Fall was good!!!

After the Elite Series season wrapped up in July I was able to get home and enjoy the rest of the summer and fall doing a bunch of fishing around Sunset Country. It's a great place to live if you enjoy activities in the outdoors. In addition to a bunch of fun fishing, I fished several tournaments with friends and family over the past few months. 

Earlier in the summer I got the Humminbird Mega-Live forward facing sonar installed on my boat. This was the most significant piece of equipment I have ever had on a boat. It has literally changed the way I fish and has increased my catches on most bodies of water. It's incredible technology! Can't wait to continue learning with it in 2022! 

In August I fished the Kenora Bass International tournament with my long time buddy Chris Savage. We had a great weekend, landing 4th place. This tournametn is one of the originals in Canada, started way back in 1988 and still going strong today. Always one of the highlights of the summer for me!

In September I fished the Bassin' for Bucks tournament with Mike Reid. We've fished this event together since it started in 1996, it's another fun event with a full field of 120 boats every year. We took 3rd this year, three days of solid fishing on Lake of the Woods. Congratulations to Ashley and Jamie Bruce on the win!

The following weekend, Shelby and I fished the Crow Lake Classic and won it. We found a few good spots on this beautiful body of water and caught some nice smallmouths! We always have fun in the boat together, especially at this tournament put on by the Hanson family at their resort on the lake. Highly recommend this event for anyone looking for a good time...and again, the lake is beautiful with crystal clear water and pine covered shorelines. 

The Shoal Lake Last Chance tournament was next...have fished this one with my pal Dennis Favreau since the early 2000's. It's some of the best fishing we have in NW Ontario (for largemouth and smallmouth) and a great lake to fish tournaments on - it's big with lot's of options. We had a great weekend of fishing but didn't catch the big ones. Ended up 7th, I think.

In early October I fished the Whitefish Bay Fall Classic with my Dad. He started taking me in bass tournaments back in 1993 and gave me the bug...I'm grateful! We had fun but finished 12th after a tough first day. Second day went much better and he landed big largemouth of the day so we got our money back! 

The last tournament of the year took place north of Kenora on the English River/One Man Lake system. The Whitedog Kick'n Bass derby was a great way to end the season. My brother Ben and I teamed up and we had a great weekend, winning the tournament. Benny also caught his biggest smallmouth, a 5.13 pounder on day one. I spent three days prefishing for this event and they were some of the most enjoyable days I had all year. I had never fished this water before but it was incredible, not only for bass but for walleye and pike as well. It's a factory! Can't wait to go back next year! 

Following the tournament season, Shelby and I paired up to shoot an episode of the Lund Ultimate Fishing Experience TV show, which we did on Lake of the Woods. Had a great day, catching pike, walleye and smallmouth. It will air in early spring 2022. You can check out past episodes of the show at the link above. 

In addition to the fishing, we get out and do a little bit of hunting in the fall. Deer and moose but my favourite thing to do is get after the ruffed grouse that are plentiful around the region. They are great eating little birds and getting out to chase them around with friends is always a good time. 

2022 Bassmaster Classic bound!!!

It's been a busy 2021 and again, I apologize for not keeping up with everything on my website here! With all of the inconvenience crossing the border over the past year, Shelby and I ended up spending a good chunk of the year in the US and we made the most of our time down there in between tournaments.

It was a good season in the end. We won a tournament in February and despite a few tough events, we made the 2022 Bassmaster Classic, which was the goal at the start of the season. Going into the last two events out in New York I was outside the line for the Classic so there was some pressure to catch fish and make sure I got in there. With finished of 14th and 18th at Champlain and the St. Lawrence River, we got the job done. 

Big congratulations to my pal and travel buddy Seth Feider on winning the 2021 Bassmaster Angler of the Year! It's the most prestigous title in our sport and Seth had an amazing season to win in dominant fashion. He really didn't have a bad day all season! Proud of you man! 

