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Chris & his brother Sam were in the boat today and hopes of one equal to yesterday was on my mind. The only thing that I was worried about was the cold front and big north winds. Would this be a deterrent to the bass?

We actually spent the first couple of hours trolling for musky, but we weren’t to be rewarded. I don’t think I even marked a fish! I did see a few sturgeon however, but they weren’t what we were looking for! Eventually we packed it up and changed over to lighter rods and smaller fish.

I went back to where most of the big bass were caught yesterday and had them tossing more blades for the active fish. The winds weren’t making it easy though and I had to really use the electric motor to work the area properly. About ten minutes into the drift, Chris hooked into a really good one but after the second jump, it just came unpinned. Too bad too because as it turned out, this was to be the biggest one of the day!

We spent a bit of time working the area with a variety of baits but they ended up only landing 3 smaller bass. A few other hits were had, but the fish didn’t seem very aggressive. In fact, the last bass that Chris caught from this area was actually hooked from the outside of the mouth. Definitely not a sign of active fish!

I continued the search for active shallow fish in a couple of other areas before finally deciding to go out deep. The shallow bite was just not happening and time was not on our side. With only a few hours remaining in the day, I hit a place that I hoped would produce!

Both Sam & Chris were new to the vertical drop shot technique, but it wasn’t long before they were liking the results. On the very first drift, they were locked up with decent smallies. This was to continue for over an hour in the area as we made multiple passes. They even had a few double headers from this area too! When the action slowed, I moved around slightly and always seemed to find a few more fish for them to play with.

Time had passed by quickly and with less than 30 minutes remaining, I made a long run back to fish one last rocky flat. They both had chances from here, but it was Chris that brought the only walleye to the boat before we were done.

Today was quite an interesting one filled with all kinds of ups and downs. The musky didn’t pan out along with the shallow bass bite but we managed to salvage the day by fishing deeper than they ever thought possible. Apparently it was the right move as most of the fish came from depths greater than they had ever fished before. By making the necessary adjustments I managed to turn a slow day into one that I’m sure they will remember for quite a while. They even learned a new technique that hopefully will be used by them on future trips of their own. Who could ask for anything more?

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Rich, Chabil & the Unknown Fisherman were my guests today, hoping to catch a few good smallies. I too was looking forward to seeing what would happen after the big blow yesterday. The north wind we were seeing this morning was much better than what we had yesterday!

I headed out in a decent chop and very overcast skies, to get to where I wanted to begin. I had decided that they would be covering water and all throwing blades to get the job done! With the wind blowing pretty good on this area, I was sure that it wouldn’t take long before the first fish would bite!

They were all informed that we were looking for only big bass where we were and the spot didn’t disappoint! The Unknown Fisherman was first to lock up and it was a really good fish. I don’t think he was ready for the strike when it nailed him 20 feet from the boat, but it was sure welcomed! He had also christened his new baitcaster making it even sweeter! This was a great way to get the day started and I shot a few pics of just the fish as he didn’t want to be photo’d.

We continued along after the release and Rich was soon into another really great bass of his own. He also nailed a couple of others soon afterwards as I remained in the anchor mode position. We were covering the water slowly, trying to monopolize on every fish that we could and it seemed to be working. Chabil was the only one without a bass yet but not for lack of trying. They all had a few others bump their lures without getting pinned and I decided to switch up the baits to try and refine the area.

I made a demo cast for Chabil with a soft plastic and immediately set into a quality bass. He should have no problem after that! Rich was on a drop shot now and also hooked up on practically his first cast. The unknown fisherman was tossing a jig and was quickly into a fish of his own and to everyone’s surprise, it wasn’t a bass. Instead he was providing me with dinner as the walleye came aboard. Nobody wanted it so I gladly livewelled his catch for later tonight.

The change up to refine the area really seemed to be working as more fish were coming in the boat now and even Chabil was catching. Rich was just hammering the bass on the drop shot rig and the unknown kept catching walleye on the jig. He even managed to put another keeper in the boat for me!

We had remained in the same area for several hours and many a fish was landed. Eventually it just slowed down though and I decided that we should make a move. We were off to another area and hopefully more fish!

With the water temps finally starting to drop, I decided to try a couple of fall spots where the fish tend to school up. To my surprise, Chabil was the only one to catch a bass from there and I didn’t stay long. Close by he almost added another, but it never really got pinned and was gone almost instantly.

I moved in much shallower and Rich managed to get a couple of bites, but only landing one of his fish. We continued the move and set up on a point extension only to have several smaller fish landed from here. Time to change areas again!

The unknown fisherman had managed to backlash his baitcaster earlier in the day and although it took a while, I was finally able to free the mess. He was back in business once again! With everything working fine, he went back to casting the blade and in no time, was into another beast! I anchored up the boat with the electric and they fan casted the area, hoping for a few more. Looks like this was a lone wolf, as they never had another touch after that!

