Busy day today with double trips! Dave & his son Mathieu joined me in the morning and Zach & his son Henri in the afternoon. High heat & humidity warnings and a haze that looked like a misty rain greeted us early. I had to raise the roof in the first 30 minutes too as there wasn’t a stitch of wind around!

We trolled a few new areas and managed to catch a couple of bass before finally connecting with a nice keeper walleye. Soon after another walleye came aboard from Dave but this time it was an over that only made for a good pic. Both smallies & walters were landed so far and surprisingly no pike! Careful what you say! Next fish, a northern completing the slam for Dave on father’s day!

I trolled several more areas and had a bunch of fish slam the lures without getting pinned. It wasn’t normal but I also noticed tons of shucks on the surface from an earlier hatch that must have had he fish feeding heavily. It would probably take some time for them to be hungry again!

With an 11:30 pick up back at the dock for the afternoon, I was pressed for time and wanted a few more fish before leaving. Literally in the last minute, one of the reels fired and Mathieu landed another over walleye that ended their time on the water. This was a great way to finish!

A quick drop off and pick up and we were back out again. I thought I would head to a further away area and made the long run. Amazingly, there was a point in our travels that cool air hit us and the rest of the run was kinda air conditioned! It sure felt better than the oven I was fishing in all morning!

Zach had been with me a few years back but this was the first time for Henri. I hoped it would be a good experience!

Lines were set and the troll began slowly until we found the fish. Once we did however, it was game on! Pike after pike were reeled in along with a few quality eyes. In fact, today saw two of the biggest walleye landed by a kid this season!

The 4 hours passed by quickly with all the fish they landed and before we knew it, we were packing up and heading back.

It was nice seeing another father’s day with kids and their dads in the boat. It sort of reminded me of when I was a kid, fishing with mine. Although long passed, he still seems present when I’m on the water. Hopefully these kids will have the same passion for the sport that I have and spend plenty of time fishing with their dads! Definitely a great day for fishing!

James was back out with me again today and this time he brought along his brother in law, Tony. We were going to try for bass in the morning and switch over to trolling in the afternoon when his two kids joined us around 1:00. Hopefully the high heat and sunshine wouldn’t fry our brains before!

The bass fishing wasn’t what I had expected as we found out on our first spot. Although there were a few landed here, the action was far from great! Our second stop was about as good as the first and I was forced to make a long run to another area in search of better fishing.

This proved to be even worse as I was seeing bass boats all over the place making me think that there may have actually been a tournament going on today. I guess the opening weekend saw everyone in full blown fishing mode! Add to that an absolutely beautiful day and I guess you couldn’t blame them!

We spent a little more time searching for bass and I noticed that the fish weren’t eager to attack anything. I soon realized why, when I saw a pair of smallies doing their thing! I quickly left the area for them to get their job done and tried another spot nearby.

This proved to be the last shot at the smallies as it was exactly the same as the previous place. I didn’t want to be bothered with bothering them! There were also many more boats trying to fish the bass as well and I knew it would have been a tough bite!

With the morning almost done, we decided to raise the roof and switch gears all together. We headed to troll for some pike & walleye instead. It took only a few minutes to fire the first reel and Tony soon landed a decent sized northern. It was also his first fish of the day! The action picked up from that point on and we boated many more northerns and a few nice sized walleye for him to bring home tonight.

We pulled the plug on this area around 1:30 or so and made a long run to pick up Giulio & Sophia, James’s children. What a zoo the lake was going there, with so many boats on the water. It really showed that it was the weekend and a great day to be on the water!

We only had a few hours left, but I managed to get the kids into several fish in the washing machine like waters, by trolling. There were waves from every direction making it difficult to work the areas I needed, but at least they got out.

By 4:00 we were done and heading back to take out. I let Giulio help me drive, on the way back and he was all smiles along the way!

Despite the tough fishing today at least I had a backup plan that worked. It may not have been the one I wanted but at least it put plenty of fish in the boat. In the end, Tony would still be having a fish dinner tonight!

Louis and his two sons, Luka & Christophe were with me this afternoon for another great day of trolling. We would definitely be raising the roof in this scorching heat wave and it was the first thing I did when we reached our spot!

With lines set, I instructed them on what to do and left the rest up to the fish. For some reason, it took a little longer to get a reel to fire but when it did, it was the targeted species we wanted. Christophe put us on the board with a high end keeper walleye and they had a start to their dinner tonight!

