Econ-O-Bass Registration day!

Feb 21st, 2010

We had a blast at the Econ-O-Bass meeting today. It was nice to see everybody again and talk about fishing. We were already at 40 teams by the end of the day with some very good teams registered this year. The competition should be very interesting even if the best anglers will be fishing with either their son or their wifes. The season should start very soon with some walleye fishing in March and some Bass and Trout in April. CAN'T WAIT!

You can see pics of the meeting on fishin-Canada.net (http://www.fishin-canada.net/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3053&PN=1)

Part of the Fishin-Canada Pro-Staff team

Feb 7th, 2010

I am now officially part of the Fishin-Canada.net Pro-Staff. I would like to thank Mike and the fishin-canada crew for letting me be part of the team. Fishin-Canada is one of the few good Canadian fishing website with a quality forum where people can exchange and talk about fishing. We just created a new french section on the forum and I will try to be as active as possible and maybe even recruit a few guys to get it going!

I am looking forward to representing Fishin-Canada both in french and in english for 2010!!

B1 Registration & Fishin-Canada Swap and Sell

Feb 6th, 2010

Although there was no fishing involve, this was kinda of a big weekend for me. It started saturday morning at 5:45am for my B1 registration. I wanted to send my registration as soon as possible to secure a spot in the top 50. I ended up with #4 which is not bad considering at least 30 people were up trying to the same thing!! Now I know I will be launching with the first wave. For more info about the Berkley B1 visit Fishin-Canada.net .

I then proceeded to the first ever Fishin-Canada Swap & Sell at the anglers club in Lachine. It was nice to see the guys and finally be able to talk about fishing. I was also there to pick up a few orders I had placed for next season. I don't think I've ever bought this many lures before but at least they are all the same color now... or almost! I think I won't have to buy any tubes for the next 2 years with this order.

A few pics of the meeting:

More gear!

Jan 13th, 2010

After adding a few new rods to my arsenal, I decided it was time a little upgrade for my reels as well. Thanks to some buddies, I was able to find a few good deals on some pretty decent reels!

For baitcast, I will be mostly using Revo's next season. I now have 2 Revo Premiers, 1 Revo STX, a Shimano Curado, a Daiwa Zillion and a Pflueger Summit. I'm looking at maybe adding a Revo Winch to the line up but I think I could probably start the season with what I already have.

Now for spinning I was very impressed with the Pflueger Supreme XT... I honestly think that for the price those reels are hard to beat! I just purchased 2 of them and I can't wait to see how they will handle those mean brown fish! I have a feeling I might add 2 more of those yellow reels to match my new St-Croix's!!

I've also added 2 new rods to the collection. A 7'3" MH St.Croix Avid series that I will be using for pitching and a 7' H (Slop n' Frog) St.Croix Legend Tournament which i'm still debating if i'm going to use for froggin or flipping... Perhaps both, only time will tell!

My next acquisition should be 1 or 2 finesse rods for wacky, drop-shot and tubing. Yes... I need to have multiple tube rods!!

St.Croix Rods Pro-Staff

Jan 12th, 2010

I did it!! It was a lot of work putting my sponsorship proposal together but thanks to M. Ben Woo for all the tips and advice I was able to officially seal the deal last night. I look forward to represent St.Croix on and off the water for 2010!

Thanks to Jean-Martin Landry for giving me the opportunity to join the St.Croix Team. I was already a big fan of those rods but this sponsorship deal will allow me take it to the next level for 2010!

New gear for 2010!

Dec 16th, 2009

It came to my attention this fall that my equipement (mostly rods) might have to be upgrated if I ever want to take bass fishing to the "next level". I've already started shopping and added a 7' M (Tube) St.Croix Legend Tournament to my arsenal. I haven't caught a fish on it yet but it's by FAR the most sensitive rod I have ever had.

I couldn't wait till Christmas and I decided to give Caro her gift in advance. A brand new St.Croix Avid Pearl Series. She is so happy about it that she's already been practicing her flipping skills in the basement. By next season she should be ready to flip some thick mats with me and hopefully catch as many largemouths as possible!

If my budget allows me, I should be adding a few more "blue rods" in my rod locker for next season. I just can't believe how light and sensitive these rods are... I can only imagine how sensitive the St.Croix Legend Extreme series rods must be. I will also be looking to upgrade my trolling motor and perhaps my electronics as well. I have also added a few new revos (premier and stx's) and if everything goes well, I should have a new Stradic CI4 for my St.Croix.

Soon I will start going through all my fishing gear and sell a lot of it. I should have a few rods and reel for sale and tons of baits as well.

New rods and more fall fishing pics!

2009 Season Wrap-up!

Dec 16th, 2009

I have been slacking off big time on the blog.... The end of the season was so exciting I didn't even get the chance to sit down and update my blog. Thanks to some friends I was finally able to break the 20lbs mark not once but twice this fall. We had a 20.7lbs bag and another close to 23lbs with a 6lbs lunker. Late fall has been has been simply awsome... To my surprise most smallies were caught fairly shallow and they were quite active for the water temps we had. Last fishing trip this year was on Dec 5th with Caro.

