Lefaivre Lions 2011

June 25th, 2011

Ben Woo and I left friday night for a motel in Plantagenet for the Lions tourney. We did not practice at all for this event but with the high water levels, we were confident to find the fish quickly compare to last years conditions.

We had a strong East wind in the morning but it died down a lot in the first hour of fishing. We started fishing for smallies and managed to put 2 fish in the box quickly and missed maybe 2 more. They were taking the bait very lightly and it was hard to get a good hookset on them. After about 45 mins we decided it was time to go look for largies. We had to move fast and figure out a pattern quickly... with no practice we had to try a few different patterns in order to see what the fish were doing. We spent about 15 mins on an main river outside weedline but the water was so high and dirty that we didn't think the fish were there yet. The next move was to go deep into a bay and see if we got more action there. I was tossing the frog as far as I could and Ben was flipping different type of covers until I got the first fish on the frog. This fish wasn't holding tight to any cover and was kind of just roaming so I decided to continue casting the frog around and started getting more and more bites. It wasn't long before Ben decided to do the same and we were able to put a decent limit together very quickly. We probably had around 13lbs with a few hours left to fish when we decided to go back to the smallies hoping to cull 1 or 2 smaller largies that we had.

It was a bad choice since we weren't able to find even one smallie... We then headed back into another bay close by to find a kicker fish but it was too late... Too late too even get back at the launch in time for weigh-in apparently! We didn't calculate the run back properly and got back 8 mins late good for a DQ....

Our final weight would've put us in 25th place with 13.25lbs which is a considerable improvement over last year (without the DQ obviously).

Lesson learned I guess.... Now we know exactly how long that run takes! Overall we had a very fun day though and caught a lot more fish then we usually catch on the Ottawa River... All we needed was last year's 5lbs + kicker to have a shot at a top 10.

Online store for bass fishing in Canada! Finally!

June 22nd, 2011

Tired of paying for crazy brokerage fees to UPS, Fedex, Purolator, etc... The bassnerdz fishing team decided it was time to launch the first (that I know of) online bass fishing store in Canada. These guys are die hard bass fishing freaks who know their baits. They are up to date with the latest trends in bass fishing and they make sure to carry all the hottest baits out there. They also carry the dumz sticks that I have been using lately for most of my fish in a variety of crazy colors. Go check 'em out at www.bassnerdz.com!

Froggin for largies

June 21st, 2011

I was back on the water today with Caro and my dad for what was suppose to be a practice for The Lions of Lefaivre tournament next weekend but bass is not open in zone 10 until Thursday so we decided to hit Lake 2 Mountains instead. We had a light 10+km/h NW wind with air temps in the 20's.

We started by fishing a small river in the morning so I can get a feel of what the fish are currently doing... The mouth of the river was interesting and I wish we had spend more time there but we went in immediatly. Only to find incredibly dirty water less then 6 inches visibility ... We spent about 30 mins and were just about to leave when Caro hooked into something that bent her flipping stick in half. A 10lbs + blue catfish hammered her swimbait and gave her a fight that she will not forget. I've never been a fan of catfish or carp fishing but this catfish had me casted a few times to see if I couldn't get one of my own. Caro obviously didn't mind taking a picture of this ugly beast to say the least.

We then went for some more familiar areas to see what was going on this year with the high water. It only took about 5 mins for Caro to start putting on a froggin clinic (yes, again Caro outfishes everyone in the boat). She caught 3 decent largies in less then 20 cast before my dad and I decided it was time to do the same. We must of caught another 7 or 8 largies moving around on the trolling motor in the same area when I suddently got a brutal headache that had me put the rod down a few times.... It's a good thing I didn't stop because a big largemouth missed my frog only a few feet away from the boat.... I might of missed my frog, but I knew it was going to hit my jig. One flip and the fight was on! We took a picture and didn't think to weigh her but she looked like a solid 4lbs+. We fished an hour more and caught 1 or 2 fish but I couldn't take it anymore... 2 days of fishing with almost no sleep got the best of me.

Overall we had a nice day and I got to see the lake a bit. In my opinion some fish are still close to beds and slowly entering post-spawn patterns. Next stop is Lions of Lefaivre tourney next weekend. I will be fishing it with Ben Woo and since bass season is not open yet we are literally going to have no practice for it! We placed in 53rd out of 116 last year with a 5lbs largie caught by Ben less then a hour before weigh-in. Even without any practice I'm confident we can do better this year.

1 down - 3 to go!

June 18th, 2011

I was fishing with Caro today for our first Econobass tournament of the season. With the water being much higher then last year, I decided to take a gamble and make a bit of a run in the morning to an area where I was very confident we could get at least 3 good fish. Caro was quick to put a limit in the boat but it was a very small one with 5 fish in the 1-2lbs range. We were getting short bites and the water was so stained that we couldn't be sure they were bass and had planned to spend 2 hours max. I missed what looked like a heavy 3lbs smallmouth before we left for some more popular areas of the lake.... Something I should've done from the start, like I had originally planned. Tournament fishing is all about making decisions and that was a bad one..... Live and learn!

We still managed to cull many times with smallies and largies in the afternoon but we had to change one more fish to be have a chance at a top 10. We finished in 20th place out of 54 teams with a total weight of 13.35lbs... only 3lbs away from a top 5. Caro caught all her fish on her usual yamamoto secret weapon and mine came off a jig and a pig and a wacky rigged dumz sticks. I had the opportunity to test my new Demone batteries today with the strong wind and I have to say I am very impressed. I have not been fishing any big current but I have yet to see a diminution of power in a full day of fishing with them so far.

Bass season is finally here!

June 17th, 2011

It feels good to finally be back on the water hunting for some big bass!! Although the fishing season started over a month ago... The REAL season only started today!. My dad had to cancel Econobass this year due to health issues. It's nothing serious and we'll be fishing plenty of times together this season but tournament fishing can be extreme at times. I will be fishing Econobass with Caro, the Lions the Lefaivre with Ben Woo and the Berkley B1 with Marc-André Barretti along with a few Fishin-Canada.net ripples mixed in.

Unfortunately, I don't have any reports from my earlier trips to Lake Champlain but I was there twice in the spring and fishing was very interesting with the ridiculously high water. We fished the north side and didn't really hooked any big fish but it's always fun to fish this lake. It's unfortunate that the conditions were that bad... I would've loved to go a few more times.

I was also out for a few pike and walleye trips and we caught some nice ones! I caught my biggest pike on a small lake up north and Caro caught an 7lbs walleye on Lac St-Louis.

Here are a few spring fishing pics :