2020 Season has Started!

It's been a crazy start to the 2020 season...cancelled days, postponed tournaments and now this Covid-19 virus stuff is hitting us all hard.  Hopefully we'll get a handle on things and get back to a normal way of life again. 

We have a little different look on the rig this year...Shimano, who is the parent company of G.Loomis, decided to brand my boat and truck wrap a little different this year and I like it!  I'm also proud to be representing the BEST fishing rods on the planet.  They are a pleasure to fish with and they absolutely help me catch more fish! 

Like I usually do, I hit the road south a couple weeks prior to the first event of the year down in Florida.  My good pal Jamie Bruce helped me with the big drive and spent a few days fishing with me.  The weather wasn't awesome as you can see from all the clothes we are wearing but we had fun and caught some nice fish.  It's always so fun for us, coming from snow and ice up in Canada, to get back in the boat!  

After Jamie went back north, Shelby and I made our first visit to the Florida Keys to visit our friends Scott and Nancy Bonnema.  It was a great experience...it's beautiful down there, lot's of fishing and scenery, awesome places to eat, it was a lot of fun!  

After the fun was over it was time for me to get to work!  We had our first Bassmaster Elite Series event of the season in early February at the St. John's River in Florida.  I had a tough first day and only caught three small keepers.  My second day went much better thanks to a limit including this 7 pounder.  I ended up with a 41st place finish, which earned me a few bucks as well as decent points so I'm not totally disappointed!  I'll do better in the coming events!  
Right now we're on a pause in the season, not totally sure when we're going to get back at it but I'll be ready when we do!   

Wired2Fish Videos

Ice Fishing 2020

We've been pretty fortunate thus far in 2020 to be having a fairly easy winter.  Great for our deer and wildlife in NW Ontario as well as for ice anglers.  I was in Florida for a few weeks through January and early February but I got quite a bit of fishing in before I went south and have been out quite a bit over the past few days on Lake of the Woods.  We have some of the BEST ice fishing opportunities in the World right here in Sunset Country. 

We've been catching a bunch of nice eater sized walleyes this winter...so we've been eating well!  A 1/4 oz Northland Buckshot Spoon is tough to beat and it is always my first choice for ice fishing for walleyes or perch.

Check out the full selection at the LOTW Sports Headquarters website (Buckshot Spoon link)

Over the last few years we've been getting good numbers of these big perch when we're ice fishing for walleyes.  It's a nice bonus because there is a bunch of action and they are great eating.  

The my 1/4 oz Buckshot Spoon - Pink Tiger is a good colour!  I always tip it with a minnow head. 

Shelbs with a nice pike!  

The Frabill Predator shelter is one of the biggest and best insulated flip-over shelters you can get.  I've used one for years, if you want a big sled to haul your gear in and then be able to fish comfortably with a buddy, this is the shelter you want.  

These lake trout are some of the funnest fish to catch under the ice and many waters across the region offer a shot at big fish.  Here is Sam Larsen from Northland Fishing Tackle with a nice one he caught.  

March is a great time to come and visit us in NW Ontario for an ice fishing trip, the season stay open for all species through the end of the month and you have a shot at catching some of the biggest fish of the year! 

We're Fishing the Classic!

After a tough start to the season, I had a good run in the second half of the season to finish 28th in points on the Bassmaster Elite Series and I have qualified to fish in my first Bassmaster Classic March 6-8 at Lake Guntersville in Alabama!  This is the biggest accomplishment of my fishing career, something I'm proud of and very excited for!

The highlight of the season took place in late-August at Lake Cayuga out in New York.  After a good tournament the week before at the St. Lawrence River where I landed a 12th place finish, I had a great week at Cayuga and ended up with a 2nd place finish.  

After leading the tournament for the final couple of days, it was a little disappointing to finish 2nd but it was a great tournament and I didn't leave a lot of opportunity out on the lake.  It was a lot of fun, that lake has a bunch of big bass in it! 

One of the highlights of the week at Cayuga was that my wife Shelby was there to experience everything with me...she is my best supporter and it was great to share this week with her!

The whole season on the Elite Series was a great experience.  I had so much fun with my crew of buddies that I stay with during the season - Seth Feider, Chris Groh, Chris and Cory Johnston.  We started a new tradition during the season as well...hooking up with our northern buddy Dave Mercer for Friday night dinners the weeks of the events.  Dave has been a big help throughout my career, including bringing me up on stage for my first seminar many years ago and simply giving me advice along the way, he's a good friend!  

Early Summer in Sunset Country

After I returned from Texas and Sturgeon Bay, it was time for a few weeks of fun fishing around home through May and early June.  The walleye season in NW Ontario opens every year on the 3rd Saturday in May and we are usually in for some of the best fishing of the year.  

Most of the walleye fishing I do is on Lake of the Woods - fishing is excellent with good numbers of fish and some big ones.  For anyone looking to plan a trip to visit us in Sunset Country, walleyes are the number one fish that most folks come here to fish for but we have top-notch fishing for a variety of species, year-round.  Check out the Sunset Country website to plan your next fishing trip!

I've mentioned it recently on my social media pages as well but you will very rarely find me on the water anymore during the summer without one of these Simms Fishing sun protection shirts.  They are light shirts, with a hood on them that really help cover your face, ears and neck from the sun...and they are comfortable!

In addition to walleye...we catch big pike here in NW Ontario year round!  This beauty came from Shoal Lake, a tributary of Lake of the Woods.  

After I few weeks at home I was back on the road to Alabama in mid-June for a Bassmaster Elite Series stop at Lake Guntersville.  Prior to getting to Guntersville I stopped at Lake Chickamauga (a lake above GVille on the Tennessee River) for a little warm-up.  My pal Jason Johnson joined me and we filmed an episode of the Lund Ultimate Fishing Experience...we had a great day and caught a bunch of nice bass on Chickamauga.  Look for the show to air this coming winter.  The tournament at Guntersville was my worst of the season...so we're not going to talk a lot about that one.  It was one that I was expecting to do well in, it just didn't happen. 

In early July I fished in the Shoal Lake Lake Bass Classic with my good buddy Karl Engstrom...I've fished this tournament since the mid-90s and it's one of my favourite places to wet a line so I always fish it if I can.  We won the tournament for the second year in a row with a mixed bag of smallmouths and largemouths, weighing identical 17.52 pound catches each day.  

On July 13, I married my best friend, Shelby Larson.  We had a beautiful wedding at our home, just west of Kenora.  It was an amazing day...I'm a lucky guy!  

Following the wedding I went to Rainy Lake for the annual Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship.  It was my 20th year in a row fishing this premier three-day tournament on one of the best smallmouth fisheries in the World.  Since 2007, John Peterson and I have fished the tournament together, we've won it a couple times and had a bunch of great days over the years but we had a tough tournament this past year...not even sure where we finished, but it was still fun and I'll always be there as long as I can!  Highly recommend this event for anybody looking for a new tournament to fish.