I was back on the water again today with Alain & Cindy hoping for another day of successful bass fishing. We hit the water around 9:00 A.M. and headed across in relatively warm temps of 48 degrees. The air felt a little chilly without any sun, but the lack of wind made it bearable. Water temps have remained pretty stable at 59.5 degrees and really haven’t fluctuated more than a degree or two in the last few outings. Alain drew the first bass as we drifted & cast jigs to unsuspecting smallies nearby. Cindy followed up almost immediately as well with another one around 2 pounds. They both continued to catch and occasionally lose others for almost 4 hours with the bass ranging from 1.5 to 4 pounds before we relocated to another area in hopes of something larger. Here they both caught a few fish that were definitely better quality and Alain landed one that would have been around 5 pounds or better. Cindy kept hooking fish, but somehow managed to lose more than she was landing before I switched her up to a slightly stiffer rod. From that point on, she rarely missed a strike! There were plenty of bass landed by all today, but without the aid of the wind to stir them up, we were only able to get into a handful of the real big ones. Regardless of all the medium sized fish, it was still a great day on the water!

Jim & Marie were in to fish with me for the weekend and we wasted no time hitting the water. The conditions were just beautiful for a fall day with bluebird skies, sunshine, light winds & a forecasted high to reach the upper 60’s. Water temps were 58.5 and rose to just over 60 degrees in the end. Jim drew first blood with a hook up within the first minute and Marie didn’t waste any time either as she was soon to follow. I knew this was going to be another excellent day for numbers of football like smallies! There was constant action just about the entire day with a few slow periods now & then, but we were always on fish. Some of the larger ones just didn’t seem to want to bite, as we could see several just cruising around, not interested. Both Jim & Marie managed to land plenty of fish throughout the day, keeping them locked up most of the while. Jim even managed to land a nice walleye of over 3 pounds that eventually became dinner. Overall, it was a great day with many multiple hook-ups and plenty of quality sized bass landed by all! The second morning saw a slightly cooler start to the day that also turned out to be a warm one as well. Air temps reached the upper 60’s with cloud & sun and absolutely no wind at all. This made a drift quite difficult as we ended up having to cast for the bass instead. Water temps were about the same with slightly cooler water in the morning & warmer water as the day progressed. Once again the bite was down on the bottom and we dragged tube jigs all day to capture the numbers of smallies that we did. Although there were only a few really quality sized fish today, there were large quantities of bass in the 2 to 3 pound range and that made for an exciting day filled with plenty of action. Marie even managed to take a couple of bass on a spinnerbait that aggressively hammered the lure when we found a small pod of fish feeding on the surface. Overall, Jim definitely had the hot hand today as he landed pretty close to 50 or so bass by himself. Marie may not have landed that many, but she definitely held her own with high numbers as well. These two days were quite exciting & filled with constant action and for the first time, not hurricane backed. It always seems that when they join me in the fall, there is a wind being generated by some hurricane down south that has us scrambling to find fishable water. Mother Nature finally provided them with a trip that they were able to enjoy from start to finish!

I hit the water this morning with Norm & Alison, to se if we couldn’t get into a few big smallies as Norm needed to beat his personal best. The weather was a cool 45 degrees at the start with a light S/W wind of less than 5 K. Sunshine greeted us pretty much all day long bringing the air temps into the 60’s by days end. The water temps started out at 58.5 degrees, but also warmed to just over 60 degrees before we were done. It didn’t take long before the action started and both Alison & Norm were hooking up on multiple bass in the 2 to 4 pound range. This went on for quite a while throughout the morning and then it just slowed down completely. I wasn’t sure why, but I didn’t like it! I changed up to several colours and they picked a fish here & there, but it just didn’t feel right. I had a feeling there was a higher power responsible for this and decided to relocate to another area not too far away. As luck would have it, this turned out to be the right decision. Almost immediately, Alison was into a bass on her first cast and Norm was soon to follow. There were a mixed bag of both smallmouth & largemouth bass in this area, but I was after the big smallies. Norm had a shot at 3 or more of these giants, but unfortunately they all came unpinned when they took to the air. I know that at least two of them were in the mid to upper 5 pound range as we had a great look at them during the short battle. Alison did manage to personal best hers though with a nice smallie in the upper 4-pound range and that was great to see. To all our amazement, Norm was left empty handed with about 6 chances and they all came off! We decided to run back to the other area for a little while before we called it a day and Norm hooked into a smallie within the first minute. It may not have been one of the giants he kept losing, but it was a decent fish of a couple of pounds. About the time the fish took to the air on it’s first jump, my suspicions were confirmed. There was an enormous surface explosion about 20 feet from the boat as a huge musky decided this was an easy meal and grabbed the bass crossways in its mouth. It actually looked more like a shark attack than anything else as we all stared in amazement. I’m not sure why, but the musky didn’t want to let the bass go and after a couple of minutes of battle, I was able to net the beast and bring it aboard. I quickly locked onto her with the boga to ensure everyone’s safety, fish included and to my surprise, the bass was gone and the jig was holding in the musky’s jaw. A couple of quick pics and a measurement and the 48-inch monster was released unharmed to feed another day. I told them that after this, everything else would be just downhill. We stayed for a brief period longer and soon after decided to leave for home. This was not only a productive day for bass, but an exciting one with the musky as well! It’s not too often that you get to experience this first hand and rarely do you ever end up landing the fish, especially on 10 pound line. I’m sure that all of us won’t forget this anytime soon!!

