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Mario joined me today with his friend, hoping to catch some fish to eat. They would be fine fishing just about anything but walleye & bass were what we were after. Hopefully the bite would be as good as the day before!

They began by throwing a dropshot rig along a current break and both had hits almost immediately. New to this technique, they unfortunately missed the fish due to their hook sets. Several casts later, we had our first bass of the day and it was a good one. I think they expected to keep the fish but I informed them that it was to be released and not to worry as they would have better fish to eat!

They only managed one more smallie from this area but I landed several good ones trying various techniques to see what was working the best. I eventually decided to go and do a little trolling on the outside edge, as the boat traffic was building and it wouldn’t be getting better, anytime soon!

The trolling bite wasn’t what I had expected but they did have a few chances. Unfortunately they pulled the hooks out of the fish by applying too much pressure when reeling them in. I would have to rethink what I wanted to do next as the areas I wanted to fish were filling up fast with other fishermen! It was becoming a zoo with the mild weather now and it was only a weekday! What would the weekend bring?

We tried various methods and spots when they became available, but the only thing that saw fewer fishermen was the trolling. Unfortunately they didn’t seem to be getting bit with this method and I wondered why. I was marking plenty of fish in the area I was covering and decided to take one of the rods for a minute to try. It didn’t even take the minute and I was locked up almost instantly! There was something with the way they were fishing the baits that wasn’t working because the fish were definitely hitting! I passed the rod to one of them and let them bring the fish in. Although not a giant, it was a good one and released after they took a few pics.

We had spent several hours trying to manoeuvre around the other boats to get a place to fish and I had seen just about enough. Add to that the strong SW winds and it was time to pull the plug on this area. We were going to try for walleye now and I packed everything up and left. Along the way I actually counted 14 other boats in sections of this area and was glad to be social distancing from all of them!

As soon as we arrived in the new place, I instructed them on where to cast and what to do with the dropshot. It may have taken them several missed strikes but eventually they both got the hang of it and began catching fish. There were a few that made it into the livewell and some others that had to be released. The good news was that they were both catching fish and we were away from all the other boats. We were alone too!

We spend the remainder of our time fishing a few different spots and they managed to catch enough fish for a limit of walleye. They would both be having fish for dinner!

Although this day didn’t go completely as planned, I did have a backup that worked out well. We may not have been able to get the bass we wanted but at least the walleye bite was great. In the end, they both caught plenty of fish and even managed to bring a few of them home. They would be eating good tonight!

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Well it finally happened! Val actually got a perfect day on the water this afternoon with little to no wind at all. The usual hurricanes didn’t crush us today! Instead, he crushed the fish with one walleye after the other. No real story to report, just an unbelievable day of fishing. I even managed to fish some and we both boated good numbers of big eyes! Several doubles were landed making for some really nice pics. The only thing difficult today was being able to catch a limit of keepers for Val to bring home. It took us all day to filter through the big ones. It was a tough job but somebody had to do it!

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Curtis was looking to do a trip with his family after his previous, successful sturgeon outing. We would be fishing bass & walleye today and with any luck, they would have a great day. Julie, Angela, & Adam were all wishing it was warmer though as we ventured out looking for that first bite!

With 4 people fishing, I didn’t want to have everyone casting and decided to begin with dropshotting. It wasn’t easy making a drift as the wind was blowing opposite the current flow. Angela was the first to hook up and a quality walleye was soon in the net. Her mother Julie also landed one but it was probably the smallest walleye I had ever seen from this area before!

I managed to make several drifts with the aid of the electric motor, but it was tough. Plenty of fish were marking and I really thought we were going to get them good! I guess the fish had other ideas as the bites were few & far between. They had missed several fish, before I pulled the plug on this method and tried something different. We were going to try trolling, with everyone on board!

I began on a break and covered plenty of water, unsuccessfully! These fish just weren’t chasing at all and a much slower approach would be needed. Time for plan “C”!

I moved to another area nearby and held with the electric motor. Three of them started to drift baits in the slower current and after missing a couple of strikes, Julie latched onto a real giant. These fish were here, just not moving very much! When it jumped, I realized just how big it actually was and released the lock on the motor, to drift down. I didn’t want to put any unnecessary pressure on her fish that might end in disappointment!

