I was on the water today with Darren for a little more smallmouth bass action. The weather was a little better than the last couple of days with cooler air of 70 degrees and overcast skies. Winds were non-existent and the water temps were around 45 degrees. We wasted no time getting into fish, fishing deep water of 25 to 40 feet and hooking up consistently. Unfortunately, these were smaller fish than I wanted and the largest would have gone slightly above 3 pounds. We jumped around to several areas doing the same thing, catching in every place we stopped and even managed to get a few walleye for Darren to take home for dinner. It wasn’t until late in the afternoon when we finally started to catch some quality and Darren hooked fish up to 5 pounds in one area. He also had a few that were over 4 pounds along with some smaller 3 pounders to add to the catch. There were probably 40 or so fish landed today in a variety of areas from 3 feet all the way to over 40 feet deep. I can’t wait for the water to cool off a little more and start to concentrate the bass in larger volumes. Overall, it was a pretty good day!!

I was back on the water again today with Jim once again, but this time we opted for a different lake in hopes of catching more & bigger bass. The temps had fallen overnight and the winds were from the north at 10 to 15 knots making the air feel even colder than it really was. The overcast skies didn’t help either as sunshine might have warmed us up a little bit more. The air was 50 degrees & the water was 67 degrees but the air temps almost matched the water by late afternoon as they reached 65. This coupled with the sunshine and stopping of the winds almost felt Florida like as we cruised the shallows sighting bass all over. Unfortunately, it was a lot like yesterday as we picked a few fish here & there and really had to work hard to get them to strike. Tubes were the baits of choice as almost all of the bass today fell victim to one colour or another. There were a few that were caught on crankbaits and a few more on spinnerbaits, but the better fish came on the tubes. While dragging in deeper water, searching for a concentration, I managed to get into a huge one that would have been close to 6 pounds. Jim wasn’t as lucky with his largest going a little over4 pounds. He did however catch a bonus largemouth on a spinnerbait and that was a real surprise to both of us too. Somewhere around 5:00 P.M. as the sun was falling along with the air tempos, we decided to call it a day and head back to the boat ramp. He will be back in a few weeks with his wife and I ensured him that the fishing could only get better. All of these cruising fish will likely be on the feed by then and big numbers will follow. Although we didn’t catch a ton of fish today, there were still plenty of quality smallies to keep us happy!

Today I fished with Jim and my wife, Christiane on a local lake in pursuit of smallmouth bass. We started out around 8:00 A.M. with the cold overnight air making none of us too eager to fish at the crack of dawn. It was only around 49 degrees at that time but fortunately warmed to a beautiful temp in the 70’s by afternoon. Bright sunshine greeted us for most of the day with a little cloud cover sometime after noon. The water temps were between 67 & 68 degrees depending on our location. The winds were light & variable early but by mid day, picked up to about 15 K from the S/W. We fished several areas and caught fish in just about everyone, but only managed to get the larger ones from just one spot. The fish were all over the place and really needed to be finessed into taking our presentations. Most of the better quality ones came on senko’s or gulp alive tipped jigs. Christiane even managed to catch a decent walleye of 3 pounds that we were more than happy to invite to dinner. Several decent northerns were taken as well on a variety of baits, but the bass seemed to be a little picky. Overall, it was a decent day with the largest bass weighing in at just around 4 pounds, but there were plenty of others much larger cruising all over the area we were in. I will be back!!

