Keith’s wife had surprised him with a fishing trip, as a gift for his 50^th birthday today. Along with him were three of his friends to join in the fun. Roy, Sheldon & Stephane would be enjoying an afternoon with the birthday boy and hopefully the fish would treat them well!

It was nice to finally be fishing in cooler air temperatures, after a week of insane heat. Although I didn’t have clients, I was out almost every day regardless, searching for new areas to fish. We would be hitting one of them today!

I decided that with 4 bodies in the boat, they would be dropshotting and instructed everyone on what to do. It wasn’t long before Roy was tight to the first of many, fish of the day. It was soon followed by another and he had two nice bass before anyone knew what had happened. We were drifting an open water area and covering water with an almost perfect wind. It allowed them to fish effectively, without having to cast and it was working. The others were hooking into fish as well and although some were coming unpinned, most were ending up in the net. With each pass, many fish were being landed and a combination of bass and walleye were caught. The fish were definitely cooperating today!

I had planned on hitting other areas this afternoon, but this place was too loaded to leave. We actually remained here for the entire time. Drift after drift fish were being caught and there was no reason to leave. We kept at it right until the end and the results were outstanding! In fact, they decided to call it a bit earlier and we pulled off by 3:30 instead of 4:00. They had all landed plenty of fish for the day!

Great times were had by all this afternoon and the numbers were high. Although there were a few slow periods, most of the time someone was hooked up. In fact, there were several doubles and even a few triple headers during their trip. It couldn’t have worked out better today! I know that Keith will be remembering his 50^th for a while and the great time he had fishing with his friends!

Today was expected to be a real scorcher, so Mark asked to do a half day instead! No problem for me! We fished an area out in the middle for a mix of fish. Although it did hold some walleye, it was mostly bass they would be catching. I just wanted to get things going before it too hot!

Mark had his son Tyler with him again along with their girlfriends, Christine & Hoosna. Christine also had her granddaughter, Alura Faye with her and a cute little Barbie fishing rod & reel. I set it up with the same dropshot presentation and was amazed that it actually came with a drag! It was going to be interesting, if they caught a fish on it!

Hoosna was the first to hook up, but she was new to fishing and wasn’t able to land the bass. The next one however, with a little coaching, came to net quickly. It was a nice walleye and pics were taken of her catch, before the release. Mark was also into some smallies and everyone had chances on the first drift. I was shocked when Barbie bent over with a smallmouth on the end but it was difficult to keep pressure on the fish with the rod so short. Unfortunately, it came unpinned!

With each drift we made there were more & more fish being landed and even a few doubles were had. Barbie was getting hits often now and after a few fish coming off, Christine & Alura Faye landed their first bass. It was quite something hearing the drag scream on such a short rod. It looked more like an ice fishing combo than a summertime rod & reel!

With the morning passing, the heat was increasing and it didn’t take long to raise the roof. This was also good for Alura Faye as she was so young and we didn’t want her burning. Plenty of sunscreen was being use by all, but there’s no sense taking any chances!

We had a slight ripple on the water at the beginning of the morning but this had all disappeared and now we were flat calm. Dog pecker knats were everywhere and our drifts were at a minimum. Covering water was next to impossible, but they were still catching fish! Hoosna definitely had the hot hand, landing more than everyone else, but the Barbie rod was also firing on a regular basis too! We even had a triple header that was just chaos! Although it could have been a quad, one of their fish came off leaving us with just three.

We stuck it out until the last minute and finally called it at 11:30. It was way too hot and definitely time to go! I packed everything up as well as the roof, which was our only reprieve from the sun and heat. It wasn’t long before we had a cool breeze again, as I motored back to the ramp.

Today may have been shortened due to the heat, but the fishing was great. Plenty of action was had by all in the short time we were out and everyone enjoyed themselves. The highlight of the day however was the fact that Barbie was able to bring a few big bass to net. Who knows, maybe I’ll be keeping a couple of them in the boat for future customers, from now on!!

Kevin & Theirry had wanted to try for sturgeon since last season and today was the day. A late fall weather cancellation had them back and this time they brought their sons. Braydon & Holden were also looking forward to seeing one of those dinosaurs as well, as we ventured out.

The waters were a bit rough when we arrived at the area, but it still looked doable. After idling around for a while, I settled on a few smaller marks, hoping for a bite. Unfortunately, the bites were only from the gobies and we moved around in hopes of finding fish somewhere else. This went on for several hours and eventually I just pulled the plug on the sturgeon. I had combed countless amounts of water in various depths to find very few marks. These fish had just vanished and I was done looking! Time for plan B and some bass & walleye!

We made a long run to open water and they began dropshotting a big flat in hopes of finally catching some fish. Several perch were landed from here, but not much else. The floating weeds were making it next to impossible to keep the lines clean, so I moved on.

The next place at least had fishable water and it didn’t take long before Holden was into a bass. At only 7 years old, he struggled to land the fish, but eventually brought it to net. To say he was happy would have been an understatement! After a few pics from his dad, he returned the smallie to the water and began fishing once more. Almost immediately, his rod was bent again and this time the bass was even bigger! He did battle with this one for a bit longer, but managed to bring it close enough for me to net. He was on fire and all smiles for the pics.

We were making short drifts over a small area and on the next pass both Thierry & Brayden had chances, but unfortunately their fish came off. Holden however, hooked up and this time his fish was even bigger than the previous two! This bass took him for a ride and brought back memories from when I was a kid. He may have struggled, but he didn’t give up and was rewarded with another good bass. I shot several pics, along with the others and he released his catch to be caught another day.

