Part 2: After we grabbed a quick bite for lunch, we were right back at it and into more of these fall footballs once again. It was just one of those days when it seemed like every fish was on the feed and we were going to take advantage of it as long as they were! I decided to try a little shallower and went into less than 10 feet of water to see if anything was there and on my first cast locked up with another bass of almost 4 pounds. By now, we had decided that it would have to be considerably larger in order to become livewell worthy and released everything under 4 pounds. There were plenty of fish between 3 & 4.5 pounds that just continued to volunteer biting our baits as we almost got sick of catching smallmouth. Just kidding of course! Most people would just die for this kind of action, but I almost expect it every time I am on the water and am disappointed when we have a 30 fish day. I figured we would just cover water a little more and try to find another area that was holding huge concentrations of quality bass once more. As usual, we picked a fish every couple of minutes as we moved along looking for another « Mother Load ». The action wasn’t fast & furious like we had earlier in the day, but it was more than enough to keep us happy. Eventually, I located another area that was loaded with larger than average smallies and it began all over once again. At one point, I literally casted 360 degrees and hooked up in 5 out of 6 casts. All fish were between 4 & 5 pounds as well. This was going to be our last area as we were running out of daylight and still had to get back to the ramp before it was too late. Several more fish and another picture session and we were done for the day. What an absolutely amazing day on the water! Darren had experienced this once before at Thanksgiving and probably done equally as well today. There was very little dead time today as fish were coming aboard at least every 5 minutes. By the time we were done, there had to have been at least 75 or more smallies caught with the bulk of them being 4 to 5 pounds and better. I hope Mother Nature holds out a little longer and allows me the luxury of doing this several more times before we are frozen in once more. All in all a great day to be on the water, once again!!!! This really has to be experienced to be believed!!

I was back on the water again today with Darren for smallmouth bass. We travelled to the lake in the morning with air temps below freezing and launched when they were barely above. A minor mishap with a trailer bearing put us a little behind, but not out of commission! By 9:00 we were wetting lines and into smallies shortly afterwards. Water temps were barely 47 degrees and the air temps never hit 40 degrees as we spend the entire day in the clouds. Thankfully, the winds were light from the W/SW at less than 10 knots for most of the day. The bite was real slow today and detecting some of the takes wasn’t too easy either. Some of the bass were just mouthing the tubes while others actually ripped line from the reel when they hit. Once again, covering water proved to be the way to go as we hit one fish here and one there throughout the day. Darren even managed to have another Muskie just pick up his jig and swim it by the boat like a torpedo before it just let go. Sunshine appeared in the afternoon for a while and it felt great! With almost no wind in the sun, it felt more like 60 degrees than 40. We continued to get into more & bigger fish in a few areas and Darren began to land a few close to 5 pounds in a brief period. One small area accounted for over 10 fish and were happy to see somewhat of a concentration, finally! By 4:00 we were ready to head out and packed everything up for the long run back. At this time of year, the temperatures really drop when the day ends and the sun disappears. It was a pretty good day overall with 25 to 30 smallmouth bass landed up to almost 5 pounds. Unfortunately, there were plenty of others missed as well as lost too!!

Today I had the pleasure of fishing with Sam & Stephan for smallies once more. We began the day in the clouds with the air temps in the low 30’s and ended the day in the clouds with the air just in the upper 30’s. Today, we had it all! Winds from the west at 10 gusting to 25 knots at times. An occasional snow shower that never managed to amount to anything and bitter cold due to the clouds & winds. Thankfully, the fishing had everyone forgetting about all of this because it was on fire! Sam started the day with his 2nd or 3rd fish being one that was right around 6 pounds. What a beauty!! Unfortunately, Stephan was quite a while before he actually landed anything of his own, but eventually, overcame the problem. He got into about 8 or 10 fish in a short period of time and began to join Sam in fighting all of these smallies. It was a bit of a competition as both were trying to beat each other in the numbers game. It seemed that whenever one of them landed something, the other followed almost immediately. This went on for a while with 2.5 to 4 pounders coming aboard regularly until Sam just exploded. He took at least 10 fish in less than 30 minutes from a small area that both were casting to. Sam just had the touch as his first 5 casts were all rewarded with bass in the 3 to 4.5 pound range. He even managed to land a couple of Walleye that they took home for dinner. With this much of a lead it was going to be difficult for Steph to catch up! They both continued to land fish for the rest of the day as we just covered water picking one here and one there. Sam hooked into another Muskie on a tube that once near the boat decided to just break him off. This was to be another fish of at least 45 inches once more. By days end, there was at least 50 smallies landed once more but Sam had beaten Stephan by at least 10 fish. Oh well, there’s always next time!!

