September in Sunset Country

Before I hit the road in late September for the final stretch of Bassmaster Elite Series events, I took advantage of getting in the boat every chance I could around home. I'm biased but I think we have the best fishing opportunities in the World. I was able to fish a couple of tournaments and have some fun. Looking forward to some ice fishing now and already can't wait to put the boat back in the water in the spring! 

The highlight of the month was winning the Crow Lake Classic tournament with my wife Shelby. It was our third time fishing the tournament and a weekend we look forward to every year. The lake is loaded with bass and a lot of fun to fish. Thanks to the Hanson family for putting on this fun event year after year!

I also got to fish the annual Bassin' For Bucks tournament with my good pal Mike Reid. We had a great few days in the boat together and managed a fourth place finish. Another tournament that I look forward to year after year! Big thank you to the organizers of all of the events that took place this past summer around home, your hard work is apprecaited by all of the anglers!

The walleye fishing is excellent all year round - I'll be catching them through the ice in a couple of weeks - usually I'm more interested in catching a bunch of smaller ones to eat but we all love to catch these bigger ones too! This one was caught on a Z-Man Scented Jerk Shad rigged up on a jig head. 

We catch a bunch of lake trout too! 

This photo of Shelby was taken while we were prefishing for the Crow Lake tournament, it's just shows the beauty of our part of the World. We love living in NW Ontario! 

More walleye!!! 

Hopefully this Covid-19 pandemic that we've all been dealing with through 2020 will be over soon. Across Sunset Country we can't wait to see our friends from the U.S. return. Their visits are so vital to our economy here, we need to get past this virus and get that border opened back up! Stay safe everybody!

2020 Catch-Up

Man, where does the time go!  I have not been doing a great job keeping up with getting some content up here but I'll try and keep things up to date a little better moving forward.  Like everybody, we've been trying to get through 2020 and navigate the Covid-19 issues as best we can.  Luckily we have been able to fish some bass tournaments and Bassmaster has us fishing our entire schedule for the Elite Series, with several events yet to take place later this fall.

Earlier in July, Shelby and I fished a tournament together on Shoal Lake and took a 2nd place.  We had a great day of fishing and brought in a mixed bag of nice fish.  

In July we visited New York for tournaments at the St. Lawrence River and Lake Champlain.  It was a fun couple of weeks and the highlight of the summer for me.  I had a pair of good tournaments landing a 12th at the River and a 15th at Champlain.  I had a challenging first day at both events and finished strong so I am happy I made some adjustments that allowed me have good finishes.  

One of the key tools on my boat during that run out to New York was an Aqua-Vu underwater camera.  It's such a great aid in prefishing and scouting, fun to explore with.  This photo is of a couple of smallmouths I found on Lake of the Woods. 

I actually caught a bunch of my fish at these NY events with a home made marabou jig which was pretty cool...one of my favourtite ways to catch fish for sure! 

Earlier this spring Shelby and I did a bunch of shed hunting and while the deer numbers are not what they once were, we did okay and managed to find a few sheds!  It's a great activity to get a person outside and get some great exercise...and I use it as a scouting tool to look for hunting areas.  

Check out the video we put together from a couple of our adventures...

First Bassmaster Classic!!!

Back in March I was fortuante to compete in my first Bassmaster Classic, the Superbowl event of professional bass fishing, at Lake Guntersville, Alabama.  

It was an incredible experience and truly a dream come true for me.  I've followed this event since I was a little kid so it was great to compete.  I had a tough tournament, finishing in 31st place but I did manage to catch the big bass of day two with this 7 pounder!

It was awesome to have my whole family attend the event...especially since it was right before this Covid-19 disaster hit.  I'm very thankful that they all made the effort to attend!

The number of spectators and media that attend the Classic is second to none, which really makes it so special to be a part of it.  This was the 50th Classic as well, which was another milestone in the long Bassmaster history.

The day before the tournament all of the anglers participated in "Media Day", which was a lot of fun as well.  Getting some time in with my pal Fat Cat Newton right here.  If you don't follow him on social media, you should...the guy is hilarious!

This was my big bass right after I caught it...It came off the end of a shallow tree on a 1/2 oz Z-Man SlingBladeZ Spinnerbait.
THANK YOU to Bassmaster for putting on a great event!

 

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!   

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