I was fortunate enough to meet some very experienced anglers this season and they have helped me improve my game big time! I still have a lot to learn especially about largemouth but i'm confident that next season will be even more amazing.

Plans for 2010 was to fish Superbass, Econobass, Berkley B1 and most of the local tournaments I can find. Superbass has been put on hold for now so the plan is to get familiar with new bodies of water such as Massawipi, Ottawa River, Morrisburg, Champlain, Richelieu, 2 mountains and Memphremagog for a possible 2011 Probass Canada Series.

Here are a few pics from our last few fishing trips this fall :

Battling the NE winds!

October 18th, 2009

We were out again a bit later then usual today with Dave and Caro for another try at some fall smallies. Water temps are still in the low 50's in most areas we fished but the fish are still biting well with a slower approach. We started shallow on two spots and I was the only to get a bite on the tube. Dave and I tried moving baits for a while in shallower water and I only got one follow.... I knew right away that we had to switch to a slower presentation. It wasn't until we tried drifting in deeper water that I hooked a good 4lbs smallmouth on the drop shot. Caro followed with a nice one just as big shorty after. I knew this drift was hot so I decided to do it over a few times while they were biting. Caro and I were catching them but Dave was having a hard time and he was feeling the pressure!! Guys hate to see someone else catch fish when they are not.... and now... he was being outfish by a girl!! :P He finally caught his first fish and it was good one but not as big as the two momma's Caro and I had caught.

We decided to try the same pattern in a few similiar areas and caught fish here and there but nothing big enough... We stopped fishing it was past 6pm and the sun was almost out! We must of caught over 20 smallies today and some really decent fish but we were still missing one or two giants! I know they are there somewhere and it's only a matter of time before I find at least one.

You gotta hate those NE Winds!!

October 17th, 2009

I was suppose to take a kid fishing today on St-Louis but they were announcing strong NE Winds and cold weather... I had to postpone my trip on Lake St-Louis with Gabriel but I promised him we were going to get a decent day before the end of the season! Caro and I decided to try a calmer area on a different lake where I knew the wind wouldn't be that bad. We felt a bit lazy this morning and decided to trade a few hours of fishing for a bit more sleep!! We've been having a few cold nights recently so i'm pretty sure the morning fishing is not as good anyways (yeah right.. who am I kidding?). Water temps are now in the low 50's in most areas.

I decided to try a few areas I had marked on my GPS that could potentially hold some good smallies. Caro hates it when I try new spots because she wants to catch fish and she wants to catch them NOW!! It was a good thing I tried though because I caught the biggest fish of the day on this new spot!! It's always nice when you mark a spot on the GPS before actually going and when you get there you catch a 4lbs+ ..

We drifted for the remainder of the day all the way till 6pm and caught some fish but it wasn't a very productive day afterall. The NE winds coming at 15-20kmh is really making it hard to drift properly over my good spots and I wasn't able to make the right ajustments before the end of the day.

More fall footballs!

October 12th, 2009

I was back on the water again with Marc-André today to try to find more spots for next year. Marc and I decided we are going to do the SUPERBASS trail (superbass.ca) so we are trying to find as many spots as possible for next season. Water temps were still in the mid 50's and we had a 10kmh W wind for most of the day.

We started shallow as usual and caught a few smallmouths in the 2.5lbs range. It didn't take long before we decided to go find some new drifts in deeper water... The first few drifts didn't really pay off.. I was trying to explore the areas I had fish with my dad 2 days before but it seemed like the fish had moved a bit. We finally managed to get one or two fish over 3+ and made sure to mark them on the GPS... We continued on with our drifts picking up fish here and there when I finally hooked something that felt more then decent. She was fighting more then any other fish this season.... After a hard fought battle, Marc was able to net her for me and we both couldn't believe how big it was. Not long after my big fish, Marc also hooked another good one in close to 30fow. At that point we thought we might have a chance at a 20lbs bag for our 5 biggest if we could catch one or two other 3-4 pounders.

Unfortunately, we had to call it a day and I knew we were around the same weight as usual... I was really anxious to see how much my big fish weight though. After having another good look at her I was quiet sure she was over 5lbs and I usually guess too light that way i'm always happily surprised if it's heavier. My dad and I had lost the scale at the fall tournament so this was a brand new scale (the same berkley TEC). The weight showed 4.10lbs.... We weighed it 3 times just to make sure and that's pretty much what it was give or take an ounce every time. Now that I think of it, we should've at least measure her because she felt and looked much bigger then the 4lbs i've been catching lately. I will try to test the scale with some sort of weight to see if maybe it's off?!

Overall, it was a very nice day for Team Belanger-Barretti with another bag of about 18lbs. We've been catching so many nice fish lately and i'm pretty sure the huge ones will come soon!