Just got home from the Connecticut river this past weekend with Team Ontario, and it was a blast. We arrived in CT on Saturday night and pre-fished sunday-wednesday. Our coach didn't show up till monday night so we fished sunday with Team member Frank Ramsay and on monday we fished with Doug Brownridge who also made the team last year when we fished on the St. Lawrence River! Doug and Frank have both fished the Connecticut River before and we learnt a lot from them in the 2 days we fished with them. I've never fished tidal water before and it was pretty cool learning it. We had 2 days to pre fish with our coach Forrest Weiller and it was a grindddd. This time of the year is one of the toughest time to fish on the river. 5 bites a day would be awesome. Going into day one, we had some spots that we were confident in. We hit most of our weigh points, and didn't catch a fish till about noon when we went back to one of our spots at the same tide we went to it during pre fish. Prefish was nothing like our tournament day. Durring pre fish we were doing a lot of casting and winding with chatter baits, spinner baits, crank baits, and jerk baits, but day one the fish decided to slow down for some reason. We really had to slow down and we caught 4 fish on our one spot on texas rigged senko's. We were fishing a main river flat with rock, sand and weed with heavy current. We caught 4 fish really quick before we had to make our I hour run back to weigh in. Ive never been so pumped to not even catch a limit.. Day one we lead the tournament with 5.5pounds.. but did not have much of a lead and needed to get a limit on day 2 to have a chance at winning this thing. Day 2 comes around and we hit all of our spots we had fish on during practice. We spent the majority of our day on the same main river flat but just couldn't get them to go. The fish were there, but we couldn't get them to bite. Sometimes thats just how it goes.. We ended up going from Ist place to last place.. Just goes to show if your leading day one, it means nothing, but to work your butt off day 2 and try to catch em again. You gotta catch em 2 days in a row, but we just couldn't get them to go like we did day I. Even tho we finished last for the Highschoolers, words can't describe what it feels like to get back up on that BASS stage. I get the chills every time I walk up onto it. It was our last year to fish as Highschool students, but we made Team Ontario again as seniors for 20I6!!! We could be travelling as far as florida, and I am pumped! Im super lucky, and without the help of my parents and friends, this wouldn't be possible. A HUGE thanks to our previous high school coaches David Chong(Sturgeon Lake OBN high school Qualifier) , Tony Chimiri (St lawrence river Team Ontario) , Stan Pilarczyk (B.A.S.S high school Nationals) and Forrest Weiller (Connecticut River Team Ontario), our youth director Doug Ferguson, Laurie Charlebois for all her hard work with the team the last few years, my parents, all the guys from Team Ontario, B.A.S.S, Ontario BASS Nation, Port Perry bass masters, and everyone else who helped out! The list is HUGE, wooooooooop and a Massive congrats for Charles sim for winning for our team and will be heading to the nationals within the next 2 months at a shot at fishing the Bassmaster Classic.. Go Charles!
Just got home, What a weekend! We went up to Lake Erie for the Ontario BASS Nation Qualifier. We were originally going to fish as high school students again and try to make the team, but found out we were too old for the program now so we had to fish as seniors. Going from a high school student to fishing against kids our age was a lot different than fishing as a non with all the seniors.. I was pretty pumped going into this event as I have never fished as a non before. The day before our tournament we were told we might not be able to fish the tournament because 4 boats backed out, and we were the last ones to sign up. Because of all the amazing guys from OBN, the local marina, all the boaters and volunteers, they got most of the boats fixed and ready for day one. There was an even amount of nons and boaters and me and Dan found out we were able to fish. We were pumpeeeed! Day one I drew Joey Turk. We started at a underwater point in about I0 feet and fished all the way in to about 3 feet. We caught lots of fish in the morning and had our limit before 9. We saw a couple big ones cruising but couldn't get them to bite. both our limits were small so we decided to move, fish deep and try to get some bigger bites. We tried to dropshot and drag tubes out deep but couldn't get anything to go so we went back in shallow to a big shoal. I was throwing a spinner bait and a decent fish followed me to the boat, so I dropped that rod, picked up a tube and the fish went right up to my bait, sniffed it then swam away close to a big boulder. I tried to through a senko and nothing... so I threw my tube back down, started to drag it and a fish picked it up. I set hook and a fish close to 5 jumped out of the water. I was so pumped because I caught the bigger one I didn't even see. I got lucky. If it weren't for that big fish, I would have had a small weight. I ended up weighing in just under 9 pounds for a three fish limit day one, sitting in I6th place. Big shoutout to Joey for the fun day on the water.
Went home, re tied all my leaders/knots and got ready for day 2. I figured that I would need at least ten pounds to make the team. Day 2 I drew Jeremy Baird. Jeremy Baird only got 4 pounds day one, but we figured them out day 2. We came up to Jeremy's first spot, and started to dropshot. We marked a big school underneath us, but they were all I2 inch fish. We gave it about half hour and left. We went to another spot with beautiful chunk rock and sand. We had a good feeling about the area. Within just a few minutes Jeremy lost one over 4 on a spinnerbait. It was a little cloudy in the morning and was harder to spot the fish below the boat so we were just trying to cover some water. I caught three half decent fish pretty quick, and got my limit early. I ended up getting one good one in the boat around 4 pounds and I had a good feeling I could make the team with the weight I had, but I needed 2 more good ones to seal the deal.. I was throwing a brown tube pretty much all day. I would long bomb it, let it hit bottom, drag it for about 5 feet, then reel in and cast again. I got most of my bigger fish doing this. The fish were so aggressive that if there was one there, it would hit within just a couple seconds. Almost every fish we sight fished we caught. I got lucky, we fished a big flat with lots of fish that were aggressive and were biting all day long. At one point I forgot I was even in a tournament! haha, it was honestly such a fun day on the water! The day panned out perfectly, and I ended up getting the weight I wanted. A HUGE thanks to Jeremy Baird for the fun day on the water. I ended up weighing II.5 pounds. I had a very good feeling I made the team, but I was hoping Danny got another good bag too. After day one, Danny was leading the event as a non with just over I2 pounds. We both wanted each other to do good so we could make the team together again like we did together as high school anglers. Danny got a decent bag day 2 and we both had a chance. I ended up climbing the leader board from I6th to 2nd place to make the team, and Danny also made the team coming in 4th. I did a lot better than I hoped and I was beyond excited. I would have never thought of making the Team 2 years in a row fishing the Highschool series then fishing as a non and making it again. I have been really lucky, and have had tons of support from tons of people. The list is ginormous. Thanks to everyone who has helped out and made this possible, especially my parents.
Team Ontario 20I6 has an awesome bunch of guys, and I am PUMPED for next years championship.
Coop
