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Mark & his son Owen were back again today and this time we weren’t going to troll. I wanted them to fish with rod in hand for the entire day! Walleye & bass were the targeted species and I headed right to an area holding both. Unfortunately we were faced with opposing wind direction again, as it was blowing out of the NE and impossible to drift. They were going to have to cast!

We spent a good amount of time in the first spot and came up empty. I had marked some fish but they just didn’t want to bite. Our second area had Owen hooking up on his first drop. I was anchored with the electric and marking fish directly below the boat. Instantly he was tight to our first walleye of the day and it was a good keeper! Mark soon hooked up as well but his was a feisty smallmouth and released after the fight. Not long after they were both hooked up again with one walleye going into the livewell and the other an under and released. In the next thirty minutes or so that we remained, a couple of other unders were put back as well. Time for another change!

I thought with the wind lying down that we would attempt fishing for sturgeon and headed to a place to try. We stayed for about two hours hoping for at least one bite but all we got were gobies and they were a real pain. I moved several times but they constantly harassed us, making it impossible to keep the lines in the water. Eventually I just got fed up and pulled the plug on them for today! Time to go deep and drop shot for bass!

With Owen in the front with me I explained to them what was needed and we dropped the lines. Minutes later I was hooked up showing them what they had to do. Vertical was the presentation and soon after, Owen had his first bass on the line. We made multiple drifts and someone seemed to be hooked up on each one. Fish were being caught and fish were being lost, but they were enjoying themselves. Mark manages to get the best one from the area but Owen would have matched him if his had of stayed pinned. One jump and she was off!

With the winds picking up and weather on the way, I decided to make one last move. We were going back to where we had started to see if we could increase their walleye count for the day.

As soon as I arrived, I knew it was going to be better due to all the fish I was marking. The place was loaded and it looked like they were feeding too! I think Owen hooked up on the first drift now that the winds were in our favour and I netted another high end keeper for them to take home. His next fish was another good one but smaller than his first and now there were four in the livewell. Soon after, he hooked into something really large and drag screamed from the reel. Unfortunately we never got to see what it actually was, but my money was riding on a really big eye! Somehow the hooks just pulled loose and it was gone!

With each drift we made I had noticed the wind picking up and the waves getting bigger. Rain was also getting closer as some of the mainland was starting to disappear. It was just a matter of time before we were out of time but I wanted to stay as long as I could!

Mark finally hooked into something on one of the last passes and I netted his high end keeper and biggest walleye of the day. This was also to be the last fish going into the livewell as we were done!

Although today was slower than I had hoped for, there were still plenty of fish caught. The biggest disappointment had to be the sturgeon as the gobies just wouldn’t let us fish! Bass & walleye on the other hand gave them enough action and apparently a good dinner for tonight. Overall it was a pretty good day!

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After yesterday’s outing for sturgeon, I couldn’t wait to get back for more! Dan joined me today in hopes of getting some of his own and he wasn’t disappointed. We anchored up with the electric motor once again, making my life so much easier. With lines in, all we could do was wait!

Both of us had been holding the rods to detect the bites when Dan reared back on some weight. He was officially locked but thought it was a small one as it was coming in pretty quick. To his surprise, that ended before the boat and it grew. Instead of reeling, he was now watching the line peel off the reel. It’s show time!

He fought this thing for almost 10 minutes with multiple runs before I was able to get it into the net. It was a long male and very muscular causing the battle to last longer than usual for its size. After a few quick pics, it was returned to the water to fight another day.

We had resumed fishing for a little while before Dan set into another fish and this time it was just dead weight. As the line started to rise, we knew it was about to jump and awaited its size! It was large and he was going to be on it for a while. Multiple runs followed by bottom sulking had Dan getting the morning workout that he had missed. No need to go to the gym when you can battle these things!

After another ten minutes or so, I slid the net under a long, fat sturgeon. He held it up for some great pics before releasing her to the water once again. I figured that there would be a number three and set the lines right back hoping for another.

We had made a couple of moves and been waiting close to an hour when I was finally bit. Seconds later after setting into the fish, I passed the rod to Dan and watched the show. I wanted no part of this thing and was happy to give him another to fight.

Just like the last one, this sturgeon took the air in a spectacular jump informing us of its size. It didn’t matter though as the battle was just as long! Another ten minutes passed before the fish was in the net and Dan was relieved that the fight was finally over. More pics and another release and back to the business at hand!

