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.  

2019 Season in Review - Part 1

First off, for everybody who checks in here throughout the season I apologize for not keeping up the blog part of the website.  Between my writing assignments, keeping up the social media pages and fishing as much as I can, I kind of forgot about this but that will change in the coming months.  Look for frequent reports, good photos and some great fishing and hunting information.  Here is a look back at the 2019 fishing season:

After a rough start to the season in the first couple of events, I got things back on track at Lake Hartwell in April.  Mixing a combination of spotted bass and largemouths I landed a 13th place finish at one of my favourite lakes in the south.  

Traveling around the continent to fish requires quite a bit of gear so in between tournaments, this is a common occurance...switching out rods and tackle depending on where we're fishing.  I'm very lucky to have such a great, versatile boat - a Lund 2075 Pro-V Bass - it has a ton of storage so I can bring whatever gear that I want with me, it's a huge deck to fish from and it's good in big water.  

One of the most important pieces of gear that I carry with me on road is my Yeti Tundra 35 cooler.  We usually rent houses at the different lakes that we visit and stock up on groceries for the week.  I can carry whatever food I want with me on the road in between tournaments and have some good drinks while on the long drives. Essential part of the team!  

In early May we visited legendary Lake Fork, Texas and after a tough first day I had three great days in a row to earn my first top ten finish on the Bassmaster Elite Series with a 5th place finish.  I caught schooling fish shallow in the mornings on a Z-Man Jerk ShadZ then caught fish on offshore structure the rest of the day, mostly on crankbaits.  It was a fun week!

At Lake Fork we actually weighed our fish in the boat because of the protected slot size that they have there...but if we caught a bass over 24" we were able to bring it in to show the crowd and then the Texas Parks and Wildlife would sample the fish for their Share-A-Lunker program.  This one was a 7+ pounder that was part of my 27-12 final day bag!

After Lake Fork we were supposed to fish at Fort Gibson Lake in Oklahoma but that event was cancelled due to high water.  So my pal Seth Feider and I teamed up for the annual Sturgeon Bay Open tournament on Lake Michigan.  This is one of my favourite open, team tournaments and you are guaranteed to catch some giant smallmouths out there.  We had a mediocre first day limit that weighed around 21 pounds but on day two we cracked a 27+ limit to finish in the top 20.  It was a fun few days out there.  

New Tournament Season Underway

The 2019 Bassmaster Elite Series season got started back in early February at the St. John's River in Florida.  Shelby and I went down to Florida a couple weeks before the tournament to get the new Lund 2075 Pro-V Bass in the water and escape some of our Canadian winter. 

Shimano is a huge sponsor for me again this year and they have helped me out with wrapping my boat and truck.  The rig looks pretty good!  

The new boat is a fishing machine, loaded up with all of the best equipment from Humminbird, Minn Kota, T-H Marine and an Atlas Jack Plate.  

• Minn Kota Ultrex
• Humminbird Helix 10
• Humminbird 360 
• T-H Marine Kong Mount
• T-H Marine Hydrowave
• T-H Marine G-Force Handle
• Shimano Reels
• G. Loomis Rods

The first tournament at the St. John's River was not how I wanted to start out my Elite Series career.  I only managed to bring in two fish on the first day then rounded up a limit on day two for a 61st place finish. 

The next event at Lake Lanier was one that I was looking forward to for months.  After fishing an FLW Tour event at Lanier last year, I have called my favourite lake in the southern U.S.  It is the best spotted bass fishery that I have ever visited, a really nice place.  
I had a great first day of the Lanier event, leading the tournament after day one, bringing in a limit weighing 19-2.  Unfortunately on day two I was only able to muster up two fish and dropped to 48th place.  Not sure how I managed to do that but it happened.  One of those days!  
The Bassmaster crew did cover my first day here: Day One Lake Lanier

The new Minn Kota Ultrex with the Down Imaging transducer built into it REALLY, REALLY impressed me at Lake Lanier.  It's nice having a split screen with a look at traditional sonar on one side and D.I. on the other side to really distinguish what is under the boat.  That is a school of spotted bass next to a brush pile, pretty cool stuff. 

I have some of the best sponsors in the industry that allow me to get out there and fish...there are still seven tournaments left this season so I'm sure I'll have plenty of good days!  The next event is the first week of April at Lake Hartwell, South Carolina...I'm looking forward to getting back at it! 

I just did an interview with my friend Lawrence Gunther and his radio show Blue Fish Radio - you can check it out here: Interview with Lawrence & Gussy