Float tube bass fishing summer 2022

 After a few spectacular float tube fishing outings for smallmouth bass over the last few weeks of spring, I planned to spend most of my summer's day trips to continue on the float tube, and just about ignore most other species I would normally fish for. Aside from being a quest to see what would happen when I focused most of my efforts to one style and just about one target species, namely, the smallmouth bass.  

Multiple reasons why I chose to do so:

1) Pound for pound, the smallmouth bass is one of the best fights of any fish species in out region.

2) Smallmouth bass are extremely prone to hit topwater lures such as the PopR, which is likely my favorite topwater lure for smallmouth bass, and by far the most enjoyable technique, with explosive visual attacks.

3) The lakes I chose to fish on are far from Montreal, and have no inhabitants. As such, the calm, relaxing conditions, immersed in nature with little to no human interference, make up much of what draws me to keep returning for more.

4) Float tube fishing for 5 to 6 hours at a time, provides for a great, low impact cardio and leg workout. Staying fit is important as I inch closer to the 50 year mark, and I much prefer combining exercise with fishing. Simply way more enjoyable than a stationary workout in my home gym.

With the course being set, I timed my float tube fishing to coincide with proper weather, namely, the least windy days that fit into my schedule of available days. Here are the results of what was achieved.

June 24 2022:

With not enough time to hit my smallmouth bass lakes which are further from Montreal, I opted to fish some smaller backwater areas a bit closer to home, for a mix of largemouth bass, pike, and possibly longnose gar. After spending some time using a mix of walk the dog and popper type lures, I eventually connect with a few smaller largemouth bass that were buried deep in weeds. A weedless frog did the trick.

Couldn't find any pike or longnose gar at that spot, so eventually, I decided to check another spot on foot, armed with a modified Rapala J9 (treble hooks laced with braid and yarn). Only managed to spot one gar, but thankfully, I was able to make it count!

July 6 2022:

After a short trip to visit my daughter and her family in Florida, I was finally able to get back to my target smallmouth bass lake. Unfortunately, they wind was much stronger than forecast, so topwater bite was non existent, despite my trying for a good hour or so, before switching to a #3 spinner.

Move paid off, I landed some good smallmouth bass, during a short morning bite that lasted only about 1 hour or so. Low numbers, but good sizes, with the trophy lunker of the day at 19 inches, and over 4 lbs.

July 26 2022:

After spending a week up le Domaine Shannon fishing for pike with my son, followed by a few days of carp fishing, I had a few hours to hit a lake a bit closer to home, I managed to put in 3 hours of float tube fishing. After having some topwater success early on, the wind picked up, and I switched to a deeper running Mepps spinner. Didn't take more than a few casts for me to hook and land this nice 18 inch smallmouth bass, one of the bigger ones that I've caught in this tiny lake.

August 9 2022:

Back to my trophy smallmouth bass lake, again, the forecast was off, with cloud and intermittent rain instead of a sun/cloud mix they were calling for. Luckily, the wind was very calm, and the bass were on fire. Topwater bite was excellent for this time of year, I managed to land 20 of 26 smallmouth bass, with a good number over 3 lbs, and biggest 4.25 lbs, at 20 inches.

Truly off the charts, turned out to be my best bass day of the summer!

August 15 2022:

After my planned trip to Le Domaine Shannon for walleye was cancelled at the last minute, I went back to my trophy bass lake in hopes of some more crazy action. With perfect weather when I arrived, my hopes were high, given the smashing success of my previous outing. 

Unfortunately, the fish had other plans. Instead of the aggressive bite, they were hitting the topwater lures instead of biting or inhaling them. This resulted in a few lost fish that were face hooked, until I was lucky enough to land this face hooked, 21 inch / 5 lbs giant!

This beast of a  trophy smallmouth was the heaviest bass I I've landed on my float tube to date. Definitely made my day, and my quest to beat the 5 lbs mark on my trophy bass lake had finally been achieved.

August 24 2022:

Another trip up to my trophy smallmouth bass lake, hoping to land at least one more big bass before my kids returned to school, and water tempos started cooling off the possibilities of a decent topwater bite. Fishing was even slower than previous outing despite high heat and flat calm conditions, but I managed one solid bass over 4 lbs / 20 inches.

 

That capped off what was likely to be my last trip of the season up to this gem of a lake. With no homes or motorboat access, and where lunker smallmouth bass in the over 4 lbs are a possibility at every cast, it's truly a float tube bass angler's dream. 

August 28 2022:

Having some errands to run in the given area, I brought along the float tube in hopes of one last shot at finding some longnose gar before the water started cooling off. Was not able to sight or locate any, ut managed another small largemouth bass burning a Choppo.

That was all she wrote for the day, and likely the final float tube outing of the 2022 summer season. I thank God for giving me the health, means, and time to have put in all these float tube outings over the spring and summer, and for having provided me with some spectacular catches, which keep me going back for more.