Steelhead Opener 2016

Was a super fun opener with the Arnott boys, but was very tough. Water was low, and not nearly as many fish as I expected. But camping out, eating soup and hotdogs over the fire, and freezing our butts off all night is really what it is all about.. VIDEO DROPPING SOON

Road Trip - Lake Fork

 What a week up in Texas fishing Lake Fork.. Fellow Canadian Joe Ford guides 3 months of the year on Lake Fork. Shawn McCaul, a very close buddy of Joe, has went to Lake fork to fish 3 years and a row now. Both Joe and Shawn have been bugging us for the last year to go down and experience the trip of a lifetime. It all started when Shawn told me "Im going to Lake fork in 2 weeks, You coming?" At first I thought it was a joke, but then I realized he was serious. I went home that night, and told my self "I gottttttta go.." Lake Fork is one of the best Lakes in the US for giant Largemouth Bass. This is an awesome place to go if you want to catch a personal best. I ended up calling my boss to ask for the time off work, and being the awesome boss he is, he had no problem. I face booked Shawn right away, and said "woooop, It's a go." Dan also got the time off school to come down, and Cliff came with his boat as well. Off we went to Lake Fork, 2 boats and a truck load full of food, cloths and fishing gear. Off we went. The drive down took us about 26 hours with stopping for gas/food, etc. but It was an exciting drive, and didn't feel long at all. The morning after we arrived, Shawn and Cliff both took their boats out, while me and Dan went for a fish with Joe so he could show us around the lake and how it fishes. It can be real scary running around the Lake outside of the Buoys' if you don't no the reservoir. There is a ton of standing timber left throughout the lake which is kinda scary. There are trees 2 feet below the waters surface in 40 feet of water.... After Joe had shown us all around the Lake we were ready to rock. It was a cool time to go because with the weather they have been having down there, the fish were all over the place. We were fishing for Pre Spawn and Post Spawn fish on Secondary and main lake points. We were also fishing for bedding fish in the shallows up creeks arms, and back coves. But with the pressure, and the amount of boats fishing the beds, we spent most time fishing main lake and secondary points to try and catch those big girls that were just about to move up onto their beds, or Post spawners coming off and moving back into the main lake. Throughout the rest of the week I fished with Shawn and Cliff. Me and Dan even took out Joe's and Shawn's boat for the evening when they went golfing. (Im surprised they trusted us..) lol. Up until the 2rd day of fishing, I had only caught 2 cute ones.. both under I2 inches. But Joe told us if we did catch a fish up on these shell beds throwing these giant swimbaits and topwaters, it would be a good one. And thats what we wanted. A big girl. I threw my topwater and my giant swimbait pretty well the whole trip up on these shell beds. On the third day, around 9am, the lake was dead calm, and we rolled up to a shell bed on the main lake off a point. There was a pelican, and a bunch of loons feeding on big gizzard shad that these giant Largemouth eat all year long. Within a few casts I had a good one explode on my topwater but I missed it. He ate it again and I stuck him good. I new it was a good one but wasn't too sure how big. At first I yelled over to Danny and Shawn in the other boat "it's about 4" Then it jumped and I yelled "5 or 6", Then it got boat side and Cliff said "It's bigger than that dude.." I lipped her and got it in the boat, my personal best Largemouth Bass. I was super stoked to not only catch my personal best, but to get the whole thing on film as well.. As the week went on, the fishing got better. Danny caught a 6 pounder the next day, and I caught another good one over 5 the morning we left. And the day after we left, Joe put his clients on 2 over 7lbs. a 5, and a couple 3's... 

It was also a super fun time hanging out with the Izumi and Macinnis family all week. Huge thanks Joe Ford for giving us this amazing opportunity and being an awesome guide, Scott at Fisherman's cove for the AMAZING hospitality, Steve for cooking all the delicious home cooked meals, and Cliff and Shawn for letting us come on such an awesome trip.

A week I will never forget.. I will be back next year....

Want to experience a trip of a lifetime? Catch a personal best?
Give Joe Ford a call (905 809 5144) or go to:
Joefordfishing.com

WOOOP

NEW Berkley Hardbaits

Berkley has recently came out with a brand NEW line of hard baits From Shallow to Deep cranks, Lipless cranks, and Jerkbaits. Cant wait to get my hands on some of these, they look wicked! It also comes with new packaging that has all the info you need to know about the bait. The packaging shows you the Key Features of the bait (Depth, length, wight, buoyancy, rattle vs silent, and colour) and each bait has a colour coded name to make shopping easier. All the baits also come rigged with the new lineup of Berkley FUSION hooks.

