Berkley B1 - 6th place finish!!!

October 3rd, 2010

Day 2 was a bit different as the wind completely switched from W to E.... It wasn't blowing hard but it made our drifting a little more challenging. Again, our first spot produced a 4lbs that was lost on the first jump... Seems like I have to lose at least one good fish every tournament and I was hoping that was the last lost fish of the day.

Our 2nd spot did not produce a single fish but we didn't let it affect us because we had plenty of other areas to check out and we were keeping our best area for later. I went back to my deep water weedline and we managed to catch 1 or 2 fish in the 2.5lbs range. At that point the Berkley B1 boat came and exchanged our observer for a camera man for the rest of the day. I tried to not being affected by the camera but Bar and I got a little distracted.... We had never been filmed before and even if we tried to ignore him, it still felt different then usual. We moved to a plan "B" spot that had produced well in practice and I hooked into an 7-8lbs drum that almost gave me a hard attack. For a few seconds Bar and I thought we had a enormous smallie on the line but soon got very disappointed when it finally came to the surface.

We had kept our best drift from day 1 for last and it was a big mistake.... Doug Brownridge and Dave Chong were on it when we got there I knew it had been hit hard and properly.... Those guys are some of the top bass anglers in Canada but we gave it a shot anyways. We still caught 1 or 2 fish on it that help us a little bit but we had only around 15lbs and were desperatly trying to get rid of a 2.7lbs.

We were running out of time and had to make a big decision... I looked at Bar and said : "Where can we get a big fish". We had the same spot in mind so we left our main area for this spot which was closer to the weigh-in. In the first pass Bar caught a 3+ and we were finally able to get rid of that smaller fish. According to Bar, we had a little over 16lbs and not a lot of time to get back to the weigh-in... We were also concerned with the NE winds that can make the lake very nasty. To our surprise the lake was fairly calm for the basscat but apparently very rough for the camera man that had never been in a bassboat before. We must of passed over 10 boats on the way back and got back to the dock with about 30 mins to spare.

The drive by weigh-in was simply amazing.... It was so nice to see our families and friends in the crowd cheering for us as well as the bass fishing fans that came to see the show. The weights were coming in slowly and most of them were not very big... We were almost at the stage when we heard it took about 34lbs to be in the hot seat. I knew we had no chance to win it with the big teams coming behind us but I started believing we had a chance at a top 10.

We weighed our fish for a total of 16.58lbs which was good enough for 6th place overall!! Our day 2 weight was enough to bump us one spot higher in the standings and put a HUGE smile on our face. We had officially surpassed our expectations with a top 10 in the biggest bass fishing tournament in Canada. Needless to say were happy about our result.... Talk about a way to end the 2010 tournament season. Bar and I have been looking up to people like Bob and Wayne Izumi, Mike Desforges, Dave Chong, J-M Landry, Gary Gaussiran, Mark Currie, Charles Sim to name a few and to be able to beat some of them in the most important event of the year on a body of water they know very well is beyond satisfying. We knew we couldn't bring bags in the 25lbs range but we were very confident to be able to bring 16 to 18lbs any day of the week and we did.

Congratulations to Jacques and Stéphane Chopin for their impressive win. I had Mark Currie to win it and he came in 2nd place less then a pound from 1st place.

Thanks to Ben Woo, Mike Boudreau and their team for putting together such a quality event that some qualified just as good or better then FLW and B.A.S.S events in the US.

Also, big thanks to my sponsors especially St.Croix rods for giving the opportunity to fish with higher quality rods. They have played a major role in my success his year. My favorite rod for this body of water is by far the Legend Tournament Bass - Tube model. I will be looking at getting a similar rod but in the Legend Extreme series for next season.

Few pictures of day 2 :

Berkley B1 - Day 1

October 2nd, 2010

What can I say.... I'm still on cloud nine. Marc-André aka Bar and I sticked to the game plan and it paid off. We started our day battling our first spot with Mike Desforges and I tried to not be intimidated but couldn't help looking at who I believe is arguably the best smallmouth angler in Canada with so many wins under his belt. We raced to a tiny area on a sand flat with the trolling motor but probably ended up spooking any fish that was there. The 60-80mm of rain had made the shallow water REALLY muddy and I was starting to wonder if my fish were going to be there at all. I didn't want to waste time fishing shallow in that muddy water so we moved to a nearby drop off and missed a 4+ at the boat. At that point I was VERY upset and tried real hard to focus on my next fish instead of the one I had just missed.

It wasn't until our 2nd spot that I was able to put a decent 3lbs+ fish in the livewell. We then proceeded to a few deep water drifts that didn't really pay off as we had expected. At that point, I decided to move to a safer spot on a deep weedline where I can usually catch a limit quickly but ended up catching a 4lbs on the first pass. We tried the same drift again and lost a good fish that cut my line. Lesson learned... I will now fish with heavier fluoro leaders and check my line way more often. I also lost another decent fish when my leader broke... another thing that never happens.

