My friend Jay & his wife Kim were my guests today on Memphremagog for smallmouth bass. We began the day in heavy clouds and an extremely low ceiling of clouds and it stayed with us all day long. Air temps climbed into the low 70’s and the water temps were at a maximum of 61.5 degrees at best. There was virtually no wind until late in the afternoon when it began to blow at 5 to 10 knots from the W/NW, but soon died off shortly after. Top-water zaras had the fish fired up, but most of the strikes were short ones. Kim was hooking up with bass on a soft jerk-bait and was up almost 10 fish by the time Jay actually landed one. She definitely had the hot hand today as she managed to land more fish than either one of us. Women & kids always rule! The weather looked pretty gloomy all day long and threatened thundershowers & rain throughout the day. We were fortunate though and barely had a sprinkle until the end o the day when it began to rain. All in all a great day with tough conditions from the overcast skies. Over 50 smallmouth bass up to 3.5 pounds were caught with at least that many or more lost and missed.

Well, the weather actually got worse and we had rain and heavy rain most of the morning while on Memphremagog. Water temps were barely above 60 degrees and the air temps maxed out at 59 degrees. Fortunately, the winds were almost non-existent and the fish were on fire. Bobby and Francois fished with me and we caught most of the 75 or more bass on soft jerk-baits and top water baits like zaras. Some of the fish also were taken on tubes slowly dragged across the bottom. I found that the smaller males were in the shallower water while the larger females were still in deeper, adjacent waters and harder to get into. The off shore structures held the more aggressive fish and better numbers of the mid to larger sized ones as well. In the 6 hours of fishing we had multiple hook ups and many more lost bass, which should have totaled over 100 fish for the day. With the next few days calling for similar weather, the fishing should be wet and good. If the sun shines, it will be great! I’m hoping for sun!!!

I fished with a couple of friends Alain & Ben today on Memphremagog for smallies. The weather started out with sunshine but soon turned to overcast skies and later, light rain. Air temps were in the low 60’s as were the water temps. Some areas actually had 58 degrees due to the winds from the west. We had a decent top-water bite this morning but once the rains began to fall, the fish disappeared. We also caught fish on soft jerk-baits and tubes. Overall, it was a rather slow day with about 25 bass caught. I hope the weather picks up soon too!

I was back on a trophy lake with Herm & Craig once again today for smallies and had a blast. It started out a little slow with the water temps around 51 degrees at best and the winds from the N/W at 5 to 15 knots. Air temps went into the 60’s but with the winds, it felt more like the 50’s. Fortunately for us, the weather called for sunny skies and that would definitely be a plus! It took quite a while before we actually hooked into a fish after several follows and missed strikes. I thought I would try something completely different when we couldn’t hook up and switched to a football jig with a spider grub. I had a fish on, in the first 5 minutes and unfortunately, lost the 4.5 pounder at the boat when the hooks pulled free. Shortly afterwards, I had another and found a 5.5 pound smallmouth coming aboard. Another fish or two showed signs of interest and I was changing tactics completely. Craig was now throwing a tube jig & Herm was also on a spider jig! Craig was into another fish not too long after and the games began. These fish were close to the shallower water that they should have been in, but were actually out in deeper water adjacent. Herm also caught a good fish of 4.5 pounds on a spider jig and we all had some sort of action in the next few hours. Several good fish were caught up to & over 5 pounds and then I hooked into what I thought might have been my personal best. I eventually landed a fish that measured 22 inches by 16 inches and she weighed in at 6 pounds 10 ounces. I actually thought that it was over 7 pounds when I first saw the big female pulling line from the reel and was a little disappointed when we weighed the fish. Craig managed to also get his personal best a little later and this one weighed 6 pounds 4 ounces. Two over 6 pounds in one day is a rarity, and we were just happy to see them. Craig caught several others up to and over 5 pounds before we called it a day and headed off the water. Overall, there were about 12 to 15 bass landed today and they were all huge. This was not a typical day and we were thrilled to have caught as many large smallies as we did. A great day to say the least!!!

Today I fished with Craig & Herm on another trophy lake for smallies. The day started out great with sunshine and no winds, but soon changed. The sun was blocked by cloud cover and rarely showed for more than a few minutes at a time afterwards. The winds also picked up & blew from the west at 20 to 30 knots with higher gusts. Water temps were around 53 degrees at the beginning of the day and went as high as 55 by the afternoon. Most of the best areas had lost almost 8 degrees in water temps since yesterday, due to the strong westerly winds and were void of any fish. Air temps went into the mid 60’s but felt more like 50 with the cool winds we had. Craig hooked into the first big fish but lost her when she went airborne. Herm also did the same thing when he also lost another decent fish as she jumped too. I had a few hits from lakers, but no real hookups. A few smaller fish were caught before Craig finally got one worthy of pictures. This fish was 21 inches by 16 inches and was somewhere around 6 pounds. Herm wasn’t as lucky and only caught a couple of perch and a lake trout before we switched lakes. The water was slightly warmer with a few areas going as high as 60 degrees, but the winds were also unbearable. It was a tough bite with only a few smaller fish until we switched sides. Craig lost a couple of good-sized smallies and landed a couple of others that went 4.5 pounds apiece. This was all we were going to get on the lake and decided to head off and go home. Tomorrow is still another day and hopefully, Mother Nature will cooperate this time around. All in all a good day but not a great one.