I fished with Warren & Eddie today on a local lake for smallies, once more. What a beautiful day we had thought as sunshine greeted us upon arrival. Air temps were almost 40 degrees and the water temps were 48 to 49 depending where we were. With light winds of under 10 knots from the W/SW we were going to have a spectacular day on the water. Eddie drew first blood as he managed to hook into & land the first 4 pounder of the morning. Tubes were to be the baits of choice as we were fishing real slow for these lethargic smallies in 10 to 30 feet of water. Not only did Eddie draw first blood, but second, third & even 4th. He was on fire as Warren just looked on in anticipation of his first hook-up. Most of the bass that were coming aboard were in the 3.5 to 4.5 pound range, but we were looking for bigger. Warren finally managed to get into a few of his own and both were landing bass up to 4.5 pounds. Warren even had a Muskie of 45 to 50 inched chase his tube back to the boat while he was about to make another cast. It would have been nice to get into that fish as well! Around mid morning, the sun began to disappear behind the clouds and the winds picked up a bit. They also changed direction and were now blowing 15 to 20 knots from the west. They were still hooking into some quality bass, but boat control was becoming a pain in the butt. We covered a lot of water and caught fish just about everywhere we went. The largest one of the day would have to been around 6 pounds with a few others slightly over 5 pounds as well. Overall, it was a great day with at least 50 bass landed and many more either lost or just missed all together!!

I fished with Neil & John today on another local body of water for smallmouth bass. The conditions weren’t exactly perfect as we had strong west winds in the 25 to 30 knot range all day long. This made for very difficult boat control not to mention line control. The air temps reached a balmy 45 degrees by the end of the day, but felt more like 25 degrees with the cloudy skies and heavy winds. The water temps never exceeded 54 degrees. My deep water bite was all but impossible with these conditions as I made only one attempt at a drift. There was no way to feel the bottom until it was too late and you were in the rocks so I opted for another location. They began casting tubes to areas in the 10 to 20 foot range and Neil was soon tight to a decent smallie of about 3.5 pounds. Nice start to the day, but the best was yet to come! It was really difficult to feel anything other than the wind whistling through your ears and this was becoming a problem, feeling the takes. Eventually I was able to get the boat sideways and just drift over the areas allowing both to cast with the wind. It wasn’t perfect, but it helped! Neil definitely had the hot hand as he was catching everything that sniffed his jig. He managed to land a bunch of fish between 3 & 4 pounds before John finally got into them on his own. Once we reached a little shallower water, they were hooking up regularly but most of the fish were not staying on long enough to come to the net. They did however, both manage to land fish over 5 pounds in the next couple of hours. Neil even had one that was so bloated that it went closer to six! The wind never let up a bit through the day and this was the first time all season that I actually killed the batteries for my electric motor late in the afternoon. We took a few pictures of some of the largest bass, returned them to the water and fished a little longer. John managed to land another beauty over 4 pounds and a few smaller ones before we called it a day. This was the nicest it had gotten all day and we had to leave because of the batteries. The sun was shining and the wind had died down to a very tolerate level. Overall, it was a very difficult day with numerous hook-ups and about 30 fish landed. If it weren’t for « Mother Nature » we would have had a much better day. Oh yeah, she even snowed on us for a short while!