Multiple drifts were made over the area with bites becoming fewer and fish being lost, until Thierry finally managed to keep one pinned. This was the one I was looking for and I hoped he would be able to land it. Several jumps later I slid the net under what was to be the biggest fish of the day! He was also officially on the board! We took a few photos in order for him to have proof of his success and he let his catch go afterwards. Now there was just Brayden left to land a fish. It wasn’t for lack of bites, but so far, he just wasn’t lucky!

I had made another move, due to slow fishing and settled on a different deep water flat for them to try. Many more perch were caught here and Kevin managed a few more walleye as well. I even got in the game and landed a couple of Walters too! Right down to the wire, Brayden finally hooked and landed his first fish and it was a decent walleye. The skunk was finally off of his back! He followed it up with another perch and we were done.

Today was an interesting series of events and constant adjustments were needed to make it successful. Too bad the sturgeon fishing didn’t work out, but there’s always something to catch! Our afternoon was definitely better, despite all the boat traffic and rolling waves due to the perfect weather. At least some of the fish I marked came out to play and everything was released to fight another day!!

An afternoon booking had me venturing out earlier, in search of another spot to fish sturgeon. Forecasted winds would likely not allow me to get to where I wanted and I needed a plan B. The water was flat calm while scouting, but I knew that it wouldn’t be when they were here. Big SW winds of 15 to 25 knots were suppose to arrive by late morning, making it next to impossible to fish. Hopefully their predictions would be wrong!

I picked up Tabitha and her husband Curtis before 10:00 and in the short time it took to get them, the winds had begun. Flat calm turned into 2 footers in no time but, I decided to make a long run to my original spot to fish. I idled around looking for marks but never really found anything worth stopping on. The rollers weren’t great either, so I decided to pull the plug and go to my plan B instead.

We had made another long run once gain and I was now back where I had prospected before they had arrived. Although fish were marked earlier, I wasn’t seeing too much now. We looked for longer than I really wanted, before settling on a few smaller ones. The winds were blowing pretty good here as well and out of the west at about 15 knots, when I set the lines and began fishing.

Several moves were made before I noticed a light bite and hooked into a fish. Too bad Tabitha reeled in a walleye instead of the targeted species! It wasn’t all lost, as this was her very first walleye! We remained in this area and made a couple more moves with the same results, before I noticed a decrease in the wind. With this, I decided to head over to the other area to try and fish.

The winds looked like they had gone from west to south west on the run there and possibly given me the window I needed to fish. When I arrived, I wasted no time idling around and anchored up on the first marks I saw. Within minutes, we were into a fish, but it unfortunately came off while Curtis reeled it in. Soon after, Tabitha had her chance when I handed her the rod with what felt like a small sturgeon. She may not have gotten much of a fight but she did get her wish when she landed her first sturgeon. Several pics were taken of her fish and she released it back immediately after the shots.

We resumed fishing and it seemed like the winds were picking up when I noticed another bite. I set into something small and handed Curtis the rod. He soon landed his very first sturgeon as well. Both these fish were well below the size I usually see but on a day like this, quite welcomed nonetheless!

The winds were building quite a bit now and despite our attempts at continuing, we were done. I had a long run back and even while packing everything up for the ride, they were still increasing. Waves were 3 to 4 footers most if the way back and we were going with them. The lake had gotten huge in a very short time and were glad to be getting off.

Although the fishing wasn’t like I had hoped, they still managed to get the fish they had come for. Mother Nature didn’t make it easy, but we still got it done. It was definitely a tough, but rewarding kind of day!!

Yesterday’s cancellation due to foul weather saw me back out today with Rich & Kevin hoping for another good bite. I wasn’t sure how it would be with a major cold front and strong NW winds right after an electrical storm! Regardless, we were going to give it a try!

We rolled out around 7:15 and fished close by for about the first hour. They caught plenty of small walleye and a few other species on shallow rocks. Eventually I moved offshore and endured the waves on another area for walleye. Although we managed to catch some, they were rather small again and we gave up after an hour or so. Kevin did manage to get one good bass before we switched locations!

The next couple of spots saw some action but not what I had expected. The fish were not active and the bites were very light. I think they missed more than they caught but at least these bass were better quality. A few perch and some small walleye were also landed as well.

Another move was made to an offshore spot when the winds laid down and they managed to catch a few more bass here as well. It seemed like every spot was holding fish, but not the size or numbers I expected to see. I finally decided to change tactics and we headed to deeper water to try for bigger bass!

After making a long run, I settled on a deep ledge and had them vertically dropshot the rocks. Although I wasn’t marking much, I knew we would eventually find some bass in the area. What I didn’t expect was that the fish we caught were on the smaller side! About a half dozen bass were landed and nothing worthy of a pic! I decided to move out deeper again and Rich was soon tight to a heavier fish. This one made the cut and a quick pic was taken before the release.

I was seeing much better results in the deeper water and decided to remain here for a while. Apparently, it was the right decision as several more, big bass were boated on the drift. We even managed to get a double with both fish being quality! I probably should have remained deep for the remainder of the day, but they wanted to try some soft plastics in shallower water for the last hour.

After having to settle for a secondary spot due to a boat being on my first choice, we spot locked on another flat nearby. This was the second time this week where I saw the same boat on one of the areas I frequently fish. I have a bad feeling that it may be one of the clients I had out recently! One of the joys of taking people fishing!

Well, just as I expected, the shallow bite didn’t pan out! Despite seeing a few fish cruising, they weren’t interested at all and we eventually packed up and headed back. Today was an interesting one filled with lots of changes throughout. The inactivity proved to be in most areas but the deep water showed the best results. All in all, it was a productive day, but we had to work hard to get the bigger bites. The conditions may have been tough, but they battled through and succeeded in the end. Their results were better than expected on this difficult fishing day. Great job guys!!