Air temperature 39°@9:30am, water temperature 50.1°, wind 6, gusts 8mph. Only 3 other trailers in the lot when I arrived, but it's chilly. Headed for the rocky point where I can usually find a Smallmouth or 2. Nothing but a couple Rockys, so I tried 3 deep dropoffs with nothing but a couple taps on a swimbait. Worked the ledges around Point Folly, NADA. Hit the cove on the west side, and the west shoreline, nothing. All this time I'm seeing the 3 Bassboats running from one spot to another, but never saw them catch anything. Headed for Nick's Cove to eat my sandwich. Got out the ultralight rod with the same little swimshad I used last time. After a couple casts, I tossed it about 15'behind the boat and put the rod in the rodholder so I could eat. 3rd bite of my pb&j, BAM, the rod doubles down with the tip in the water! I could hardly get it out of the holder, and the drag was screaming. I gained some line and saw it was a 16"Pickerel, so I netted it and CPRed it. Finished my sandwich, and started casting again, while circling the cove. Wound up catching 3 small Yellow Perch, and the big fish of the day, a 19"Pickerel. That one felt like a 3lb Smallmouth on the ultralight rod. After that my fingers were numb so I called it a day. When I got to the truck I saw that it only got up to 45° there. As I was unloading the boat,2 of the bassboats hauled out also. All 3 of the guys I asked said they caught no Bass, just some panfish. It was that kind of day.

Hey guys, Brad and I went out yesterday and I forgot my phone AND hearin aids. Brad sent a pic to my email but I don't know how to post it. Doesn't matter anyway, looks just like ALL the other pics I post, LOL.
Started off pretty slow and the fog was pretty thick. Finally started catchin a few and we ended up boatin bout 35. We kept 3. A 20, 21 and 23 incher. Lost several right at the boat including 2 probly 8 pounders. OH well.
I threw my back out Wednesday at Bible study simply by leanin over too far to get my Bible off the couch where my wife set it. Nursin it along so was preoccupied yesterday morning getting ready so forgot phone and H.A.
Ill take pics next time. Back is feelin much better today so it must have been the fishin.

So, snowed yesterday morning, followed by rain off and on all day. Forecast of more rain today… but there was a calm before the next storm and I said GO !!! Hahaha. It was a last minute scramble too as I started to put everything away for the winter.
So out of curiosity, I wanted to explore new water and see what I could dial in. Managed about a dozen smallmouth, all shallow and all on 4 in keitech swimbaits in a rainbow trout color. Very fun.
Next, I wanted to see if I could get those big lake trout to play. Only had a handful of tube baits on board… and used every last one of them too. Caught 7 nice ones until I was “tubeless”… figured it was end of the line for my season… Thanks again everyone who took the time to view my posts… and truly appreciate all of the many nice words that were expressed. I’m now on the side lines viewing your days on the water. Best of luck to all. Tight lines from Montana.