I was back, again today on Memphremagog with Christiane & Tim for more football like smallies. Once more, the weather looked dismal as we were seeing all kinds of clouds in the area. The air temps were around 54 degrees when we began our day and winds were from the N/NE at 10 to 20 knots, putting a pretty good chop on the water. Our first area saw water temps a little over 52 degrees as Tim locked up on his second cast. Christiane was soon to follow and the games began. They were both throwing deep diving, suspending jerk-baits over 20 or more feet of water and drawing the smallies up from the depths. I was fishing a 1/8 oz jig tipped with a Fin-s bait and working the depths as well to take even more reluctant fish. We worked several areas that had deep water close by and caught bass in every one before the mist & rain finally arrived. It was a cold rain and I knew this wouldn’t be good for the fishing as the water temps were already too low for this time of the year. The deep jerk-baits were definitely what we needed as both Christiane & Tim continued to catch smallies on a regular basis. It wasn’t easy in this rain & wind to feel the hit, but we managed to endure the weather and stick it out until after 4:00 PM when we just called it a day. Overall, we managed to get into around 75 or more bass weighing up to 4 pounds. All in all a pretty good day by anyone’s standards under these circumstances!

I fished with my wife Christiane today for numbers of smallies. With this being our anniversary weekend, I knew the bass would bite. Memphremagog was our lake of choice and it was a good one! Around 50 smallies were caught today up to 4 pounds from as shallow as 8 feet of water to as deep as 30 feet. The conditions were pretty respectable with overcast skies and very little wind from the north. Water temps were up to 51.5 degrees and the air temps went as high as 60 degrees. Christiane hooked up on her first cast and was into a nice smallmouth bass of close to 3-pounds. She also ended the day with a beautiful bass as we doubled up before we headed to the boat ramp and called it a day. Overall, a great day of fishing for five hours on the water! I hope it continues to get even better in the days to come!!

Tim & I hit the water again today, but this time we were on another lake in pursuit of a trophy. Unfortunately, the weather wasn’t in our favor as we fished all day in overcast skies and cool air temps of no more than 52 degrees. Fortunately for us, the winds were light but from the N at 5 to 10 knots. The last time I was on this lake, the water temps were as high as 49 degrees, but today the best I could find was 48.5 degrees. To say the fishing was tough would have been too kind. Actually, it sucked! I didn’t expect miracles, but even the lakers weren’t cooperating very much. There were about a dozen hits from lake trout, but only 1 managed to come aboard. By 4:00 PM we had enough and decided to take off the lake. With this water temp, the only thing that’s really biting on the lake is trout and even they aren’t cooperating too much. With more rain in the forecast for the next couple of days, things will be getting worse before they get better. There is light at the end of the tunnel however as next week has sunshine and temps in the 70’s in store for us. I can’t wait!!!

After taking a day off yesterday due to torrential rains, I was back on the water with Tim for smallies. The day started off with a misty rain but soon passed leaving us in the clouds for the rest of the day. Air temps were in the 40’s with the water temps barely in the 50’s and the bass were very lethargic. Fortunately, there was little to no wind and this made the day a little more enjoyable. Most of the fish caught today came from off shore structures in the 12 to 15 foot range, as these smallmouth weren’t in the shallows quite yet. By slowly working jigs tipped with 3-inch grubs, and tubes we were able to get into about 50 bass up to 3.5 pounds. Some of the fish came on jerk-baits as well, but the pause had to be really long. The next few days are calling for similar conditions and the fishing will probably be slow once again. By fine-tuning the presentations for these conditions, I know we can have more successful days once again.

Frank & his uncle, Antonio were my guests today on a trophy lake for lakers. Due to the weather forecast, we decided that our best chance for success would be on trout instead of bass and how right we were. Frank was on fire! The weatherman called for light drizzle with rain showers and a possibility of a thunderstorm. Fortunately, there were no winds to blow from the north today and the lake was practically a mirror all day long. The air temps never exceeded 56 degrees and the best water temps were around 49 degrees at the end of the day, but the lake trout were really going strong. I believe that by days end, Frank had landed 6 trout up to 5 pounds and either lost or had chances at, at least double that. I couldn’t complain about his total because I had close to that myself and never landed a single trout. I did however manage to get into 1 bass that would have gone in the 5.5-pound category. Franks uncle wasn’t as lucky as us and may have had a hit or two with nothing to show for his efforts. To say these fish were hitting lightly would have been an understatement. I think they were licking the jigs by the way they all got off and even some of the ones that were netted, fell off in the net as well. I really wanted Antonio to catch a few trout and decided to try trolling fly rods for them to see if I couldn’t have a few pulls. It didn’t take too long before the light 5 weight fly rod fired and he was tight to a real fighter. This thing took him way into the backing when it sounded for the depths of the lake and a fight that lasted over 5 minutes. Unfortunately for him, we were a half-inch too short to livewell the trout and back she went. Antonio caught one more trout a little later, around the same size and the same thing was to happen. Two lakers taken and both too short! The fights were great though and that’s all that counts, as we were there to have fun. All in all a great day with about 25 or 30 chances at the trout but very little rewards! Maybe the next time they will hit with more authority and we will have a higher percentage of hook ups!!!