Dave & his son Mathieu were joined by Joe & his son Gabriel this morning, hoping for some fish action. Ironically I opted to drop shot at the start as the winds were supposed to pick up later in the morning.

Although I only made a few drifts, there were plenty of fish being marked! In fact Gabriel landed the first one and it was a nice young musky. Dave & Joe also brought to net a couple of walleye with one of them going into the livewell for Dave tonight.

With the winds having picked up earlier than expected, I decided to head elsewhere to troll. This would at least give me some control over the areas I wanted to fish.

The lines were set and we began to cover plenty of water. There were many fish landed by all in the couple of hours we trolled. For most of the morning trip, we concentrated on this area, boating pike after pike. Although there were no more walleye caught, there was still plenty of action for all to enjoy!

With only a short time remaining, I thought we’d try the first place again, but the big winds made it really tough to feel the lines. Mathieu managed to catch the only fish from here and I thought it was going to be a big walleye. To my surprise, it turned out to be the best pike of the day!

We packed up shortly after and headed back to the dock. I had an afternoon trip scheduled with another client and needed to be there to meet him.

One group left the boat and Masa hopped in. Talk about lightening the load! He was looking to catch primarily bass and I thought I’d make a long run to an area I hoped would be somewhat sheltered from the winds. The ride there was a little bumpy with the winds blowing 15 to 20 knots out of the west but once we arrived, I saw that we were in a much calmer place to fish.

We began somewhat shallow and although Masa managed to get a few bites, the action wasn’t what I had expected. I moved around a bit and even tried drop shotting slightly deeper water. He hadn’t tried this before and was happy to see how it was done! I needed to fish in order to keep the lined vertical and between the two of us, a few fish were caught. The bite was strange and unfortunately there were more lost than there were landed! He did however understand the technique and hopefully be able to use it again on his own.

I wanted to find somewhere that was holding active fish and thought I would try another shallow area nearby. This was obviously the right choice as he hooked up on his very first cast! I figured that there were going to be plenty more so I anchored up with the electric motor to see if I was right!

For practically the remainder of the day, we held on this one spot and Masa hooked into a bunch more quality bass. I even managed to make a few casts and did the same! He was finally experiencing the type of fishing I wanted him to have and loving every fish he caught.

Eventually the well went dry and we could no longer get bit! Time to move on to another place and try again!

I made a few more stops along the way back and each one was pretty slow. There were only a few more bites had but only one fish came in the boat. By 4:00 we were done!

Both trips today had their ups and downs but overall they were quite successful. Plenty of good fish were landed throughout. All fish targeted were caught and there was even a bonus one thrown in early in the morning! I’m back out again tomorrow with another double and with any luck, the action will be an even better. Cool nights are bringing the water temps down now and hopefully triggering the fall bite. Only time will tell as the best is yet to come!

Mark came out with his son Owen, for his birthday today and they brought along his friend Noah as well. I wasn’t sure if we were going to be able to even get on the water and began the day with a rain delay. Winds were supposed to be gusting over 25 knots and I knew the lake would become an ocean! Fortunately once the rain passed, the wind calmed enough for us to venture out!

We ran to our first spot in 2 footers but I knew this was to be the best of the worst to come. Trolling was what I was going to do as the SW blow was coming straight down the pipes and would make it difficult for them to cast.

With all four lines set, I began by going into the wind and was already having trouble with boat control. It also took a little while to get out first bite as the water temps were only slightly over 70 degrees! Oven took the rod when it bent and soon after, landed the biggest walleye of his life. Happy birthday to him! We continued into the wind and it took a while longer for the next reel to go as well, but Noah finally had his chance at landing a big pike. Too bad it came unpinned on the way to the boat!

I had stumbled onto an area now that seemed to be holding some fish and for the next 90 minutes or so reels were firing constantly. We had singles, doubles and even a couple of triple headers and everyone was having a great time fighting fish. In fact, Noah even managed to land an almost keeper walleye that didn’t quite make the cut. He was a little disappointed to release a beautiful 22 incher after a few quick pics!

With the winds having increased considerably, I was having a difficult time trolling into the wind without constantly being splashed from the rollers. Going straight into the waves was no problem but a slight angle had us getting wet. Add to that the slower than expected action and I was now thinking of making a move to somewhere else. After several more fish landed including another giant walleye for Owen, I finally pulled the plug on this area and packed everything up to change locations.

I really had no idea where I would be able to fish, but started on my way back. The open water was much worse than where we had been fishing and I knew this was going to be next to impossible to find a place to fish. I eventually tried a main lake spot, but not for long! Although we were marking plenty of fish, the 4 & 5 footers made it impossible to fish. We were done!

I headed back to the ramp carefully so as not to swamp the boat and finally made it there safely. I was also happy to be done with this lake for today!

Despite all that Mother Nature threw at us today, we made the best of a not so perfect situation. I was at least able to turn this into a half day of fishing so that Owen could get the birthday gift that he wanted. I may see them all back out next week for another trip and if so, hopefully the weather will be more favourable so that I can have them all fishing with rod in hand. I’d like to see them casting and catching both bass & walleye and maybe even get into a few keepers that they can bring back home to eat. Today was tough but we got her done!

Well I almost had the day off, but a last minute booking changed that today! A group of 6 from Texas, in for a bachelor party, decided that they wanted to fish for a few hours this afternoon. I required the help of Don again to assist with the other two people and I would take four.