Although we waited for well over an hour and moved several times, it wasn’t going to happen. We would have to settle for the fish we had already caught and move on. It was also getting harder to hold as the winds were increasing as well. They were now causing 2 to 3 foot rollers and from the NE. It was definitely time to pull the plug on these dinosaurs!

I wasn’t even sure if I would be able to fish the smallies in deep water, but headed there to see regardless. Once we arrived it was like an ocean and our drift was not easy. I had to get the strangest angle for the boat and literally pull it down current with the electric motor in order to fish. Somehow I made it work and we were able to hook up many times in the last couple of hours of the day. We both boated several decent sized smallies but nothing giant. Regardless, we made it work and fished an unfishable area due to the opposing winds!

Today was about as good as it gets considering what we had to endure and Dan was definitely satisfied with his results. He managed to battle a few big fish and ended with his favourite species, the smallie! We couldn’t have asked for anything more! Well maybe a little less wind and possibly a different direction!!

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Phil & I hit the water this morning for the first sturgeon trip of the season. Everything had been so late this year that it was no wonder that the big fish hadn’t arrived yet either! We were going to see if we could find at least one of those dinosaurs to fight!

I idled over an area for a little while and finally saw some life on the bottom. Although not what I am use to seeing, I set up regardless in hopes of getting bit. This time however, I decided to use the electric motor to anchor and not the usual back breaking one from past trips. It worked great!

After being tormented by little fish for a bit, Phil finally set into a real fish. He didn’t think it was big by the way he was bringing it towards him but it soon changed direction and size as well. For the next 5 minutes it fought like a sturgeon is supposed to and we wondered how big it really was. Eventually it did come up and we were both happy to see that it was definitely a quality fish. I was finally able to get the big net wet for the first time this season!

Once in the boat, we shot several pics before releasing it back, where he belonged! It was a long male that had decent weight and deserved to live. I still can’t understand why anyone would want to kill one of these things!

We set up afterwards and even made a couple of moves hoping for another, but we never even had one more bite. I guess we were lucky to have gotten the fish we had!

Our next attempt at fish was going to be smallies and I drifted in deep water, drop shotting vertically. I quickly showed Phil what he needed to do and it didn’t take long before we were into some fish. Several smaller than usual ones were boated but there were also some nice ones too! Phil had drop shotted with me before but this was the first time he was doing it in the deep and vertically. Once he understood how to stay straight over the fish, he began hooking more of them. Between the two of us we must have landed about a dozen in the short time we were out there.

After about an hour or so I decided to relocate to another area in the shallows and see if anything was active. Unfortunately all we managed was a couple of smaller fish and a few missed strikes. Time to move once again!

The winds had picked up considerable now and I decided to try another shallow spot to see if I could find the active fish that I was on, only a couple of days ago. Unfortunately it turned out to be about the same with just a couple of fish showing. I knew they were still there and tossed a jig in to see if the slower presentation would work and first cast one hit. Too bad it was the only one that wanted to play as only missed strikes were followed after that!

Our last attempt for the day was going to be a deep water shoal for walleye and it showed fish. We drifted over the area multiple times, both drop shotting as well as snap jigging but they didn’t want to take. I eventually switched to a drop shot as well and slowed down even more. I then finally hooked up but instead of a walleye, it turned out to be a nice smallie. Phil soon hooked up as well and his was the targeted species, completing his slam for the day.

These fish were really playing hard to get and I was forced to spot lock on top of smaller schools that I was marking to finally get a few more biters. In the end, we were able to land two more good keepers that actually fell off when netted. These fish really weren’t in the mood to eat!

I finally pulled out around 4:30 after a tough day of fishing. I’m not sure if was due to the weather yesterday or just the cold nights we have been having, but the fish were definitely not aggressive today. We literally had to work for every bite we had! The deep water fishing was definitely the most reliable and I might be concentrating on that for the next few days to come. I definitely want to get back out for another shot at those sturgeon again and hope that it improves as well.

Overall today was a tough one but Phil & I managed to do well in the end. He landed both his and the boats first sturgeon of the season and that was what we had wanted most of all. The rest of the fish were just a bonus! So was his slam too!

Plenty more days are still left in the season with the fall approaching and I hope to take advantage of as many them as I can. Hopefully there will be lots of big fish boated before the time runs out. Better days are still to come!

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An afternoon booking saw me hooking up with Lesley & his wife Sandy, along with their grandchildren, Rafi & Mila. We headed out in very overcast skies with rain on the way. I would definitely be needing to raise the roof today!

