Multispecies May-hem!

There's still plenty of May left to go. What a awesome month to be on the water! Take a scroll down  to see what's been going on lately...

What an action-packed time of year this is! Pike, walleye, lake trout, whitefish, perch, you name it. Surface temps have bounced around a fair bit on Georgian Bay, Lake Simcoe and inland lakes. We've had a decent smelt run and a couple good runs of suckers, too. Not only that, but a few solid bug hatches. A variety of good foods around leads to fairly predictable fishing right now.

Here's an example of good pike country in low 50s water temps: flooded up tag alders, old reeds and rock/wood combos. On colder, nastier days we fish this stuff real slow. When it's warm out, we fish faster. For picking your way through, floating and suspending minnowbaits/twitchbaits are pretty much King. You can fish 'em at a variety of depths and speeds.

Floating twitchbaits are super versatile and walk through cover way better than suspenders. What happens when you pause a 6" Jake and let it rise around old, rotted weed clumps? Ask Joseph! On one of my custom paint jobs, too! 

Lake trout fishing is always a blast this time of year. The question most days is 'how many do you feel like catching, and how do you want to catch 'em?' Multiple depths, multiple techniques and big smiles. You can't beat it! Lots of methods work, but the best way to catch lake trout--by far--is slow trolling. Best trolling speeds for lakers are typically under 2mph. 1.5 to 1.7 is my sweet spot. You can catch 'em up over 2mph and in that range, spoons are dominant.  I had a group of ten anglers the other week and they all went home with sore arms. And maybe a few blackfly bites.

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Jesse with a Simcoe dandy that blasted a Williams Savant spoon on a bluebird day. High skies and super-clear water means 3 things when I'm picking spoon finishes: FLASH, FLASH, FLASH. This girl swam away strong after a good scrap in that cold water.

What's a May in Ontario without a little walleye action? Cory from Toronto released this Georgian Bay gem during a mid-week trip. See that white thing dragging in the water, behind the boat? It's a sea anchor (5gal plastic pail on a short rope). Moving at a slow crawl right now is one of the keys, for walleye. This one nipped at a gold/yellow Mepps Trollng Rig baited with a three inch shiner. We were power trolling with the big outboard that day, and the pail helps me slow way down. For even shallow water walleye, I like my guests trolling heavy, heavy bottom bouncers ahead of their spinner rigs. Helps them feel changes in the bottom much easier and keeps their line as close to vertical as possible, while we slowly move along. Staying vertical means way less snags and more fishin' time, too. Cory caught this one on a five foot snell behind a 4oz bouncer. Bottom bouncing for walleye is a money method all season long. Nice fish buddy!