Wissam was with me today and had requested that I teach him how to fish. He really hadn’t done any before and wanted to learn how. I should have an easy time as he was alone and would be receiving 100% of my attention!

We began with the basics and I took him where he could cast comfortably. He picked up the casting quickly and was now trying to catch a few bass. Although we spent almost 2 hours covering the water and he had several chances, the fish just didn’t cooperate. They short striked us and even the ones we had pinned, came off before nearing the boat. I wasn’t worried though, as we had the whole day!

With the first step completed I decided to try a little deeper with a drop shot set up. Carefully he casted the rig out into deep water and learned the retrieve quickly once again. We spent about 30 minutes trying to get into fish but only managed one keeper walleye. Once again it wasn’t for lack of trying as there were several other fish that just came off. It seemed that with zero wind and a big lack of current these fish were not in the mood.

Our next spot was quite similar with many casts and only a couple of short walleye to show for our efforts. I really wanted him to catch some fish and decided to make a long run to another area that had produced well for me this past week. Hopefully it would all turn around soon!

With the flat calm waters and overcast skies, visibility of the shallow water was difficult to see. I needed to find the rocks and even see a few bass cruising around if we were going to get bit. Unfortunately the flat calm all changed as the winds started to build. We covered plenty of this shoal without even a sniff and I made a short move to a deeper break nearby. It was here that Wissam finally landed his first smallie and the skunk was officially out of the boat! Too bad it was the only one we even saw from this spot!

The winds had built up pretty good by now and I decided to switch gears completely. I wanted to show Wissam a few different techniques and I decided to try a troll. It had been quite a while since I trolled due to the weeds and I wasn’t sure what the outcome would be. All we could do was try!

After setting everything up, I explained in detail what we were doing and almost on cue, one of the rods bent. Unfortunately when I took it out of the holder to pass it to him, the line went slack. Bad news, good news I guess! At least I knew it was doable and we were able to get bit!

Not long after the first strike we had a second one and Wissam landed his first ever northern pike. A quick pic and we went right back to the troll, hoping for more. I covered a bunch of water and some more fish hits were had. Ironically most of them were only bending the rod and not really firing the reels. I found this strange in 74 degree water temps! Hopefully this would all change soon as I was nearing the area I really wanted to fish!

As if on cue, the reels began screaming and many times too! We were now getting into multiple strikes and from both walleye & pike. There were even several double headers that saw Wissam going from one rod to the other as soon as the first fish was in the net. It was absolute chaos at times and I loved it!

We spent the remainder of the day trolling and fish after fish came aboard. It had been a long time since I had been able to troll effectively with all the terrible weeds floating all over the lake. Water levels had risen and most of those weeds died off giving way to being able to fish. Also the fish had seen a big rest from me! Their vacation was officially over and I was back to pound on them again!

The entire day was a learning one for Wissam as he got to see all kinds of new techniques. From fish identification to learning how to cast, he had seen it all. The highlight would surely have to be the trolling we did as he saw just how effective it could be. This was definitely a crash course in fishing for him that he’ll be remembering for quite some time. Both the bad and especially the good times when he began to catch fish! Without even realizing it, Wissam had slammed on his very first time fishing! I don’t think there are too many people that can say they’ve done that!

Chris & Gino were on board this morning for a half day trip. They were hoping to catch a few fish and I knew just where to go. Yesterday’s trip had me rethinking some of my old spots and we were headed there to give it a try. With any luck they would all produce!

A slight change in plans had me going to another area when I noticed a boat fishing exactly where I was headed. It didn’t matter as I was sure the fish would be there too!

It took a little longer than I had expected for anyone to hook into the first bass of the day, but not for lack of trying. Chris had missed 4 or 5 fish but Gino hadn’t even gotten one hit as of yet. This soon changed when he finally got bit! His first bite turned into a hook up and this fish was soon fighting all the way to the net. One hit, one landed bass! He even rebounded with another soon after that had him going two for two. Chris finally got on the board as well with his first fish of the day and things were finally turning around.

We had spent some time in this area and only managed a couple of good bass, but there were a lot more missed opportunities. It was time for a move and I headed to where I wanted to start, now that the boat was gone. Hopefully they left us some fish!

This area saw both of them throwing soft plastics and not long after, Chris set into another quality bass. It was beginning to pick up as he brought this one in as well. It was tough for me to see exactly what I was searching for with the haze and big chop on the water from the west winds. I’m sure we missed a bunch of the area due to this but they still managed to get several other hits. We even landed one by hand while trying to untangle a messed up line that developed on Gino’s rod!

I moved around to several other spots and some of them produced a few more fish. They may not have been the calibre I was looking for but they were the right species! With time passing quickly I decided to try one more area on our way back in hopes of finishing with a bang.