They finally arrived sometime after 1:30 and were scheduled to fish until 4:00. A slight change of plans had 2 of them remaining on shore when the stepped on the dock and felt the rolling waves. I ended up heading out in big water, with the remaining four.

It didn’t take long once I set up to hook into the first fish. In fact, it wound up being a double and two of them were on the board. A short time later, another pike was landed and then there were three!

It seemed like forever to finally get into the fourth fish, but eventually all of them landed pike. My biggest problem was finding clean enough water to fish. There were so much floating weeds everywhere that it was next to impossible to keep the rods clean! At one point I had to troll out of the best area, just to find water that was even fishable.

With a limited time to fish, I was definitely under the gun to produce. I managed to get a few more bites, but unfortunately the only walleye came unpinned before it got to the boat. It was a real good one too as a couple of us saw the fish on the surface!

Before we knew it, 4:00 arrived and we headed back to take out. Although it was a little slower than I had wanted, everyone caught fish and enjoyed their time spent out in the boat. Being from Texas, they usually fish for largemouth bass and catching pike was something they always wanted to do.

I think that this was the longest any of them had gone this weekend without alcohol, but the no drinking policy I have was in place and it stuck. They wasted no time however when they returned, meeting up with the other two and getting right back in the game.

Despite the short time spent on the water, it was great meeting this group, sharing a few fish and a whole lot of laughs. I’m sure tonight won’t be as quiet as today and it definitely won’t be as short. Good luck guys!

I had an afternoon booking today so I decided to head out early, to do a little scouting. I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t been able to check much out! Each place I looked at held fish and I spent a few minutes casting them to confirm that they were walleye. After releasing a couple of overs, I began looking for areas that I had never fished before. I didn’t find much, other than a couple of small places holding perch & bait, but they definitely had potential!

Anthony, Michael, Max & Sam met me at the dock before 11:30 and I headed back out to fish. I was bringing them for northerns to start off and hoped that they would cooperate!

Five minutes into the troll we were locked up and it was a good one! A couple of minutes later another and I knew it was going to be on fire! I spent about three hours or so combing an area and there were so many fish caught that they just lost count. I also saw an equal amount of fish lost or reels ripping to confirm that there were definitely a bunch of fish where I was. I’m not sure just how many they caught but with the amount of doubles they had, it was a lot.

After they had their fill of the pike, I decided to bring them somewhere for bass. They would now be casting soft plastics to much shallower fish in hopes of aggressive bites.

Once I arrived, I rigged the rods and showed them what to do. I believe it was Michael that hooked up and on his very first cast! He also landed another really good one shortly after and was thrilled to be fighting these smallies for the first time. The others had their chances but it was only Max that finally brought one to the boat. They were all setting too early and only keeping them on briefly, before they got off!

Time passed quickly this afternoon and before we knew it, it was 4:00. I packed everything up and headed back. Surprisingly, there wasn’t as much boat traffic on the lake today, for a weekend. With practically no wind, the ride was quite comfortable too!

This gang had experienced the best day of fishing that they ever had and caught more fish than they could have imagined, in one day! Plenty of quality northerns came in the boat along with a few good bass in the end. It was definitely a trip that they will remember for a long time!

John, Scott & Nathan were with me this morning, all looking to catch their very first northerns. I wasted no time and headed right to where they had been biting! Surprisingly enough, the fish were a little lethargic and it took some time before the first reel fired. In fact, the fish didn’t stay pinned and it came off almost immediately!

After trolling around for a while, I finally stumbled onto one little area that began producing. It was here that they all managed to land several fish each, but I couldn’t get bit elsewhere. I just had to keep driving over the same tiny spot multiple times and in different directions to see the rods load. Many of the fish didn’t even make a sound on the reel. These pike were really not active this morning!

Sometime before 10:00 I decided to pull the lines and we went in search of the smallies. These guys were all good fishermen and I was sure they would just slaughter the bass!

Our first stop saw zero action in the shallows and after trying unsuccessfully, we switched it up and headed deeper. I set them all up with a drop shot rod and they once again had no bites! In fact, I wasn’t even marking the fish on this shoal at all and opted for another move once again.

Our next deep water spot only produced one fish and it turned out to be a walleye. Ironically I was marking all kinds of fish on the bottom and made several drifts, with the same results. Eventually I just pulled the plug and headed shallower one more time in hopes of salvaging the day.

Fortunately with the sun up higher now, we began to have some action. They were all throwing soft plastics and a few fish were seen, giving us hope. After a couple of missed bass, Nathan finally hooked up on a really good one from the back of the boat. It turned out to be his only bass, but at least it was big! The others managed to miss a few and catch a couple of small ones from the area. We knew the fish were here but most just didn’t seem to want to bite. They would follow the baits and just turn away!

I thought that a jig might change their attitude but it only managed to hook up once and it was a fouled sturgeon. I jumped around to a couple more spots before we had to leave and they boated a few more fish from the last one.

The morning bite hadn’t been what I expected and we had to work hard for each fish. With overnight temps dropping every night, so has the water. The fish seem to be more active, later in the day now and a much slower approach is needed to catch them.

Despite the slow fishing today, these guys still had a great time on the water. They all managed to get their first pike ever and got to play with a bunch of smallies. In the end, they managed to catch 4 different species and almost 5 with the perch that fell off at the boat! I’ll be back out again tomorrow for an afternoon trip and am curious to see what the results are, later in the day. Hopefully the fish will wake up and become more active again!