Product Overview:
- 6 Shapes
- Eleven models
- 22 colours (6 per shape)
- Custom paint look
- Retail $8.65 - $9.95

BAD SHAD (5 and 7)
- 2 models. 
- Action (slow rise)
- Dive depth (Badshad 5 - 6.5 ft) (badshad 7 - 8.5 ft.)
- Rattles

DIGGER (6.5 and 8.5)
- 2 models
- Dive depth (Digger 6.5 - 5 to 8 ft.) (Digger 8.5 - 7 to 9 ft.)
- Action (slow rise)
- Rattles

WARPIG (Lipless crank)
- 2 models (I/4 and I/2)
- Action (sinking)
- Rattles

PITBULL (Sqaure Bill)
- I model
- Floating 
- Dive depth (3-6 ft.)
- weight - 3/8
- Silent

WILD THANG (Square Bill)
- I model
- Floating
- Dive depth (6-9 ft.)
- Weight - I/2
- Rattles

CUTTER (ripbait/jerkbait)
- 2 models (Cutter 90+ and II0+)
- Action (Suspending)
- Dive depth (cutter90+ - 3-6Ft. cutter II0+ - 3-8Ft.)
- Rattles

SKINNY CUTTER (rip bait/Jerkbait)
- I model
- Suspending
- Dive depth - 3-7Ft.)
- Rattle

AGM Meeting

Hey Guys, This past weekend I attended the AGM meeting. We did a presentation on our experience at the B.A.S.S Highschool National Champonship in Tennessee! Was super fun to get up and talk about one of the best experiences of my life fishing on Kentucky lake. Even tho we didn't do very well, it sure was cool to get down there, meet new people, fish completely different water, and have such an awesome opportunity. We were so lucky to be able to do what we did with the Highschool program with Team Ontario and through the BASS Nation. The amount of support and help we had aswell was unbeleivable. I highly recommend any kids wanting to experiment what me and Dan did, to start a Highschool fishing club.. I can't even describe how awesome it really is. If anyone has any questions on how we did it or need help, feel free to send me a message!!! The 2 other juniors Tyler and Kyle also did a pretty awesome presentation of their experience as well. They ended up finishing 3rd! Charles Sim was also there to share his experience on his road to qualifying for the Bassmaster Classic. The second Canadian ever! Charles won the Ontario B.A.S.S Hank Gibson qualifier on Big Rideau which qualified him to fish in Conneticut with Team Ontario on the Connecticut River. He won the Eastern Division in Connecticut which qualified him for the BASS National Championship. The next step after the Nationals is the Bassmaster Classic, and He ended up winning the Nationals in his devision and he is now heading to the Classic in March!!! I am super pumped to be going to the classic this year to watch Charles compete against 50 of the best anglers in the world. If anyone is thinking about going, Rob jackson set up a bus to go down with 50 people. Facebook Rob if you would like to find out more about it. Its going to be a blast.... WOOOOOP

- COOP

Team Ontario - Highschool - Eastern Divisionals - Connecticut River

 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!

Ontario B.A.S.S Nation Qualifier - 2nd place

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 

Marshalling the B.A.S.S Elites on the St. Lawrence River

 A couple of months ago, a fellow angler, Dave Spence had brought up that he was going to Marshal the Elites on the St lawrence River at the end of July. It really made me think about doing it. Since I loved the St. Lawrence so much when I fished the B.A.S.S Eastern Divisionals last year, It really made me want to try and go. I talked to my parents, and being the awesome parents they are, they let me apply. I got excepted and was super pumped. I really didn't know what to expect. Hotel was booked at the Northern Family Motel, Bags were packed, and off we went. Registration was on the Wednesday, and the tournament started on the Thursday. Day one I drew Fred Roumbanis "BOOM BOOM". He caught a I9 lb. bag that day of smallies.. Day 2 I drew Brandon Card, and he had a I9 lb. bag of largemouth... and day 3, I drew David Walker and he got I believe another I8 pounds.. and on the final day I was not a marshal. Edwin Evers ended up taking the win, and Brandon Card made top I2 with green csh on the St Lawrence River...I drew amazing guys, who talked to me all day long, and even shared some info with me. I learnt a ton, and had an absolute blast. It really was one of the best experiences I have ever had. I liked it so much, that I convinced my parents to go to Michigan, Detroit to marshal another of the Elite events on Lake St. Clair. Gotta thank the parents, if it wasn't for them this wouldn't be possible, wooooooop, I can't wait