Right down to the wire, both guys managed one last bass each and we were done! It had been a bit of a grind today with the fish being mostly inactive where we fished but it all worked out in the end. Chris & Gino may be better known for handling a football with the Alouettes, but today they caught a different kind of football. These ones may not pay much but they sure were fun to catch!

Leslie & Eli joined me this afternoon for some great smallmouth bass fishing. I hadn’t seen Leslie in several years and it was good to have him back! It was the first time for Eli but he managed to catch on and land a number of fish as well.

As soon as we arrived on our first spot, Leslie wasted no time getting the ball rolling. He was throwing soft plastics and enticed a few bass into taking his offering. Each time he hooked up, there were others as well, showing me that this place was definitely holding some quality. Although we weren’t able to monopolize on any doubles, we picked at the singles for a couple of hours.

Eli wasn’t getting nearly as many fish as Leslie but eventually he slowed down enough to get bit. Ironically his first three fish were rather small by comparison, but at least he was on the board!

As I moved around slowly over the vast flat of rocks, they both continued to catch fish. The average size of these bass was definitely worth fishing slowly here! I remained as long as they were biting and catching, before venturing to another area nearby.

Our second stop was similar but the size of the fish wasn’t. Leslie managed to get a few smaller ones before landing one big enough for a pic. This was the size I was searching for and I only hoped there would be more!

We fished this area for a while and landed a few other fish but only saw the bigger bass swimming. For some reason they were spooky and weren’t in the mood to eat so we just continued to another area much further away.

With time drawing near to the end I wanted to get more fish for both Leslie & Eli before we were dome. I hit two other spot in the time remaining and had a couple of good sized bass before it was over. One of them was another large smallie and I would have liked to stay longer to see if there were more. Unfortunately we were done and I headed back to take out!

Today was a great day with pretty much no wind and high temps. The fish were active on the first place they fished but we had to work harder on the other spots. All in all I couldn’t have asked for a better outcome with plenty of quality fish being caught. Hopefully the weather will continue to remain warm and the fish will stay active as well. After all we are summertime and conditions should feel like this too!

Val was back out with me again looking for some information on where the largemouth hang out. We would be fishing heavy cover and hopefully encounter some of the big green monsters today!

I ran into the shallows and started him off on a buzzbait looking for aggressive fish. On his first cast, he had one try to eat it 3 times and the blow ups were quite spectacular. Unfortunately largies don’t miss and I knew this was a pike!

We covered all kinds of good looking areas and saw several large bowfin that didn’t even want to eat as well. At one point I showed him how to pitch jigs to heavy cover and this didn’t work much either. I did have one fish grab a bait and it was in deep! Too bad it turned out to be another northern and I had to go far into the jungle to get him out. Sure glad I checked first before lipping what was buried in a thick bunch of weds!

We tried a bunch of baits in the shallow water and covered plenty of area too. All without success! One final ditch effort saw us entering a small narrow cut and we pitched to both sides hoping for a big bite. I had caught 5 and even 6 pounders from here in the past and wanted to show him why we were spending so much time doing what we were doing. On one of my pitches to a piece of cove, I finally got hit. To my amazement I had hooked into a 23 inch walleye and flipped the lost puppy into the boat. It’s hard to believe that the walleye was in a foot and a half of water but it was! This was the final straw and we idled out and decided to go for smallies instead.

It didn’t take long once we arrived on the rocks before the first fish came aboard. There were bass all over this flat and by tossing soft plastics we were able to salvage the day. In less than a couple of hours we had multiple catches of good smallies coming aboard. I hadn’t planned on taking any pics of the brownies but Val managed to land a really nice one and I needed at least one pic!

Once we finished pounding on bass Val asked that we go for some walleye, hoping to bring a few home for dinner. With limited time remaining and flat calm waters, I decided to give it a try. We hit several areas in the short time remaining and although we did manage a limit of walleye, only one of them was worthy of the cut. It turned out to be the fish’s lucky day too, as it ended up being returned to where it had come.

Although today didn’t turn out exactly how I had hoped, Val did get to learn a couple of new techniques for a different species. The fish may not have cooperated but now he knows what to do and where to look for them as well. Hopefully the next time he’s out there, they will cooperate for him and he’ll have more confidence fishing in heavy cover. At least we had a backup plan with the smallies to salvage the day and there were many! With the weather finally getting back to summer temperatures, I expect the water to warm up again bringing the fish to where they should be. Lately these cold fronts have moved many of them all around causing me to fish deep. A much slower presentation but still very productive and rewarding too!

I had 3 generations in the bot today with a grandfather, father & son. Mike, Arthur & his son Alex enjoyed a beautiful outing, with some pretty nice fish. Although they had a tough time getting use to the drop shot in the beginning, eventually they caught on. Alex even landed a smallie while using his Star Wars push button set up! He also reeled in the only sturgeon of the day when we anchored up to give it a try. Too bad it was our only bite! Overall it was a bit slower than I had expected but everyone had a great time and that’s all that counts!