm that we would need to really slow down our retrieves and allow time for the hookset if we were going to manage to catch anything. The morning bite was more difficult than usual and I had to move around plenty to finally find what I was looking for. With the colder water temps, the fish weren’t moving too much and we had to almost deadstick our tubes in order to get bit. The fish were averaging 4 pounds or better, but they were not coming easy! We caught a number of them along with a couple of walleye, but the largest that Norm could manage to land was one that weighed 4 ¾ pounds. Damn four pounders! I wasn’t fishing much but still managed to get into a fish that weighed almost 5 ½ pounds while searching and wished I hadn’t made that cast! We continued moving around, catching a few here & there and then it happened. Norm set the hook on a big one and I knew he had finally latched onto the one he was searching for. When it jumped, we were both in awe as she was barely able to get her fat body clear of the water. I netted the smallie and when we finally weighed her, she went 5 pounds 9 ounces. The monkey was officially off of Norm’s back too! He had paid his dues and overcome the possibility of ending the year without his five pounder. After several quick pics, she was released to the water and swam off to the depths from where she had come from. With a couple of daylight hours left, we decided to continue fishing and managed to get into several more bass along with another nice walleye of 3.5 pounds that Norm had landed. Although the action wasn’t fast & furious, I was still pleased with the outcome. This is the time of year for big fish, not numbers and Norm had definitely succeeded! I’m sure he’ll sleep better tonight!

Well, today was a real treat! Craig & Herm joined me once again for another shot at some jumbino smallies. Herm still hadn’t landed a smallie over 5 pounds and was determined to do so on this hurricane like day. To say the conditions were adverse would have been the understatement of the year. They were insane! We had 37-degree air temps with a wind from the W blowing at 20 to 30 knots with gusts exceeding 40 knots. If that wasn’t enough to bring you to your knees, throw in rain and snow from time to time just for kicks. The possibility of any sun was as good as winning the lottery & we had to settle for thick cloud cover the entire day. Water temps were hovering around 47 degrees and really dirty. I think it was on Craig’s second cast that he was locked up and a nice walleye of 2.5 pounds was soon swimming in the livewell for their evening dinner. Herm got into a few smallies not too long after, but they were a little on the smaller side and I decided to relocate. Into the hurricane we went and a rolling we did go! The most difficult thing about today was just to feel the bottom and any pickups that we had. I’m sure we all missed many fish that we never knew were there! Both Herm & Craig managed to catch several fish, but it was really slow. Between the wind and the weeds, it was difficult to detect any bites and the fish almost had to commit suicide in order to get hooked. At one point, I had to go to a heavier jig just so they could feel the bottom. I guess this was the ticket as Herm finally locked up on his personal best. When I saw the fish take to the air, I knew he had a real giant on the end of his line. When I got her in the net though, we were all amazed at just how fat she really was. Now we were sure it was over five but weighed the fish just for confirmation. It locked on at 5 pounds 6 ounces and Herm had gotten that monkey off of his back! Under these conditions I was surprised that we were able to catch anything, let alone a fish of that size. Several others were taken around the same size and many slightly smaller before we threw in the towel and headed to the truck. We had stuck it out for the entire day and that was amazing in itself, but to actually have Herm land his personal best on a day like this was something to be proud of. I’m sure there will be plenty of stories told about this day & how crazy we were to be on the water in pursuit of another lunker smallmouth!