We had covered plenty of shallow water in hopes of more bites, but I soon realized that it just wasn’t going to happen. I set up a couple more rods with a drop shot and headed to a deeper section to try and get more fish.

This place was on a current break and they managed to get into a few more bass. Although nothing big, at least it was action! With time just about done, I headed to one more spot to see if they could finish with a bang. It was here that the unknown guy christened his new drop shot rod with a really good bass. Unfortunately that was all she wrote and we were done for the day!

This proved to be a great day for these three with several firsts occurring. Both the unknown guy and Chabil had managed to christen their new rods with some quality bass. Everyone had landed many good fish and learned plenty in the process! I was even taking a couple of keeper walleye home for dinner. Who could ask for anything more!

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Neil was once again out with me today but due to the giant winds, we had to relocate. The waters I have been concentrating on lately were just too big to even think about going on! Winds were blowing from the W/SW at over 25 knots at times and it just wasn’t safe. It would be my first road trip this season!

It was a little earlier than I usually fish the area but I was sure I could get Neil into some good bass. We started out in the shallows with blades and unfortunately Neil only came up with one small one. Out to deeper water we went and a few more small fish were landed as well. We were on the hunt for bigger and better and covered all kinds of water, trying to find them! It wasn’t easy in the wind but somehow we managed!

Our morning had been less than productive but there were high hopes for the afternoon. I had many strikes on all kinds of baits but for some reason they weren’t getting pinned well. Eventually a couple of them stayed on and were brought to the boat though and things were starting to look up. Or so I thought!

We had fished from shallow to mid to deep and never really got into any sort of concentration. All I could do is keep rotating areas and hope for the best.

Towards the latter part of the day, Neil managed to catch a few real quality smallies and we thought they had finally turned on. Unfortunately the remainder of the day saw little evidence of this as we continued to just pick a fish here & there. After one last stop and one more good fish we were done!

I had made a judgment call and gone to another lake due to the weather and salvaged the day. It looks like we were a bit early in the season to get into the high numbers that I am use to seeing, but at least we fished somewhere on this beautiful sunny day. Hopefully the weather will change for tomorrow and I can resume fishing locally once again. Either way I know I will get into a bunch of decent fish!

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What do you do on your day off? Well, go fishing of course! Christiane & I headed out today for several hours to scout a few new areas. I haven’t had much time this summer to do any looking but today I would, hoping for the best.

First on the list was an area for sturgeon that I had been wanting to fish. I knew it held some but had never given it a try. Unfortunately after idling around and finding all kinds of great marks, we were still unable to hook up. I was a little disappointed but will be back some other time to give it another try!

I also had wanted to try a little trolling and dropped the lines in to see what I could locate. What I found was plenty of bait and even more floating weeds. This definitely made trolling a real pain! I was constantly cleaning the rods and after a short while just gave up!

Our next attempt at fishing was to be casting big weed patches for smallies and this at least gave us a few quality bites. It may not have been lots but they were big!

Our final area to check was a deep spot, once again for bass and it was here that we would end the day. It was definitely holding some quality as we landed some real giants!

Although we didn’t spend much time fishing today, it was still productive. I was finally able to see a few new spots and some of them were definitely worth the check. I will be back out on a few of them with clients in the coming weeks, hoping to get into those fish again! Who knows, maybe they’ll be holding even more!

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Scott & Chris were with me today, hoping to tangle with a few big fish. The winds wouldn’t be making it easy as they were blowing big from the NW and waves up to 3 feet were present. Regardless, were going to give it a try!

The run to the area was a little bumpy but once we arrived, it actually looked doable! I idled around looking for the fish, but after several minutes, found myself settling on only a few marks. This was to be a similar procedure as multiple attempts at locating fish had the same results. After trying for almost 3 hours, it just wasn’t happening and I decided to pull the plug! I wasn’t going to spend the entire day in hopes of one hookup!

We headed to another spot for smallmouth and covered plenty of water for the bites we had. No concentrations were found but at least they picked at fish along the way. A combination of blades and soft plastics were used to entice them into hitting. After covering the areas thoroughly, we attempted another move nearby but it proved to be unsuccessful. Time to fight the wind & waves and relocate again!

I had gone across the open water and seen just how bad the water was before stopping in an area to fish. We were officially in 3 footers, hoping to get bit! As bad luck would have it, several good ones were seen and missed before I made an adjustment on Chris’s line. Although he missed another one, It came back and just crushed him! Too bad this was all she wrote for here but at least he had managed to land a quality smallie before we left.

I once again stayed in open water and tried drop shotting some deeper flats. There was quite a concentration of fish showing on the screen as we drifted over the schools of perch & walleye. Both Chris & Scott managed to catch a few including another bass in the time we were here. When the fish flat out refused our offerings, we were forced to make a move again.

Time was just about over for today but at least our last stop put a few more walleye in the boat before we were done. They had a long drive ahead of them and needed to get on the road. We had salvaged the day by fishing many different spots to get into fish. The action may have been slow at times but there were still enough fish seen today to keep everyone busy!