Kayden was treated to another day on the water by his grandfather today. Tough conditions with absolutely zero wind had us drifting very slowly. I needed to make many adjustments in order to pass over the areas I wanted to fish. Kayden managed to land a few nice bass from the first spot before I switched over to another area. I was looking for walleye but knew they wouldn’t be moving much in these conditions!

Our next location saw 3 fish come aboard along with a couple of perch and two of them made it into the livewell. Kayden seemed to be the only one reeling any of the fish in and I hoped his grandfather would soon follow.

The wind finally started to blow a bit, but not from a direction I wanted. It was moving us crossways and I had to drop the electric motor in just to stay on the path I needed. This seemed to work fine as three more walleye were added to the tank. We held out a little longer to try and get a sixth one but it turned out to be a 25 incher and had to be released! Hayden managed to reel in all the fish today but his grandfather had many missed strikes too!

This was a real scorcher day with very little to no wind and dog pecker knat central! I was able to keep them on fish the whole time but it was a grind to get them to bite. Thankfully they were able to bring almost a limit back in the half day trip. I guess they’ll be eating well tonight!

Denny & Chai were with me today on this sketchy weather outing. We set out in overcast skies that eventually turned into a light rain. A couple of times it let up, but soon started again. The winds picked up too during the rain causing a slight adjustment in the drift. Fortunately I had enough confidence in the area we were in to hang in there. After several misses, both Denny & Chai were able to get the hang of what to do and began landing fish. They put several good keeper eyes in the boat before we were done here.

Our second area was equally as good and this time there were more bass than walleye caught. Denny did manage to land a couple of good eyes that culled two of the earlier ones caught from the first location. While we were drifting, another storm was on the way causing me to stay here a little longer than I had wanted. The path it was taking would have crushed us if I had of made the move. I wanted to go to another spot to cast for bass and waited out the storm. In the end, we received only a light rain for about 10 minutes and made the move once it was done.

The winds had increased after the rain and we were now running in 2 to 3 foot waves to get to where we were heading. They were also blowing out of the W/NW making for a bumpy ride. We finally arrived and I set the rods up with soft plastics and instructed them on what to do. Several fish were missed before they actually managed to hook into a few and they were good ones. Both Denny and Chai landed a couple that were photo worthy. Unfortunately one of the bass that Denny caught required deep hook removal and I didn’t want to stress the fish out more than it had already been. A quick release to ensure its survival was required!

We packed up shortly after 3:30 and readied for the nasty run back to the ramp. The waves were even bigger now and almost at a 45 degree angle to how I needed to run. It was a little bumpy at times but we stayed dry and made it back without issues. This was a great experience for these guys and they had a fun time catching all kinds of fish throughout the day. I’m sure they will be back in the near future to enjoy even more and can’t wait to have them again. Great day for fishing!

Phil was back today, with his son Levi for another banner day of fishing. Levi also brought along his girlfriend Lindsay who had not fished since she was a kid. It would be like learning all over again! Fortunately the fish were cooperating and that’s always a good thing!

Our first spot had Levi hooking up and the others followed in suit. All three of them landed a bunch of keeper sized walleye as well as a few overs. Both Lindsay and Levi also managed to bring in good sized northerns from the same spot. Phil was the only one to be fortunate enough to catch a nice smallie and then the wind died. We had been drifting over the area but were now forced to go to casting it due to no movement. Plenty more fish were landed before I decided to try another place for bass instead. I rigged up a topwater for Phil and soft plastics for the others. Phil hoped for something of a surface bite and wanted to give it a try.

Several casts in while Phil wasn’t paying attention, a smallie smashed his lure and was instantly gone. At least we knew that they would hit on the surface! A bunch of bass were caught on soft plastic before he had another shot at one and the same thing happened. A couple more did the same thing after and then one finally connected. He officially managed to get one on the pop-r! Many more fish were landed on the soft plastics and Phil caught another on the topwater lure once again. He loved fishing the surface and was quite happy with just the two he had gotten!

After a short time swimming for Levi & Lindsay, we decided to change locations and made one more final move. I headed to a place to drift now that the wind had picked up and they weren’t disappointed. Everyone managed to land a few more bass and Phil caught the biggest one of the day. We definitely ended on a high!

This outing was filled with plenty of adjustments but at least we weren’t pounding big waves like I was used to seeing lately. Although the winds stopped completely, I was able to work around the flat calm and continue to catch fish. Several changes were made to make this another successful and productive day. Who could ask for anything more!

Camilla brought her husband and two sons out this morning and everyone had a blast! The winds weren’t too bad to begin but built as the morning went on. Before I knew it, we were back in big waves as usual! At least the fish were biting and everyone caught. Although more fish were missed or lost, there were still plenty of bass & walleye landed.

This afternoon I had Brahm and his grandson Russell out and the conditions were slightly worse. They had a difficult time knowing if it was bottom or a bite and unfortunately also missed more than they landed. Russell did manage to catch a nice sized northern on a drop shot rig that gave him a great fight. Along with the pike they boated several bass too! A little tougher than the morning shift but still a great way to spend the afternoon!

After a no show yesterday from someone that booked the day on line, I was back at it today. Richard and his son William were with me and guess what, it was windy once again! Four out of the five days this week were blowing hard and the waves were big! Of course yesterday was calm as I had the day off!

I headed to an area that had been producing good numbers of quality bass & walleye and rigged up the drop shot rods. A heavy weight was needed to allow them to feel bottom with the speed we were drifting and instructions on how to fish the rig. Although it was hard at times, they figured it out and it wasn’t long before Richard was on the board. His first fish was a nice smallie and it wasn’t going to be his last. They both boated a good number of fish throughout the day, but I think they lost or missed more than they caught. Despite the heavier weights, they were still having a tough time feeling the bottom and knowing when a fish bit. I had to inform them several times to set the hook! It’s not uncommon under these conditions when you’re not familiar with this technique!

With the conditions as they were, we were forced to remain in one area all day. Three to four footers were the norm and I wasn’t going to beat everyone up going to other places to fish. I concentrated on one spot and made multiple drifts over different sections and waypoints. Each time the run back up to start a new drift was painful as I had to keep the bow up and run it slower than I would have liked. We were in some pretty good rollers!

Although there weren’t as many fish landed as I would have liked, the numbers of fish on and missed strikes were definitely up there. It could have been a banner day for sure! In the end, they both learned a lot and were quite happy with the results. William was even able to bring a walleye home to try after landing a good keeper right at the end! It would have been sooner if his dad had of put the previous one he caught in the proper livewell instead of back in the water! Oh well, I’ll catch it again another time perhaps!