I was back on the water today with Bobby & Frank on another lake in pursuit of some jumbo, fall smallies. We got a late start due to traffic on our lovely Quebec roads and I wasted no time getting going once they arrived. The air was a chilly one for the run with temps barely over 45 degrees. Factor in the wind at 50 MPH and thank god the Ranger has a full windshield! The winds were out of the N at 10 K making it seem even colder. Water temps were about 67 degrees in our first spot and never reached 68 late by late afternoon. It started out a little slow with the cooler water temps, but I was determined to stick it out in the area as I had confidence that the sun would get them to go. A couple of 3 pounders were hooked on a spinnerbait and another on a crankbait, but not the numbers I wanted, so I switched to a senko to see if they were just inactive. It didn’t take too long after that to get into a decent one of about 4 pounds and the games were on. I immediately set up a couple of other rods and both Frank & Bobby began to hook up. They had the feeling! At one point, Frank & Bobby had doubles and they were both over 5 pounds. Unfortunately Frank’s came off at the boat and I only netted one. At another point during the morning, I had a big fish hooked and Bobby managed to get into the larger follower with a tube bait at the boat. Eventually, there were two fish aboard that would have gone close to 10 pounds when all of this settled. For the next couple of hours or more, there were bass of all sizes up to 4 pounds or so coming aboard, all on senko’s. A few fish were also landed on tubes again as back up baits when others tagged along during the boat-side battles. When everything slowed, I moved on with the electric and managed to get into some more active fish a little further away before they just shut down. We covered plenty of water afterwards but only managed a few more fish, all the while seeing huge bass just cruising around the area, without any interest. All in all there had to be about 25 fish landed today with plenty of others lost and many more seen just cruising around. Most of these bass were big and several of them were just huge, making this a great day for size, not numbers!!

After a two-week wait on a motor part, I was back on the lake once again today. This time however, we were to fish a lake up north in hopes of catching some real bruisers. Max, Matt and Ben were to join me and together we were looking for 5 pound smallies, or maybe even better. The temperatures were in the low 40’s as I headed to the water and fog made the driving difficult at times. I knew that sunshine would eventually burn off the fog and hoped the temps would also rise as well. With a light wind from the W of about 5 to 10 K, the conditions were just perfect. We hit the water at about 8:30 A.M., as there would be no need in getting there too early with the cold overnight temps and wasted no time once we were there. To my amazement, the water temps were only 62.4 degrees and I knew the bass would be lethargic until the sun warmed the surface water. We started throwing tube jigs on the break-lines and had a few followers before Matt finally hooked into the first fish. It was an honest 4-pound plus smallie and his personal best, but there was surely better to come. I slid the fish into the livewell for later pics and we continued along the break. It wasn’t until I hit an offshore reef that Matt nailed another bass even larger and the second smallie of almost 5 pounds was joining his first one in the livewell once again. Both Max and Ben were pumped and wanted some of their own too! Matt was kind enough to take a small break and Max took advantage of this, coming up front to fish with me. He almost immediately locked up and was into a heavy fish as well, but as she went to the air the hook came unpinned. We saw that it was another decent fish of at least 4 pounds and laughed it off. Max managed to hook into another one not long after, but it was only a 13 incher and not what we were after. It was a while after this and Max hooked a real giant along a weed edge and we thought he was actually going to get her in, but once more it took to the air and threw the hook. This time we saw that the fish was a true 5 pounder and were all a little disappointed when she came off. The fish weren’t fast & furious, but they were definitely big and we all wanted more. Somewhere after lunch while we were fishing a narrowed down area between a couple of points, Ben was finally into one of his own. This time when the fish went to the air, all jaws dropped! I knew this was the largest one so far and really wanted Ben to land it, so I went for the net in hopes of getting it in quickly. After a couple of tail walks and a few more jumps, she was finally where I wanted her. This fish was a true 5.5-pound bass and all of 21 inches in length. It may have been the only fish Ben hooked, but it was a real beauty! Within minutes, Matt took away his thunder by nailing one even larger that turned out to be 22.75 inches in length and weighed over 6 pounds. These were two back-to-back giants and well worth the wait! We fished for the rest of the afternoon and managed to get into a few more bass, but nothing like the two that they had just landed. Eventually, we called it a day and took the pictures before we headed off the lake. I knew we weren’t going to get into any numbers today, but I was sure there were going to be a few giants to talk about. I just never expected to see a fish of almost 23 inches and over 6 pounds! This was definitely the largest one to ever come aboard my boat on this lake and I was glad to see her. Maybe not as happy as Matt, but thrilled nevertheless! Overall, a tough day with some real quality bass to show for our efforts!!