Headed out this morning to a small lake in Quebec that my buddy Andy has a cottage on. He had recently picked up a "new to him" Stratos bass boat, so we were excited to spend the day together chasing some bass.
The new boat..and boy does she fly!
On the water at 10am and began working our typical fall haunts - shallow to medium deep rock/weeds. First cast with a spinnerbait gets Andy a cigar walleye from about 6 feet of water - this got our hopes up for a banner day.
Generally I am a "jig and pig" guy through and through - especially when fishing the fall period. Decided to switch things up this outing, and tossed a crankbait (one lure I don't use enough!) to see what would happen. It was a good decision...3lb 14oz.
Picked up another the same size towards the end of the day, also.
The morning period was a bit slow, and although we found some fish, they were fairly scattered. The two common denominators we tuned in to were - shallow and rock.
Water temp. was a fairly constant 57 degrees throughout the day, and a few weather fronts definitely seemed to be passing through as the hours went by.
Andy tossed a tube quite a bit and it paid off..
Notice the belly on this girl!
Had 10 bass in the boat by 1pm, and headed in to the cottage for a BBQ and quick regroup.
With the wind picking up, we decided to concentrate on a few of the rock points and shorelines that were getting some wave action. Again, all fish were in less than 6 feet of water, with many (including the smallies) in less than 3.
Andy with another chunk..
Typical shoreline..
Around 3pm, we really began to light it up. Fish were more schooled up by now, and smacking baits good and hard. The crankbait I was tossing (a Bomber Balsa Model B) only runs a foot or so under the surface. Was definitely cool to watch your bait come in, then have a bass rise and engulf it.
Fished one of our favourite points and got into a double header. Mine (the smaller fish) fell for the crank, and Andy's brute took a tube. Bit of chaos in the boat trying to get both on board, especially since we had no net.
The big girl went 4lbs 4oz...(big fish of the day)
Our next casts resulted in another double header - this time a largie for me. Nothing like the size of the first two, though.
Shortly after that flurry, Andy put the big largie of the day in the boat. Came on a tube again and from 4 feet of water.
4lbs 3oz..
Those two big fish definitely made the day!
Fun times were had again, and we finished off the outing with 29 bass (fairly even split between largies and smallies) and the four biggest going 3lb 14oz, 3lb 14oz, 4lb 3oz, and 4lb 4oz. Not bad for six hours of fishing.
I am definitely sold on tossing cranks, and will be adding these to my bag of tricks for the remainder of this season. Put all of my fish (about half of the total) in the boat on that one crankbait, and for when fish are up shallow or tight to cover, these things really seemed to shine.
Until the next fall adventure!
Good Fishing,
Justin
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