I fished alone once again today on another trophy lake nearby and had an unbelievable day. The winds were out of the S/SW at 10 to 15 knots and the skies were clear. Water temps went between 61 & 65 degrees and the air temps went into the 80’s. Some of the fish are beginning to move shallow and nest, but the larger females are still in deeper water. The best baits today were 3-inch power grubs on a light jig head. Crank-baits, super flukes as well as fin-s baits also accounted for the 25 or more smallies that were caught & released. The majority of these bass today were over 4 pounds with the largest going closer to 5.5 pounds. All in all a great day!!! No pics once again!

I was off to another lake again this morning that I hadn’t been on in over 2 weeks. I had to check out the stage that the bass were in! Once again, soft jerk-baits were the best choice as almost 25 bass were caught on them. The first fish of the day weighed in at an even 5 pounds! A few large smallies were also taken on crank-baits and the first double was finally taken today. Two smallmouth of three pounds hooked up on a crank-bait at the same time making for an interesting battle. It was another hot day with temperatures once again exceeding 80 degrees and the water temps were above 60 degrees in most areas. There was a slight wind from the south that increased during the afternoon to about 15 knots. I had to cut the afternoon short and get off the water around 2:00 PM when the skies looked like a storm was approaching. Apparently it was a good decision as it hit shortly after. All in all, another god day!!! No pics again!

I decided to try another lake today and troll with fly rods for trout. George & Paul were my guests this morning as we trolled for about 2 hours with only 3 hits. Unfortunately, none of them hooked up though and we opted for another method of fishing. The air temps went into the 80’s again and the water temps were between 57 & 61 degrees, depending where you were. No wind had all the pollen just laying on the surface of the water like a spilled can of paint. With spinning rods and jigs, we tried casting to deep edges and rocky shoals for the lakers. Unfortunately, only one lake trout was hooked, but lost at the boat. There was also a huge brown trout that boiled beside the boat that we were unable to hook up with. I fished solo after lunch and decided to try a few other areas for smallmouth bass. Super flukes proved to be the best baits this afternoon as I landed several good bass on them. Towards the end of the afternoon, I even lost another laker on a jig, when it spiraled out of control after being hooked. Close to 15 smallies averaging 4 pounds were caught & released during a three-hour period this afternoon. All in all, a tough day!! No pics today!

I decided to try a trophy lake for smallmouth bass this morning, with Christiane. The black flies were just insane as we launched the boat and began fishing. I thought that they would be better once we got on the lake, but without any wind, they weren’t. The air temps went into the low 80’s and the water temps were low 60’s. Some of the fish were starting to bed as we saw nests all over the lake. They haven’t spawned yet, but I am sure it won’t be very long! We decided that the black flies were biting better than the bass after we only landed 3 fish in a couple of hours. The afternoon was spent back on Memphremagog, black fly free! There were probably close to 25 bass landed in about 4 hours in tough conditions. Most of the fish are shallow right now, but the water is still really dirty making the visibility just terrible. You have to fish really slowly with noisy baits just to get their attention. I hope it cleans up soon!!

I was back on the water once again with my wife Christiane today on Lake Memphremagog. We met Jeff, from Mass at the boat ramp while getting ready and decided to show him a little bit of the lake. As the new owner of a beautiful, Ranger bass boat, he was eager to learn the lake, having never been on it before. I thought it would be a good idea to have him follow us around for a while, get a feel of this body of water and catch a few smallies. The weather wasn’t too good as we had a light drizzle with low visibility and 15 knot winds from the north for our run across the lake. The air temps were in the mid 60’s and the water temps were 57 to 61 depending on where we were. Christiane landed the first bass of almost 4 pounds on a fin-s tipped jig, but the fishing was real slow for this area. There were only a few more bass landed in a half hour or so, so I decided to relocate to an island nearby. Both boats split up as we went in opposite directions around the island. There were about 10 fish hooked between us, but nothing great. Another area across the lake amongst big boulders and rocky shoreline produced about a half dozen or so fish before we parted ways. Christiane & I headed north and managed to get into another 20 or so bass before calling it a day at 3:30 PM. Most of the fish were caught on jigs in slightly deeper water of 15 feet, but there were plenty of others taken on jerk-baits once the sun came out later in the day. The high water and lack of visibility has definitely slowed the fishing as the total numbers at the end of the day have shown. Hopefully with all the nice, sunny weather on the way, the fish will become more active. Still a good day with over 30 bass caught & released today!!!