Karen & her father Richard joined me today for a slower than usual outing. We wanted to try for sturgeon after last year’s bucket list fish, but unfortunately found no concentrations to anchor up on. We would have to settle for bass & walleye I guess!

I jumped around and hit various places, hooking them up on mostly smaller fish. A couple of good bass were lost after the jump but that’s not uncommon when they shoot for the sky! With the winds non-existent, I required the electric motor to move us along in many places. The current was minimal too and several times we were barely moving!

They had both landed bass, but Richard was the only one with a few walleye. Too bad they were all unders and needed to be returned! I made several passes over the area that he had hooked them and on one pass he locked up on a really big fish. We were drop shotting and I actually thought at one point that he might have a musky. This fish beat him up pretty good with its runs and I had a rough time keeping it off to the side for him to fight. It’s never easy on light tackle, but we were finally able to bring the fish up and to our surprise, it was a sturgeon. Although considerably smaller that the behemoth from last year, it was a great fight on the rod he was using. To my amazement it had actually eaten the bait as well. I guess he was dragging the bottom or something!

Having the big net with us today was a blessing and made landing the fish all that much easier. A few quick pics later it was returned and we went back to drifting & drop shotting for the targeted species.

Karen managed to land a couple of nice walleye in the next several drifts, along with more bass but the bite was slower than I had hoped for. I kept moving to many spots and each one seemed to be holding some fish for them to catch. At one stop, Karen put a third keeper walleye in the well and I knew she would be eating good tonight! She also managed to catch a decent bass that became photo worthy too!

We jumped around plenty for the remainder of the afternoon and picked at the fish the entire time before we were done. Although we weren’t able to find any sturgeon to anchor up on, Richard did manage to catch another, completely on his own! They had also landed a good number of bass throughout the day and Karen was bringing fresh fish home with her, for a family dinner tonight. Overall I consider that a very successful day!

Scott, John & Darren joined me today on another flat calm one! There doesn’t seem to be any in between for conditions. It’s either howling or dead! How about a good chop for a change?

We began in deeper water looking for a few quick bites and some current flow and John managed 3 nice bass fairly quickly. Seeing as how I wasn’t marking a lot of fish, I did a little recon and made several passes before moving. I just wasn’t seeing much and didn’t want to waste our time. What I was seeing however were plenty of sturgeon, both jumping and right on the bottom. Might just have to give it try!

I idled around looking for concentrations and ended up settling on a few good marks. Lines in and after waiting for quite a while, we had our first hook up! These fish aren’t fighting very much after their spawn and are quite skinny. It didn’t take more than a few minutes to boat the first one and Darren put us on the board. After a move or two, he got to fight another one and this time he had to pass the rod off to John to finish the battle. This fish just didn’t want to come in and we were amazed at how strong it actually was. A few quick pics before the release and we were done!

We headed shallow after pulling the lines and tossed soft plastics for a bunch of smallies. I didn’t like the size of these fish and an hour later we were switching it up once again! Off to the swamp and hopefully some largemouth!

Lately I haven’t been able to find water above 68 degrees but by heading into the shallows for these green bass, I actually encountered 74 degrees. I was sure we were going to get bit!

Scott had the first encounter but unfortunately it didn’t stay on long. He did come back with a vengeance however when the second one hit. This time it didn’t get off! John had a couple of missed fish as well and Darren actually managed to get bit once and boated his first ever largie.

The area we were fishing wasn’t easy to fish and would have required a slow flipping technique to monopolize on the biters. It just wasn’t in the cards for these guys today, so we pulled out after an hour or two of covering water. We were going back for smallies and deeper water once again!

With a little over an hour left in the day, I wanted to see if the smallies would bite. I had been getting bigger fish from this area lately and knew the potential was here! By the time we were done, everyone had managed to get a few fish but it was Scott that landed the photo worthy ones. He actually got into a couple of quality bass in the remaining time, before we were done.

Today was a strange one to say the least with almost no current on the water. We had to change areas as well as species a few times to make it work, but in the end it was a success. Some good ones were boated and Darren saw his first sturgeon and largemouth bass. Who knows what tomorrow will bring? Probably a hurricane or monsoon or something bizarre after the flat calm day we experienced today. I guess only Mother Nature knows for sure!

Another last minute cancellation for this morning had me hitting the water with Christiane instead to scout out a few other areas. We fished for several hours and managed to get into more bass & walleye but nothing great. Water temps are 68 degrees at best and way too cold for this time of year!

Tony & Sabrina managed to pick the best part of the day by booking an afternoon trip. They were both very new to fishing and were instructed on how to cast first. Once the orientation was complete, we slid in for a few bass!

With cool water temps everywhere I wasn’t expecting a great shallow bite but thought we’d give it a try. At least they would practice their casting! After what seemed like forever, Sabrina finally managed to bring in a smallie and although small, it was the first fish of the day. We covered plenty of water and only managed a handful of others before we made a long move.