As usual, I covered plenty of water looking for more fish and picked at them all over the areas we fished. Although mostly pike, there were a few more walleye, both landed as well as lost before reaching the boat.

It wasn’t until much later in the afternoon that the action actually picked up and multiple reels were firing almost every time we had a strike. In fact we nearly had another triple header, but one of them never stayed pinned long enough to call it a triple!

In the end, they were able to box enough fish for a great dinner tonight and I headed back to take out. The short 4.5 hours flew by and before we knew it, the day was done. Although there were a few slow periods, the afternoon saw plenty of action for all to enjoy. This was just another trip filled with more fish than they ever expected to catch! I’m sure that it will only get better now that we have water temps closing in on the 70 degree mark. Let’s just hope that Mother Nature doesn’t interfere again!

Today was another absolute scorcher of a day, once again! Adam, John, Steve & John joined me in hopes of catching a few fish and oh boy, did they get them!

Water temps were still a little low where I started so I decided to fish the deeper areas first. For some reason it only produced a handful of fish for the guys. Once I moved shallower, the bite began to pick up and we finally saw our first good walleye. Too bad mostly pike were what they landed after, but they were quite satisfied anyway.

After another location shift, I finally got into the action I wanted for guys. We had several double headers and one potential triple with plenty of reels firing. They were definitely getting use to reeling in fish now and couldn’t believe how good the action was. Fish after fish came aboard for a few hours and then it just stopped. I’m not sure if we caught them all or just educated them enough to not hit the baits, but it was over for this spot!

Temps had risen and the light winds had all but disappeared, so it was definitely time to raise the roof. What a difference it made for the remainder of the time we trolled! I also slid over to another area and began hooking up once again. The action picked up even more when I went deeper and changed up some of the baits. We were now getting into both pike & walleye and it seemed like they were even bigger.

Trolling was absolutely the most productive method for fishing where we were but the guys wanted to try casting for a while. Too bad they didn’t catch anything with this method.

One of the guys had to be dropped off at the dock early so I decided to continue fishing closer to where he needed to be. They drop shotted the open water shoals, but once again with no success. After we took John to the shore, the other three continued to cast & drop shot different areas, but with limited success. I think there were a couple of small bass landed in the last 90 minutes of the day, but nothing of any size. They now realized the power of trolling when fish are scattered over vast flats after the spawn!

Today could have seen even more fish if we had of trolled the entire time but, it was still a great success! This group had seen more action than they had ever experienced in their entire lives. Everyone had landed fish and they were even able to bring some of their catch home for a great meal. I know they will be back for more, several times this season!

After coping with multiple motor issues for a while, I was finally able to get back to normal today! The small engine had died on me several weeks back and was in the shop when I started having main engine problems as well. Fortunately it all came to an end yesterday as I got everything fixed. For anyone that knows the definition of the word “Boat”, multiple it by two!

Dan and I quickly headed out fishing, after a couple of minor adjustments on the kicker cables. It was so nice to be able to use the small engine to troll once again! We fished thoroughly through an area and managed to land both walleye and pike here, but all fish were released. We just couldn’t seem to catch a Walter small enough to keep! Tough problem to have I guess!

I had been wanting to check another area out and today was the day. We headed towards the spot and to my surprise, it was void of both fish and bait. I expanded the search and eventually found both as the reels began to fire. For several hours we managed to land more pike than walleye but at least one of them was a high end keeper!

The midday sun was a real scorcher and thoughts of raising the roof were definitely present. I decided to make a long run before and changed locations in hopes of more fish. Once we arrived, it went up immediately! The air temps quickly dropped and it felt like it was 15 degrees cooler in the shade. Now it was going to be comfortable fishing for the remainder of the day!

The afternoon also saw plenty more fish, but only one more walleye made its way into the livewell. Most of the fish were pike, but several of them were double headers and that was nice to see.

By 4:00 we pulled the plug and prepped the boat for the ride back. It was definitely a heat wave once I stowed the roof and we were both happy to get it on plane for a little wind.

Today was another typical one filled with loads of fish, but the best part was that both motors were working just fine. I can now feel comfortable knowing that all I have to worry about is catching fish one again. I can’t wait to get back out tomorrow, for more!