I really enjoy fishing for spotted bass and we didn't have to many opportunities to fish for them this season. At Neely Henry Lake in Alabama in May I was able to catch a few during that event, which made me happy and they earned me a few bucks in that event! They are a beautiful bass, which we don't have up in Canada. 

I'm back home now for the rest of the year and it's been really nice. I've been fishing on Lake of the Woods a bunch, fishing a few tournaments, guiding a few days here and there, just really enjoying the last bit of summer that we have left. Our weather this time of year is so perfect, I love it! Throughout the season my boat, motor and equipment all worked great, thankful for that! My boat is my office so it's important that everything works properly! 

In June I got to fish my second Bassmaster Classic. It is the biggest event in our sport and its an amazing accomplishment in my World to get to fish in this tournament. The longtime tournament director of the Elite Series, Trip Weldon, came out of retirement to be the weighmaster one last time, so I was really excited to get a photo with him and Dave Mercer. We were in Texas so I had to rock the cowboy hat! 

One of the biggest pieces of news over the past few months was the release of the new G. Loomis NRX+ fishing rods. These are some of the finest fishing rods you can buy, and yes they are expensive and not for everybody but if you want the best, the lightest and the most sensitive rod, you should check them out! Lake of the Woods Sports Headquarters has a full line-up of them...click the link to check them out. 

The rest of the year you'll be able to find me around home, fishing a bunch! We have tournaments most weekends into October so I'm going to be fishing a bunch of those and keeping busy during the doing a few guide trips and getting out with my buddies. If you want to get out on the water, send me a message!

A Blue Trophy Comes back to Canada

After several years on fishing professional bass tournaments I finally earned my first win! It felt amazing! 
In late February at the Tennessee River, fishing out of Knoxville, Tennessee, I found an area with a large school of smallmouths that ended up being the winning fish.

I was fortunate to find the fish that I did. Heading into the event I didn't know what I really had but after I took the lead on day one, I knew that I had something special. It was pretty cool to do it in downtown Knoxville...one of my favorite cities in the U.S.

I ended up weighing twenty smallmouths over the course of the tournament. Smallmouths had to be 18" to keep at this event and it wasn't expected that limits would be caught so I was fortunate to find the fish that I did. I didn't plan to fish for smallmouths heading into this tournament, I just got lucky and found a few! 

I caught all of my fish on a Z-Man 4" Jerk ShadZ rigged on a 3/8 oz Smeltinator jig head from Lake of the Woods Sports Headquarters in Kenora. It's a bait that we all use a lot around home on Lake of the Woods and Rainy Lake, so it was something I was really comfortable fishing with. 

I caught all of my fish "moping" or Damiki rig fishing...hanging it under the boat, watching it on my electronics. I watched all but one fish that I weighed come up and bite my bait. My Humminbird Helix 10 2D sonar was the deal! I also found a lot of the rocks that I caught fish from on my MEGA 360 unit.

It was some fun fishing!
 

This is a video that Bassmaster put together with most of my fish catches from the event. THANK YOU to them for putting this together! 

It's been a decent start to the season! I put together a decent 24th place finish at the first event on the St. John's River in Florida, thanks to a few big largemouths.
After Knoxville I had a tough event at Pickwick Lake, Alabama, finishing 89th...including a zero on day one, my first goose egg. It's a crazy sport with all the highs and lows but I'm ready to keep this going this week in Texas!

Ice Fishing 2021

It was a much shorter ice fishing season than normal for me, essentially only getting the first part of the winter in. I left for Florida to start my bass tournament season late January and that was about it for me this year. I love ice fishing so that is a little bit disappointing but we had some fun when we went out! 

Most of the time when we got we get after the walleyes and perch on Lake of the Woods because the action is so good but I got on a couple of crappie hunts and had fun with them as well. This was a 15", biggest one I pulled up this season. Caught on a Northland Eye Dropper Spoon - my favourite crappie bait. I'll usually tip it with a couple of soft plastic maggots.

