Gilles and his father Auguste, joined me today for a great pike outing! Although they had only booked the morning, we were able to get into some high numbers in the short time were out. Auguste was visiting from France and couldn’t believe how good the fishing was! For me it was a little below average due to the cold-water temps of 56 degrees. They said they caught more fish in one day than they would have been able to, in several years back home! I guess we’re spoiled here in Canada eh!

A last minute cancellation saw me heading out for a few hours with Christiane. We took our time getting on the water and fished for walleye at the start. A couple of hours later I decided to switch up to smallies and left the area with several good fish in the livewell.

With limited time remaining in the day we made the best of it by targeting only the areas that held big fish. Right on cue, they cooperated and Christiane did battle with several fall footballs. Too bad the biggest ones came off before the net!

This may have been the last day of the open water season with the crappy weather arriving by the weekend. I will hold out a bit longer hoping for a change, but might be storing the boat at any time. It’s this time of year that I wish I had a garage to be able to pick & choose the nice days when they arrive!

Scott, Chris & Ian had another great day of smallmouth fishing today. Plenty of fish and some really big ones were landed by all. Both Scott & Chris managed to beat their personal best by a big margin. We were also quite fortunate to have the weather we did as the forecast had called for big winds and rain. Neither really happened making for a very comfortable outing. The temps are ridiculous for November too! I’m hoping it continues right through the month! Great fishing once again!

Rich & Enzo had a picture perfect day of fishing with Mother Nature surprisingly nice, for this time of the year. We hit the water around 8:30 for a slightly shorter day as 3:00 was going to be our quitting time. I would need to get it done in fewer hours than usua,l but wasn’t worried!

Both of them were throwing the same baits and it didn’t take long before Enzo was hooked up. In fact, it may have even been his first cast! Within minutes he was on the board with a quality bass and I knew there were going to be plenty more. He soon followed with several others while Rich struggled to get bit. Seeing as there weren’t as many fish in this spot as I hoped for, I soon opted for another area further away.

Right on cue, Enzo continued to hook up on yet another decent bass while Rich just wanted to get bit. It finally happened soon after and it was game on! From that point on, both of them held their own with many other fish coming aboard. Enzo finally contacted a real quality fish in the mix of good ones that had me taking the first pic of the day. It was a beast!

After having worked the last area thoroughly, I decided to relocate once again and more big fish were caught. Enzo wasn’t letting up but Rich was about to have the final word! While on the phone, he was bit and Enzo saw it jump behind the boat. It was a true giant! Once Rich was finally off the phone he concentrated on landing what was going to be his personal best smallie, ever. When I finally netted the smallie I realized just how big it actually was and weighed it for them. He had surpassed his previous best in spades!

We fished all over different areas throughout the day and although they didn’t catch a ton of fish, I kept them on quality. At one point Enzo pulled out the fly rod to try for a PB on the fly and accomplished that quickly. It was just one of those days where all the stars aligned and the fishing was great. Neither one of them had ever imagined a day like this where so many big fish were caught. I think it even took a while for Rich to realize the actual size of the fish he had landed. It finally sank in I guess!

We may have had a shorter day than usual but it didn’t seem to make a difference in the results. Big, bigger & biggest were the words of the day. Congrats to both of them for an amazing day of fishing. Days like these few & far between and will be remembered for a long time. I can’t wait to get back out and do it again!

The guys were back again today, for their annual fall fishing trip! Scott, Manson & Corey were supposed to fish with me yesterday from their boat, but that didn’t work out too well. Scott had brought his Nitro with him and the three of them had got an early start on Sunday. They fished in the afternoon when they arrived and caught a few bass too. This went off without a hitch but when I met them on Monday, it wasn’t as simple! Once we got on the water, things started to happen!

We launched without any issues and were about to head out when Scott began to have issues with his trim going up. It just wasn’t working! He also had another issue with power when he tried to go over 25mph. It felt like he wasn’t getting fuel. We immediately turned around and headed back to the ramp, to check things out. I had to release the pressure on the trim and we lifted the motor up high enough to get the boat out of the water and onto the trailer. Thoughts of a trim relay gone bad were my first guess so we headed somewhere to get it checked out.

It didn’t take long for Tim to troubleshoot the problem and it wasn’t the trim relay. As it turned out it had something to do with the magnet at the top end of the piston head on the trim. A small pin held on with a screw head must have fallen out and this was causing the trim to malfunction. Not a big problem but also not in stock! Without it, he could have done serious damage if the piston fell out. Not a great idea to use the boat today! The other problem was probably a filter and that would get taken care of when Scott got home at his dealer as the motor was still under warranty. He had also gotten it serviced less than a week ago and wasn’t sure why it wasn’t changed!

We made plans to return the following day and this time I would bring my boat. Today may have been a bust but it all worked out in the end and not very costly either! A rare thing when you own a boat!

The next day I arrived with boat in tow and it was game on. These guys had gotten a good night’s sleep and were all fired up to go. Despite the light mist from fog, it wasn’t a bad looking day. Temps were good and there wasn’t any wind for the run to our first spot.

Corey was first to get on the board but the other two were quick to follow and they were great fish. Bass after bass were coming aboard by everyone but it seemed like Corey had the hot rod. It didn’t seem to matter where he casted. Every time I looked back, his rod was bent!

After spending hours in the first location, another boat slid in below when they saw us hooked up and began to fish the same area. Not surprised, I finally made a short move to another spot and we started all over again. This time however, Manson managed to get lunker with a real giant. Surprised that this was the only one I moved all over the area as they landed many other smaller fish. I was searching for bigger bass but came up short. Time to relocate again!

I idled over areas that I knew should be holding fish and most of them were void. Water temps were warmer than they should be for this time of year and the fish just weren’t there. With this being present, I knew exactly where to go and headed there next!

Almost as soon as I dropped the motor in and anchored us in place, rods were bent. We had multiple double headers from here and someone was always locked up. This went on for over an hour before that same boat once again stopped below us and began to fish. I was beginning to see a pattern developing here! This time they would be watching a show as the guys weren’t letting up! Scott even landed another beast from this area that was in the same class as the one Manson had caught earlier in the morning. I would have liked to cover this area thoroughly but was handcuffed by the other boat when they spot locked below us. Instead I got another angle further away and we continued boating fish. Manson managed to land one even bigger than he did earlier along with plenty of others as well. Everyone was catching fish and the other boat tried to duplicate what we were throwing without any success. Before they were totally educated, I pulled out and went somewhere else to end the day.

Our last spot saw some sunshine, for the first time in the day and they hooked into another half dozen fish before we were done. They literally caught fish all day long! The numbers were high, the fish were big and everyone had a great time! Who could ask for anything more?