I had noticed that the NE winds switched to SW and this was the first time in 3 days that the direction was returning to normal. With this change, I headed to a spot that I was sure would produce.

Tony managed to catch a couple of bass and Sabrina as well but these fish just weren’t active. We practically had to deadstick the baits in order to get bit. Time to change locations again!

Well this area didn’t seem much better as we picked up a few more bites before I decided to change depths completely. I headed to a deeper ridge and switched them to a drop shot. First drop and Sabrina was tight to a nice walleye. Too bad after a couple more drifts this was the only fish landed!

Time was passing by quickly, so I decided to try a highly trafficked area in the channel hoping for better success. It was here that we spent the remainder of the time making a series of drifts over open water reefs. It was also here that the majority of fish were caught before we were done. Both walleye and bass were taken and multiple hookups were seen on every pass. Too bad we didn’t come here earlier! The biggest problem was all the boat traffic and waves they created while we were trying to fish!

Overall today was a success and although the fishing was tough, they still managed to get into a bunch of fish before we were done. For first timers both Tony and Sabrina did well and now have a better understanding of what fishing is like. I think they may even want to try it again sometime!

After having cancelled yesterday’s outing due to more hurricane like winds from the NE, I was back out this morning. Daniel had booked a half day with his wife Brenda and Daughter Jessica. We would be dropshotting in open water and I had my work cut out for me! The winds were blowing out of the NE at 15 to 25 knots. It was going to be a challenge to drift!

Our first pass had multiple bites, with zero results. A couple of fish were on but only briefly before coming unpinned. With each drift similar results were had until I moved to another area nearby. It was here that Brenda finally landed the first bass of the day. It may have been on the small side but at least the skunk was out of the boat! I think she may have even landed the second fish as well with the first walleye too! Eventually Jessica and Daniel began bringing more fish to net and everyone was finally on the board.

Multiple passes were made along a rock flat and the bites kept coming. Some were missed and some were caught but the size remained the same. Daniel did manage to set into a nice acrobatic smallie that gave him a great battle before finally coming aboard. Too bad it was the only good one from this area!

The theme of today was small and with the exception of one decent bass that Daniel landed, everything else wasn’t even average. They boated plenty of other bass as well as walleye and were fortunate to be able to bring a few keepers home with them. At least they would be having fresh fish tonight!

Liette & Chris were with me today for a fun afternoon of fishing. Considering that this was actually Canada Day, the amount of boat traffic wasn’t all that bad! We made a long run to our first stop and Set up for some shallow smallie fishing.

The water was almost flat calm and with the sun high, I was sure we would get into them pretty good. Soft plastics were the baits of choice and it didn’t take long before Liette had her first strike. Soon after a rather small bass was boated, but it was the ice breaker and I was sure more would follow.

With conditions about perfect, I slowly covered the area and many strikes were had. Some were landed but more were missed by setting too quickly. I think they were both too excited! Fortunately they did manage to land several nice bass in the time we remained here.

With overcast skies now upon us, I thought we’d try something different and slid out to slightly deeper water. It was big fish time and not long after, Chris was battling his very first sturgeon. Unfortunately there were a few other boats close by and so as not to draw attention, I decided to release the fish boatside. I did allow them a few water pics before unhooking his catch.

We reset the lines and soon after, Liette had her turn as well. She had a rough time battling the fish but managed to bring it to the boat nonetheless! Just like the first one, we did a quick release too!

The remainder of the day saw a slight change in presentation as I decided to drop shot some deeper water. It was also new to them and didn’t take long for the first fish to come aboard! By drifting over the deeper shoals, we managed to get into several more bass and a nice walleye. Chris managed to bring a keeper into the boat and soon after it was swimming in the livewell.

We jumped around, hitting a few other spots with only limited success, before I attempted a shallower drift. Almost instantly Liette was tight to another bass and she boated a good one. Too bad it was the only fish from the area!

With less than an hour remaining in the day, I decided to try one more slightly deeper area and I guess it was the right decision. Chris soon battled the largest bass of the day and I wished I had of moved here sooner! On the very next drift, another quality bass was also hooked into and Chris fought an even bigger smallie. A couple more drifts and missed fish later, we called it a day. Half days always go so quickly but at least we ended with a bang!

Liette and Chris thoroughly enjoyed their time on the water and Mother Nature was about as kind as she could be. We were even lucky with the boat traffic, despite it being a holiday! Unfortunately all this will be coming to an end and I will be cancelling tomorrow’s outing, with giant winds from the NE forecasted. She’ll be back to her usual self once again! In fact, the cold front is expected to be with us for about 3 or more days. Should make for an interesting bunch of days trying to get the fish to bite again! Deeper water, here we come!