Buffalo Bassman Charters

Today’s weather was much better than Friday after a 45 degree start. However the east winds still have the smallmouth being finicky. Mom surprised Elijah and dad Matt with a half day trip. Took a bit of work to get them to bite but these two also fashioned a nice day for themselves. Including a double header both being personal bests! What a smart, funny delightful young man Elijah is! His parents are doing great job raising him and should be very proud!

Even after a delayed start, Friday’s weather posed some challenges for Tony and myself. After making a couple mile run in stinging, pouring rain, Tony still had a smile on his face! I guess after working all summer outdoors in northern Arizona heat, it was very refreshing for him! Early winds forced us to fish certain areas that only produced 1 drum. As the wind died a little we were able to move to more productive areas. The bite, although it’s there, has been exceptionally soft and light. Tony figured them out quickly and put a nice day together for himself. Not bad for a guy who never caught a smallmouth before! Another good guy.

Went out to test my trolling motor. Had a rod tied up with a drop shot hellgramite and another with a ned rig. Of course I had to drop them to the bottom. Lo and behold I dropped in a school of nicer sized perch! My grandsons will enjoy their snack!

Day two with John and Nicolas was totally different from day one! The water temperature dropped from 65.8 yesterday to 51.8 today! I’ve personally never seen this happen. Not sure exactly why although there had been some talk that the water temp off Sturgeon Point was at 56 yesterday and that the thermocline had “broken up”. I guess it mixed and moved toward Buffalo overnight. The fish were most definitely affected. We still had a great day because every fish we did hook, and also lost were the giants we didn’t catch yesterday! Included today were 2 personal bests. John had one at 5 lbs, and Nico had one 4 lbs 5 ozs! What a weekend! Man I’m tired.

We really weren’t sure what to expect on Saturday when repeat customer John and his grandson Nicholas climbed aboard. Reports from fellow captains had the lake doing odd things like “turning over” and the long established thermocline being upset. The concerns we very short lived however. After a slow start these boys laid a first class whoopin on the smallmouth. I lost count but John estimated about 50 found the net. No true giants of the deep but MANY over 3 lbs. Definitely one of the better numbers days this boat has seen in a long time! Hoping to hide from the forecasted winds today as these two are at it again! Oh, did I mention we caught some walleye too when we actually fished for them? Great day.

Repeat customer Adam has been talking about taking his wife Veronica out fishing and today was the day! Again, a super nice couple made today a ton of fun. That cool east / northeast wind and cold front made the fishing tough but AGAIN, customers fished super hard all day long and made a great day out of it. In fact, if we landed all of the fish that were hooked today, it would have been even better.

Make up trip for Shannon and Zach as we got blown off the lake in May. Tonight the weather cooperated and with an east / northeast wind, they still managed to boat several nice walleye and 5-6 fish that were just shy of the legal length. Super nice young people with a genuine excitement for fishing and just being on the water!

Susie and Donnell came on board Friday. Super nice couple planning a wedding next year! Was another day of soft biting fish (read cold front) but, with a lot of hard work and concentration, these two managed to make a good day of it! Two more friends made today! Check.

I need to sometimes remember that what I consider a “below average” day on Erie. Can still be a very good day for my clients. Today I had the honor of hosting Vickie and Junior from Virginia. Both very experienced anglers whose skills today turned a stingy bite day into a good day for the two of them. Per request (Junior really wanted his wife to sample a walleye fish fry) we started fishing for them and, although we marked several large fish, they really wouldn’t cooperate. Switched to bass tactics and started catching them! After moving spots, Vickie hooked into another beautiful smallmouth. Junior caught several smallies himself. Switched back to walleye and again getting no takers we actually set up on a school of yellow perch. Caught a couple for dinner and made a long run to another spot. On the last drift of the day Vickie hooked into the biggest fish of the day on a tube jig. After a short, fierce battle the big fish came unhooked. Based on the way it was fighting I estimated it to be a giant smallmouth. Again, my clients were thrilled with a day I thought was below average. Great people have a way of making almost anything seem better!

Post after post seem the same but each time the customers are different. Each day is totally different. The fish are in different places and they bite different each time out. Joy and Mark visited from Jacksonville Florida. With the chilly temperatures this morning, it took Joy a while to warm up, but, warm up she did! She landed many quality smallmouth today including a beautiful 4 lb 8 oz beast, which ended up being the biggest today! Mark was on his game as well today and was setting the hook seemingly every few minutes. He caught himself several great bass and his biggest fell just 2 oz short of his wife’s! The bigger, fall feeding smallmouth are showing up a little more each outing! Just another ho hum day on Erie!!!! Oh, did I mention that Sky this morning? WOW!