With the fishing being as difficult as it was this morning, every fish counted and I wanted this one in the net. Eventually the boat and fish came closer to each other and I slid the net under the biggest bass of the season! I don’t think Julie actually realized how big this thing was until she had to hold it for the pics. We shot several good ones before releasing her back to where she belonged. A recent article on big fall smallies confirmed that releasing these trophies where they came from can be beneficial to their survival as well as the spring spawn. I’ve been practicing this for many years!

We remained in the area for a little while longer without another fish. I guess if you’re only going to get one, that’s the one to get! With plenty of time remaining, I decided to switch it up and headed somewhere for walleye. They were hoping to bring a few fish home with them and I was sure it wouldn’t be a problem getting them some eyes.

I had been marking some good hooks in slightly deeper water and after setting up, was tight to a fish almost immediately. I passed it off to Adam for his first fish of the day! Plenty of other fish were also marking but for some reason only a few of them actually bit. The bites were light and not detected in time for the others to hook up. After one more fish, we moved to another area where the action got much better!

Angela was tight to a fish on her first cast and put another quality eye in the well. She also boated a couple of smallies on the next couple of casts too! Julie managed to get a few walleye as well and pretty much everyone had their chances. Curtis added to their limit with two nice keepers, but Adam wasn’t as lucky. He did miss a few fish but wasn’t able to bring anything to net!

The afternoon flurry of fish was great, but the highlight of the day definitely had to be the giant smallie from this morning! We had made several adjustments and moves to catch the fish we did today and unfortunately we were done. At least everyone had plenty of chances and landed enough fish to keep them warm, on this chilly fall day! Better temps are coming and with any luck, many, many more fish too!

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I had to cancel two trips today due to the giant winds again, but was able to rebook someone for another body of water. Tino was flexible and switched his scheduled Monday to Sunday instead. With the next couple of days looking unfishable, I guess I’ll just have to relax. Yeah right!

We hit the water by 7:30, new time and Tino hooked up on his very first cast! Although it’s never good to catch a fish on your first cast, it’s even worse to lose one, as he found out. We were dropshotting an area and the fish just weren’t cooperating! Several short strikes and missed fish followed before we just decided to move. I was looking for active fish and was determined to find some!

We switched it up, throwing hard baits and I was immediately hit. It turned out to be a fall fish and didn’t have much of a fight. At least in the beginning that was! Seconds after hooking into the chub like fish, there was a giant boil and the line started going off the reel. I knew exactly what had happened and passed the rod to Tino to enjoy the fight! Mr. Musky had decided to have breakfast and it was game on! This was the second year in a row that we had a toothy experience with the trip last season being the same. Hopefully he would be able to land this fish as well.

After following the lunge for about 5 minutes and almost getting a look at it, he had enough. The musky just opened its mouth and let the fall fish go. We were left with a scarred chub but at least it was still alive! I had to take a couple of pics of the lacerated bait, just for the memory! Amazingly, this little guy swam off too!

We went right back to casting the same baits and soon started catching some nice bass. When the action slowed down, I moved deeper and it began all over again. At one point it was practically every couple of minutes that a rod was bent. Tino even managed to boat a nice walleye that unfortunately had to be returned due to its size! The numbers were going up quickly and there were even a couple of double headers! We were on them big time!

I had really wanted to get Tino into some larger fish and pulled away from the numbers area to try somewhere deeper. Several casts later, he was tight to his largest bass of the day. Although it wasn’t a monster, it was a real good one and worthy of some pics.

We had been holding in this area for a while out of the strong winds when it started to rain. Ironically the winds diminished soon after and at least the rain wasn’t horizontal anymore! We could deal with the wetness as the temps were quite respectable and decided to go back to the hard baits once again. The numbers were great and many more fish were caught in the time we fished them too!