In addition to the great walleye fishing we are starting to see more and more quality perch out there on LOTW. They are excellent eating and provide some good action so I'm happy about it! I just use the 1/4 oz Buck-Shot Rattle Spoon that I use for walleye and perch hammer them just fine, especially the bigger ones that we want to catch. Tip the spoon with a minnow head and you're good to go. 
The new G. Loomis IMX PRO ice rods that made their debut this winter are beautiful works of art...Very sensitive, good actions and extremely light - if you are serious about fishing, you need to check these out! 

In addition to the Buck-Shot Spoons, Northland Tackle also has a new Glo-Shot Fire-Belly Spoon, that has a glowing capsule in the center of the bait, instead of a rattle chamber. It gives the bait some colour in the dark water beneath the ice and provides a slightly different action. We caught a bunch of fish on them as well. 
For full details on all of the new G. Loomis IMX PRO rods you can check them out here at the G. Loomis website. 

Many anglers change out the hooks on their hard baits for sharper, stronger trebles, or maybe we want a slightly larger or smaller size to better match the fish that we're targeting. I have been using the Gamakatsu G-Finesse Trebles for the past couple of years on all of my ice spoons and they are a game changer. They are so sharp, if a walleye breathes on your spoon you will snatch it. They are also strong for their thin diameter and come in handy if a large lake trout or pike grabs your spoon. Check out all of the different hooks that Gamakatsu offers at their website.

Elite Series Fall Run

Because of postponed events earlier in our crazy 2020 year, we had the final four Bassmaster Elite Series events of the 2020 season in October and November at Guntersville, Santee Cooper, Chickamauga and Lake Fork. Typically our season is done in the summer so I had not had a lot of experience fishing down south in the fall. 

Fortunately, things went pretty well overall on this trip and I have qualified for the 2021 Bassmaster Classic which will take place in March at Ray Roberts Lake in Texas. I ended up finishing 28th at Guntersville, 9th at Santee, 21st at Chickamauga before throwing down a bomb at Lake Fork, finishing 83rd, probably the worst finish of my career. 

At Guntersville, a frog was a key bait for me...also caught a few at Chickamauga on it as well. The new Z-Man Leap FrogZ and the Jackall Kaera both put fish in the boat. I was throwing them on a G. Loomis IMX-PRO Frog Rod, 65 lb Power Pro with a Shimano Curado reel - all available at LOTW Sports Headquarters.

The fishing at all of these fall events was tough. At Santee I was fortunate to catch my biggest bass of the year - a 9-7 giant that won big bass of the tournament. It also helped carry me into the top ten. It really went a long way! This lake is full of big fish, fall is just a tough time to fish this place. 

My good friend Carl Jocumsen finished 2nd at Santee and really helped me out a lot as far as getting on the right program to catch a few fish. I caught all of my fish punching heavy mats with a Z-Man Palmetto BugZ, rigged with a Gamakatsu Extra Heavy Flipping Hook, 65 lb Power Pro, fished on a G. Loomis GLX 894 rod. Here are Carl and I comparing notes in the bag line before weigh-in. 

Lake Fork was kind of a disaster for me, I caught one small bass each day, pretty hard to believe but I just didn't get on a program there and what I thought was going to work for me, just didn't. It's crazy because I had a great tournament at Lake Fork the year before but that's fishing. We're hitting Fork again in 2021 so I'm looking forward to turning it around at that place. 

A big thanks to Bassmaster for making it possible for us to fish our entire schedule this year! I'm grateful that we got the opportunity and that I was able to get over the border to fish. Competing in these events is my main source of income and not being able to guide a whole lot because of the Covid restrictions we had, I would have been in big trouble.

Huge thank you to all of my sponsors and supporters as well! I'm a regular guy and all of the help is greatly appreciated! See you all in 2021!