Our first spot was holding plenty of fish but for some reason, they just didn’t want to eat. We drifted over schools of walleye and barely picked at them. Switching baits didn’t matter either, as they were tight lipped and a dead stick approach was the only way to catch them. I even anchored up on them with the electric and fished vertically over the concentrations, only to come up with very few takers.

Although I had remained longer than I really wanted in the area, Mother Nature had a big part in me staying. It had been raining pretty heavy for a while and the skies were terrible where I wanted to run to. We literally waited out the worst before making the big move!

Once there was a break in the weather I headed over to another area to troll in hopes that the kids would at least get into more action.

It didn’t take long before one of the rods bent and Rafi reeled in the first fish of his life. It was a nice northern and he was all smiles once it was in the net. He posed for a few pics but struggled to hold it up for us. Mila was up next but when the rod bent again she only had the fish on briefly before it was gone. They were biting very light and I had to reduce the speed to trigger them into hitting better!

The next reel actually fired and she finally landed her first fish as well. Although slightly smaller than her brother’s, it was still a nice one and worthy of a pic. Too bad it wiggled and she wanted no part of that! Back it went and we resumed our troll again!

Several more fish were landed until the sun actually came out and ironically, it shut them right down. We never had another bite afterwards and ran out of time for the day. Thank god we made the move and got them into some fish!

This was a rather slow fishing day with all the bad weather we had, but they made the best of it and still enjoyed themselves regardless. I prefer to have more action when kids are in the boat and was happy to have at least got them into several pike. Unfortunately the walleye were tight lipped as that would have been the best for them to have caught. In the end, they caught fish and there were smiling faces all around!

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I had another double trip day, today with Tino in the morning and Jim & Chris in the afternoon. Tino had been struggling with his fishing lately and I decided to help him out with a new technique.

I set up in deeper water and instructed him on vertical drop shotting over an open water flat. I don’t think he had his line in the water for 2 minutes when the rod loaded and he battled a nice smallie to the boat. He was completely in awe over getting one so fast but his second bass came almost as fast! Moments later he was locked up again and he quickly realized what he had been doing wrong.

We drifted over the areas multiple times and each pass yielded more & more smallies. This was definitely a great learning experience for him and hopefully something that he will be able to expand on.

I’m not really sure how many fish were landed or bites that were missed but the short 4 hour trip was chock full of action! Many double headers were had as I needed to fish as well in order to keep the lines vertical. Tino received a 101 lesson in drop shotting that he will surely add to his arsenal for future fishing! Great morning on the water!

I did a quick turnaround with my afternoon guests and was back on the water minutes later, after dropping Tino off at the dock. I thought I’d try another area different than this morning as Chris wanted to catch his first walleye. Once again I don’t think it took 2 minutes and he was locked! Although a little small, it was of legal size and placed in the livewell for them tonight!

The lake was almost completely flat with the exception of boat waves and painful to fish! In fact, the slight east wind that we actually had caused the boat to move slightly upstream! It wasn’t set up for drifting and I had to cover water in order to locate the concentrations of fish. Each time I idled over them, I instantly had both Jim & Chris drop down and at least one of them was locked. Jim’s first fish turned out to be a nice smallie and it battled him hard all the way to the boat. They both followed up soon after with more walleye and some of them went into the livewell, while others were released.

I remained in this area as long as I could stand it and many fish were caught and released before we made a move. They had both landed multiple walleye and some bass and now it was time to get them their slam. We were heading for pike!

After a long run I set up the trolling rods and began covering water once again. The first reel fired quickly after I got to where I wanted and from that moment on, we had plenty of action. Chris & Jim were battling pike after pike in the remaining time and loving every minute of it. With almost flat calm conditions and bright sunshine, these northerns were on the prowl. As soon as the winds picked up out of the east, it practically shut them off entirely! We had to cover plenty of water in order to get bit as the action almost died off completely. In fact, the floating weeds were now gathering on the water more as they were being pushed upstream! I had to clean the lines more often now and bites were fewer and fewer until we departed.

After several more fish, we just ran out of time and packed up and left. They had accomplished what they had set out to do and landed their slams with plenty of pike in the end.

Both trips today were a success and all parties left with complete satisfaction! I had mixed it up and moved all over the lake to get it done. Fortunately the fish had cooperated and Mother Nature hadn’t crapped all over us like she usually does. I’m sure she’ll have plenty more opportunities to that in the future!

From bass to walleye to pike, this was definitely a great day on the water. Everyone had seen plenty of action and Chris & Jim even managed to bring almost a limit of fish home to eat tonight. I hope they enjoy their “Catch of The Day!”