Andre & Jim joined me today on Lake Memphremagog for a day of fishing. It started off a little slow as we found the water temps almost 10 degrees colder this morning. The bass were a little reluctant to hit the offerings we threw at them for almost a half hour! On the second location, they finally began to hit both jerk-baits and jigs fished in deeper water. Some of the smaller fish were also hitting, but in the shallow water areas. Eventually we began to get some of the larger females of 4 pounds and more from water in the 20 to 25 foot range. Several of these fish were caught before we just decided to try elsewhere for more aggressive and active smallies. Getting them to hit jerk-baits wasn’t an easy task as we were soon to find out. Most of the fish came on slowly dragged fin-s jigs from deep water and steep edges. The best areas seemed to be offshore shoals & humps surrounded by the deep water. The daytime air temps are in the upper 60’s to lower 70’s, but the nighttime air temps are dipping into the 30’s. Water temps lately are up and down like a freight elevator! This is definately playing havoc on the bass as the full moon nears and they prepare for the spawn. May & June will probably both have spawning fish once again this year as water temps continue to fluctuate! We did still manage to land over 30 bass today up to 4 pounds under really difficult conditions. All in all, a pretty good day!!

I fished with Jim, Raymond and another Jim this morning for trophy smallmouth bass. The water temperatures went down to below 50 degrees causing the smallies to develop lockjaw! They were definately there as we saw all kinds of 4 to 6 pound fish swimming around the area we were in. Flat calm water conditions and sunny skies had the morning air at almost 50 degrees as well. Eventually, Raymond hooked into a nice fish of about 4.5 pounds that was photo worthy and I thought the warming trend would have the fish activated. That thought soon turned 180 degrees as the fish were still just swimming! We would hook into a fish here & there, but not like yesterday afternoon. By 1:00 PM, I decided a lake change was in order and headed to Memphremagog for the afternoon. Immediately after arrival, Raymond was into a smallmouth around 4 pounds and the games began. One fish after another from 1.5 pounds to 4 pounds were landed in the next few hours making for a more productive afternoon. This lake was just as flat as the other one we were on in the morning, but the water temps were above 60 degrees in most areas. Over 25 smallies were caught on Magog, making a perfect end to an absolutely fantastic day!!

I fished with Keith this morning on Memphremagog for smallmouth bass. The temperatures fell below the freezing mark last night making this morning a little chilly. Add a strong N/NW wind of 10 to 20 knots and you really have a bone chilling experience. The water temperatures dropped almost 10 degrees overnight so I decided to try some offshore structures with jigs. It took only a couple of minutes before the first fish was caught and it weighed just under 5 pounds. A few more fish were landed in the next hour, but the wind & waves were making this area almost impossible to fish effectively. We had to make a move to the other side of the lake just to get out of this deep freeze! By targetting all the lead in points with jerk-baits and jigs, we were able to land another half dozen or so smallies before we left the lake around 11:00 AM. Keith had to head home, so we grabbed a quick lunch and parted our ways. I decided to try another smaller lake in the afternoon hoping for less windy conditions. I definately made the right choice as both the conditions and the fishing were fantastic! In a four-hour period, I must have had about 50 huge smallies come after my jerk-bait & jigs. About half of them were actually landed with the average size being over 4 pounds. The bulk of the fish were definitely above 5 pounds, making the afternoon absolutely phenominal! I think a couple were over the 6 pound mark as well! I had found the fish transitioning between the deeper water and the spawning areas they would be using in the next couple of weeks. The water temps were actually warmer than the air temps, topping out at 53 degrees. The air never passed 50 degrees! What a great way to end a day!!!

I was back on the water again with the same guys as yesterday, but my brother Mike joined us as well. It was a little tight, but we managed to make it work! The weather turned out to be better than the forecast had predicted, with overcast skies turning to sunshine, early in the morning. Once again, there was almost no wind at all, making the fishing a little easier to accomplish. The water temps were only 48 degrees as we fished for lakers once more. It was a little tougher than yesterday as we only landed a couple with many others missed. There were also a few smallmouth landed with one of them being around 5 pounds. The afternoon proved to be quite interesting when we headed to Lake Memphremagog for smallmouth bass, again. The weather looked like it was going to take a turn for the worse and it did. We fished for about 2 hours and had to make a run for the boat ramp when the rain & wind picked up. Three footers were blowing from the N/NW making it a little uncomfortable for Dave as he had the worst seat seat in the house. The offshore structures definitely were a better choice as everyone landed bass from deeper water. Dan caught the first one about 5 pounds and many others followed, a little smaller in size. I wish we could have stayed there longer, but safety comes first! Mother nature won this battle, but it was still a great day!!

It was another spectacular day on the water again, with sunny skies and temperatures in the mid 70’s. Water temps were up to 64 degrees on Memphremagog with absolutely no wind at all. I fished one lake in the morning for lake trout with Dave, Rick & Dan and another lake in the afternoon for smallmouth with the guys. Not only did they land 4 lakers on the morning lake, but 2 smallies over 6 pounds as well! The afternoon bite proved to be even better as there were between 50 & 60 bass caught & released up to 5 pounds, in a 4 hour period. All in all, a great day of fishing for both size and numbers for these three guys!