Tino was hoping to take a couple of walleye home with him today, after having to release his earlier catch. I told him that I had an area that he might be able get some and we headed there, in the rain. Well let’s just say that he not only brought a few fish home but we put a beat down on the eyes too! Most were released in the time we were there, but a few of them were harvested for his dinner tonight!

Today was another juggling act due to the weather, but I was able to make it work. Although I lost a couple of trips, I managed to salvage the day and then some. The fishing was good early and got better as it went on. The icing on the cake would have definitely been if we could have landed that musky in the morning, but at least the explosion and battle were epic! The final hour was pretty good with the walleye cooperating too! Overall it was another great day for fishing! Herm would have loved it! Sorry buddy, I just had to!

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Jim & his buddy were with me today for the last day of the sturgeon season. After yesterday’s misery I was sure we would get into them once again, as the conditions seemed much better.

I began marking some fish as soon as I arrived and set the lines quickly, in hopes of an early bite. I knew there would be more boats out today with it being the last one and wanted to get into the fish right away. Well it didn’t really go as planned but we did hook up fast. Too bad it was a Redhorse sucker though!

The sturgeon were being a little finicky this morning and I made many moves trying to get bit. At one spot we had multiple false hits as they kept running into our lines. I’m sure some of them were legit as I was finally able to get the hooks into one of them. Jim fought the fish for a total of 45 seconds before it pulled out and the line went slack. Figuring we would get more, I shook it off and went right back at it again!

We held on this place for probably longer than we should have. Several more hits were seen on the rods, but unfortunately nothing was hooked! Eventually I had to make another move and try something different. We would be holding the rods now as the winds were just rocking the boat way too much to see the bites. Hopefully this would change our luck too!

We were into the afternoon and still hadn’t caught a sturgeon yet. By holding the rods I hoped that our luck would change and it finally did. Not long after switching locations, again, Jim reared back on some substantial weight. He was officially locked up and into a heavy fish. We reeled in the other lines not to have any tangles and he fought his fish for almost ten minutes. Although it jumped once, I was clearing the rods and didn’t actually see the breach. It did sound heavy when it splashed down and I knew it was a quality fish. After several good runs it was finally close enough for me to net and the fight was over. The next thing was holding it for some pics and we shot many! A quick release after and we were right back in the game again.

Jim’s buddy was up next and as luck would have it, he soon hooked into another fish on his own. Not really knowing what a hit was going to feel like, he asked me and instantly was locked up. It may not have been a big one, but it was his first sturgeon! Regardless, we took several pics before the release!

I was on a run & gun pattern today with all the other boats around and as I expected, a couple of other boats had seen us land a fish and moved closer to us. Bent rods aren’t always a good thing!

We had repositioned in another area when traffic got heavier and Jim’s buddy set the hooks one more time. This fish was definitely larger than his previous one and gave him a much better fight! Many runs later, I tailed his catch and almost wished I had of netted it instead. It was borderline on the size I usually grab and somewhat difficult to hold. He was quite content with this one and definitely needed more pics of the catch.

With limited time remaining, I had really hoped for a true giant and made a couple of moves in search of the beast. We were holding for a few minutes when his buddy reared back on another good fish. Having already caught a couple, he decided to pass the rod to Jim to do battle with it. This was technically his turn anyway and he gladly accepted!

This fight had me releasing the hold from the electric motor as the fish went above the boat during the tug of war. It was acting strange but I knew it was just due to its size! This battle lasted more than ten minutes and when we finally saw the fish, we all knew why. It was a true giant and super long! I slid the net under the sturgeon and Jim was relieved. It had been a strenuous ten minutes and a little relief was welcomed before having to hold it for the pics. Several more good shots were taken and the fish was released to fight another day.

I tried locating more big fish but we just ran out of time and were done. It may not have been the day I expected but at least there were some good fish caught. The afternoon bite was definitely the best as everything came after 1:30 today! Both Jim & his buddy had felt the power of these creatures, landing their first ever sturgeon today. They even did it with rod in hand, making it even better to have gotten the bite. The season may be over for the sturgeon but I will be back out plenty more times before the deep freeze arrives, fishing for bass, walleye and maybe even a few more toothy critters. I can’t wait to see what November brings!