I was back out Steelhead fishing for the past 4 days in New York State when I heard that the weather would be too cold to fish for smallmouth bass. The first couple of days I fished with Keith and the last two days I fished with Serge & his father, Raymond. The air temperatures were well below freezing most every day with 25 to 28 being about the warmest. Water temps were around 35 degrees and it snowed practically every day as well. The fishing was a little slower than I had hoped for, but we still averaged 4 fish per day. Egg sacs accounted for the bulk of the steelhead but flies caught a few also. Egg sacs drifted below floats were definitely the best choice as over 75% of the fish were caught with this method of presentation. Most of the fish were smaller than I expected but we had a few between 5 & 7 pounds that put up quite a battle. As an added bonus, several brown trout were also mixed in with the steelhead that we caught. They also averaged 5 to 7 pounds and supplied me with some well-needed eggs for tying! The largest Steelhead may have gone around 10 pounds or so, but as usual the biggest one got away! All in all, a pretty good trip with all that Mother Nature had to offer!

I was back on the water, both yesterday & today in search of that 6 pond smallmouth bass. Unfortunately, most clients find this too cold & too late in the year to actually go fishing so I headed out with a friend of mine. It felt a little strange to be out in warmer weather compared to my last sub zero outing with snow that had me searching for open water to launch the boat. Both today & yesterday were comfortable with air temps in the low 40’s and overcast skies. Little to no wind was present as we fished about 4 hours each day. The bite was really slow, but the fish were all really big! Most fish caught were above four pounds with a few over 5 as usual. By slowly dragging tubes, we were able to get several takers each day. Unfortunately, more bass were missed or lost, than landed! For some reason, they were biting light and didn’t always have the hook in for a solid set. When the bites are slow like this, every single one counts and missing just one becomes a frustrating affair. We had a kind of “Multi Species Day” today with a couple of pike and a bonus 5 pound Walleye as well. Whenever you are doing this type of slow fishing, there’s always a chance that you will hookup on something other than what you are actually fishing for. A slow presentation can be quite boring if you don’t have the confidence & patience it requires. Big fish don’t come easy and this is definitely one of my preferred methods throughout the year, not just during the cold water period of late fall. The overall size of the bass are definitely better than average when you fish as slowly as this. I like to refer to it as “Watching Paint Dry”! I hope that there is still a couple of weeks left in my bass season and only Mother Nature can help me there! As long as there are smallies biting and the weather allows me to fish, I will be out there looking for that Trophy. Give me a call it might be you!

I was back on the water again today with Tim, for his final day in Montreal. With all the weird weather we had through the week, I wasn’t sure what we were in store for! Heavy snowfall & incredibly cold temperatures had most areas already frozen over on the lake, but we still managed to find somewhere to launch the boat anyway. Snow was the theme for today as we drove in it as well as fished in it. From the time we left home till the time we returned around 6:00 P.M. it was snowing! The air temps reached a balmy minus two as the high and ice formed in the guides throughout the afternoon as we fished. The water temps went down below 40 degrees to almost 38 in just a few short days. To say the fishing was slow would have been an understatement! Although we only managed to fish for the last 4 hours of the day, ten or so bites wasn’t what I had expected. These fish were holding tight in the deeper water and seemed like they only wanted to mouth the tube presentations we were offering. Equipment failure was responsible for losing most of the fish today as only a few bass were actually landed. Between line tangles, ice formation on guides and frayed fluorocarbon leaders everything seemed to go wrong. Tim lost one of the largest smallmouth of the season near the boat as his leader broke from Zebra Muscle frays. It was nice to get out on the water, but this wasn’t going to be the day that the bruisers were going to cooperate. There’s still time left in this season to get that elusive 6-pound smallie if you’re willing to endure these late fall conditions! With the changing weather forecasted for this week coming, I anticipate better fishing ahead! A warming trend with air temps going up to & over 50 degrees will make these last few days feel like Florida.

Wow, another day that I was able to actually get on the water again! It’s hard to believe that “Mother Nature” can be so nice after she’s been so cruel to me this season. Warren & Nathan were the lucky ones to accompany me today as we headed out once more for some of those Pumpkins. Most everything stayed the same as far as the weather was concerned, but with one minor exception, wind. It was actually howling from the West at somewhere near 25 MPH with even higher gusts. This was a day that I would really have to work hard to obtain boat control so that they could manage to fish. It wasn’t as easy today to get started as almost 15 minutes went by before the first fish was hooked. Nathan had another smallmouth between 4 & 5 pounds on, but dropped her by the boat before I could get a shot with the net. Oh well, there’s plenty more where that one came from, I thought. How wrong I was for Nathan, I would soon find out! Warren was definitely on fire as it seemed like every fish he hooked was a giant and they pretty much all got landed. Fours & fives once again filled the livewell for the afternoon shoot. Nathan was a little slow in getting started after the earlier lost bass. When I changed the color of tube to the same one Warren had, he was immediately hooked up. He caught plenty of bass, but it seemed like they were all smaller. Three pounds was about the largest and that was strange for the type of area we were fishing. He did finally manage to get into a bigger one late in the afternoon and redeemed himself from the harassment Warren was delivering. Warren had the largest bass today with one topping the scales at 5 pounds 4 ounces. Plenty of others were not far behind as well! When we finished taking pictures, we fished for a little longer and had a small flurry of activity at the end of the day before we packed it up and headed to the ramp. All in all, another great day on the water with plenty of footballs Caught & Released once gain!

After yesterday, Tim was really anxious to get back on the water again for more of these pumpkin like smallmouth! The night temps never really dropped much as we had 40 degrees for the start of the day and rose to almost 50 by the end of the day. The winds were about the same as well as the water temperature, due to the stable, overnight weather. Unfortunately, we never really got to see much sunshine as we were blanketed with clouds all day long! Once again, within the first five minutes Tim was already landing a smallmouth of just over four pounds. This would continue all day long with both Tim & Mike, as it seemed like someone had a fish on about every 15 minutes. By the end of the afternoon, the livewells looked like overstocked aquariums for the photo shoot. Most every fish that came aboard was over 4 pounds with many near five. The largest went 5 pounds 1 ounce on the scale, but he had a few buddies that were like clones too. All in all another great day with plenty of huge football like smallies, Caught & Released once again!