I had a full boat today as Sammy & his brother were joined by Tony & his uncle Leonardo from Belgium for some tremendous smallmouth bass action. Although we somehow managed to get a later start than I was use to, they still managed to catch a bunch of decent sized bass. The weather was a beautiful fall like day with cool air temps in the upper 50-degree range and light winds until late in the afternoon when they blew at 10 K from the west. Sunshine greeted us pretty much all day long and warmed the water to just over 60 degrees by days end as well. I really don’t remember who drew first blood with the fishing but I do know that everyone managed to catch plenty of bass to keep all happy. Sammy definitely had the hot hand as he landed the most of everyone, but not the largest. These honours were for Tony as he managed to get a smallie that was 21 inches and all of 5.5 pounds. Good thing too as he also sampled the water first hand while taking a nature break. It was like watching someone from the Polar Bear Club, but fully clothed. Thankfully, he was able to get out quickly and change before the cold set in. Love that Ranger ladder! There wasn’t really and dead periods during the day, just constant action that kept everyone on their game. Too bad there were so many fish missed or lost, as this would have been an even better day on the water. We decided to call it quits somewhere after 5:00 P.M. when the temperatures started to fall as the sun went low. Overall, it was a pretty good day with lots of action, right down to the Baptism!!

Darren joined me again today but this time he treated his brother Mark to a day with him for smallmouth bass. We headed out a little later than usual due to the cold overnight lows in anticipation of sunshine and a warmer beginning. The air temps were in the mid 40’s but with the strong 20 knot, W winds, it felt more like below freezing. Clouds blanketed us pretty much all day with a little sunshine later in the afternoon. Water temps were between 58.5 & 62 degrees, depending on where we were fishing. Darren drew first blood when he hooked up on a 4 pounder on his first cast and we knew he was in for trouble. It’s bad luck to catch a fish on your first cast, as Darren was about to find out. His brother Mark was to hook up next with a slightly smaller smallie but it was quite sometime after the first. Eventually, we managed to get into an area where they began catching largemouth on almost every cast for a brief period and managed to bring about 15 or more of them to the boat with the largest going about 3 pounds. They also managed to lose several other smallies due to the strength of their fight. We probably stayed longer than we should have, but there were plenty of huge smallmouth bass in the area that seemed to only have lockjaw. Somewhere after noon, we opted for another area a little further away in hopes of more biters. As luck would have it, it wasn’t long after we arrived that the fish became active. Both Darren & Mark began to hook into plenty of above average smallies that went up to & even over 4 pounds on a regular basis. It wasn’t every cast, but there was enough action to keep everyone satisfied! When it all slowed down, I relocated to another area and they began all over again. There were so many fish in this area that they began hooking up in doubles. Mark managed to land his largest bass ever when he brought one to the net over 5 pounds. Ironically, he blew that away a few minutes later when he managed to land one of 22 inches and all of 6 pounds or better. This was too bad that we arrived in this area so late in the day as we were almost ready to leave! We fished a little longer and managed to get into many more bass, but nothing over 4 pounds, before we cut out and headed back to the ramp. Although the day started out a little slow, it definitely ended with a bang! There had to be over 50 bass landed to day with closer to 75 being more likely. It was definitely a big fish bite day!!