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It was the time again to head up north for our annual September Bass fishing trip. This trip completed our 5th year in a row and 10th trip up, staying with a very kind owner of a beautiful cottage. With the way the calendar worked this year, our trip actually fell a week earlier, making it "seem" less than fall like...until we got up there. Tree's already changing. Air temps in the high teens with low's of 6 and 7 degree's. Water temps were 68'ish in the beginning of the week, dropping to 63 by the end of the week. During our June trip, the morning bite is often as good as the evening bite. However, each September trip we realize the morning bite is virtually impossible....as the night time lows drop the water temps almost 10 degree's...which eventually warm up as the day progresses. As such, morning fishing is a trying activity up there. We got out four of the seven mornings, but only managed to scrounge up a few smaller fish before about 11am. Strangely enough, this trip, the biggest fish were caught between 3pm and 7pm....a nice time for sleepy heads to be successful The average size was fantastic....with most bass coming in between 2.5lbs and 3.5lbs....all with big bellies. You could see, to these northern bass, their thoughts are already based on fattening up for winter. I used a variety of baits as usual, while my buddy John focused on the trusty senko. For me, tubes (but not flippin tubes, just 4.5" tubes), jigs, senko's, and a first for me, a punch setup all caught fish. My punch bait was a 1 ounce sliding weight with a double wide beaver and a punch skirt. Fun thing to use...At first I was hesitant throwing it, until bass started gobling it up. It was amazing to see 1lbs bass smash it as it punched through the mats and pads. Here's some of our better fish from the week. One Nickel and one Six (my personal best) - you can't complain! can't forget at least one photo of the TRUE slop HAWGS