Hi Folks, Guided an am and then a pm trip yesterday for warm water species. Spin cast from my canoe in the morning and then from my boat in the afternoon. Nice day yesterday with a mix of sun and clouds. Pretty calm in the morning with a decent south wind in the afternoon. Water temperatures ranged from 68 degrees to 71 degrees. In the morning we landed 5 northern pike and two very nice smallmouth bass. 1 of the pike was a healthy 32" specimen that pulled some drag from the reel. Always exciting to watch a northern accelerate onto a fly or lure. They appear out of no where and are lightening fast when chasing down a potential prey item. Really important to retrieve your lure or fly all the way to the boat. The lure of the day yesterday was a blue and silver husky jerk from rapala. We witnessed a 2lb smallmouth try to eat a rock bass we hooked. Saw the smallie put the rock bass right in its mouth while it was hooked onto our plug, pretty cool. Had a nice pike break take and break off a surface prop bait. Every fish we saw follow or we hooked was holding on step drop offs into deeper water from the shoreline. Lots of juvenile fish holding on weed and wood and the drop offs and the pike and bass were not far behind. The afternoon fishing was a little more tough. The fish seemed more responsive in the morning. We did a lot of casting in the afternoon and we worked hard for the fish we saw. We landed a very big and healthy largemouth bass that ate the husky jerk. This largemouth was a solid 4lb fish, but a non-native specie to this body of water. We were fishing a lake that holds smallmouth bass, pike, and perch. Someone must of illegally stocked largemouth into this body of water. Oh well, it was a welcomed bonus and a very nice fish. We could not get a smallmouth to bite and we fished with plugs and jigged. We did hook a very large pike and unfortunately had it pitch the perch colored crank bait. Landed a few really nice yellow belly perch. Would have been psyched had it been ice fishing season, but not so much when you want to catch northerns. Summer conditions out there and we still need rain. On the cold water front the trout have been rising like crazy at dusk to #12 March Brown spinners. Keep your thermometer handy as the water has warmed to 70 degrees. I am off to chase trout this am. Remember to clean your gear and keep the non-native species at home. Have fun, Willy
