Days on the Water: 6
Who we fished with: friends, clients, the next generation of anglers
Where we fished: Lake Erie, Upper Niagara, Lower Niagara, Lake Ontario
What we caught: smallmouth bass, freshwater drum, steelhead, king salmon
Tactics: ned rigs, live crawfish, flashers, spoons

Commentary

Observations from the Water – this Past Week (16-22 Aug)

What an incredible week.  We executed our first itieration of our Kids Summer Fishing Camp (tap here for the link for the full blog), followed by a fun session with some great new clients on Saturday.  I took today off to rest and relax with the family before getting back after the action tomorrow.

The pics that’ll follow are a few of the firsts and biggies from yesterday.  It was a family that was getting into fishing for the first time.  According to mom and dad, she didn’t want to go – but after catching her first fish, she got hooked and said that she “loves fishing.”  I’m very happy about that response – but not surprised by it.  After fishing with 9 kids daily for the 5 days prior (plus numerous outings with “short anglers”), I’m well aware of the magic of fishing.  Still, it never ceases to bring a smile to my face and warmth to my heart.

I’m also not going to do a “by species” breakdown this week.  If you check out the blog about the kids camp, you’ll see how much ground we covered and what we got into.  In summery, everything was fishable every day this past week.  There was very little rain and little to no wind.  We fished for bass mostly (same pattern as in previous weeks – but more and bigger fish seem to be around) but we also dedicated some time to targetting kings and steelhead.  The Ontario bite was tough – and from what I understand that seemed to be the case for many of the regional Lake Ontario captains.  It’s not a game I play in the summer so I’m way out of my league trying to comment on Lake O action – so I’ll stop there.

Looking Forward (23-29 Aug)

Looks like another stable weather pattern is in store for next week. If the forecast holds, every day will be fishable. We’ll be out there daily.

The bass bite is only going to get better in the upcoming weeks. Although it ain’t as magical as the prespawn bite, fall is pretty darn close to as good if you want to catch a trophy sized ‘jaw. We’ve been boating at least 1, 5lb fish daily. Think I’m making it up – look at the photos from the kids camp. If you want a shot at getting the bass of a lifetime but don’t want to wait ’til next spring, give us a call.

Stay healthy my friends – mentally and physically,

Ryan