By noon we only had 3 fish in the boat and needed to adjust and make another major decision. There were a lot more boats then I had expected in the part of the lake I was fishing and Bar had noticed that one of our drifts had been untouched since the beginning of the day. The wind was also perfect for this drift so we decided to give it a shot. On the first pass Bar caught a 4.13lbs smallie and from that point it was getting very interesting. We drifted that spot a few times and managed to get 2 more good fish from it. We figured we probably had 17+ lbs being very conservative.

We headed back towards the weigh in early knowing we had a decent bag and I also wanted to make sure to be one of the first team to weigh-in. Having lost a few fish this year I didn't want to take the chance of losing one at the biggest event of the year. We got there way earlier then we thought so we stopped on a spot that had produced many 5lbs smallie in the past but the fish were no where to be found. All our fish on day 1 came off tubes in about 12-25ft of water.

Our 5 fish for day 1 weighed in at 18.51 and kept us in first place for quite awhile. We couldn't believe the amount of zero that came in. Guys that usually come in with nothing else but 20lbs+ bags couldn't even find 5 fish..... Bar and I started to get really nervous and then a few bags over 20 started to come in but nothing in between. To our surprise we were sitting in 7th place after day 1. We went back home early to prerig some tubes and come up with the final game plan for day 2.

Berkley B1 Practice

Sept 2010

I was able to put in a few days of practice mostly on weekends for the Berkley B1 but I've fished the St-Francis enough and I know that my fish are going to be where they are suppose to be. I checked out a few new things hoping to find new areas that would hold fish over 4lbs and we did every time we were out. Practice pretty much went just as planned with bags between 15 and 18lbs. I know its going to come down to the type of weather conditions we are going to have to face come tournament day and I'm somewhat confident having fished so many different conditions on this lake before. Big winds, rain and cold is what I need because I know most of my fish won't be affected by it. Marc-André and I are so pumped about this event and I really hope we can not only fish the second day but do well and perhaps even dream of a top 30.

We will see what happens! Time to clean and prep the boat to make sure everything is safe and tight for the tournament.

Few pics of decent fish caught in practice

Payback!

Sept 13th, 2010

Marc-André, my dad and I really needed to hook a fish over 2lbs after our miserable weekend in Val des Bois. We headed to a nearby basin to hook some monsters and we did!! It didn't take long before I hooked the first fish of the day and it was well over 4lbs... My dad missed a few fish and it wasn't Marc-André's best day but I caught a few more fish over 4lbs on hard and soft jerkbaits. Can't wait to go back there in the fall to see if I can get a crankbait bite going.

Econ-O-Bass Classic

Sept 11-12, 2010

My dad, Caro and I headed to the Econobass Classic with a bunch of friends without any practice and we had never even been on that body of water. From what I was told, the place was packed with tiny fish and 2lbs bass were what we were looking for.

Day 1 was a disaster as we were only able to get 4 fish for a total of 5.26lbs. We caught tons of fish but all under 12" .. It was hard to put a pattern together since everywhere we went it looked like the perfect bass habitat. On day 2 the condition changed we needed to fish much slower to get bit. Again I wasn't able to figure out a "big" fish pattern and we brought back a disappointing bag of 5.23lbs for a 26th place.

Looking back at things I would probably fish this place differently. I definitely learned a lot about this body of water and I should do better next time.

The fishing sucked for us but we had a blast at the hotel and my good buddies Julien and Simon aka The Bassnerds put on quite a show on day one with a whopping 14.54lbs. An amazing bag for this river if you look at the past results from other trails. It was also very exciting to see Daniel Cousineau win his first classic with 2 consistant days of 11.99 and 11.84lbs.

More BIG smallies!

Sept 6th, 2010

Caro, Eric and I got on the water on a mission this morning and we were looking for big fish only! Shallow, power fishing was the plan to start the day and we were to adjust if things didn't work out but it paid off right away. About 30 mins after we put the boat in the water, a big smallie hit my jerkbait hard! About 300ft down the bank,Caro also hooked into another big smallie also on the jerkbait. I immediatly started looking for some similiar areas trying to reproduce the scenario but the strong west winds made things difficult.

It took an a little over an hour before we could find another school but by the time we found them they had already seen us and were way too spooky. Perhaps next time, with a stealth approach we'll be able to catch one or 2 out of that school. They were all over 3lbs roaming around a shallow sand/rock area.

The wind was slowly becoming stronger and stronger and made boat positioning kind of challenging but not impossible. We headed for an off-shore rock pile and kept on throwing all kinds of different presentation but it was the jerkbait that seemed to be the ticket today. On my first cast back with the jerkbait, a big smallie just crushed it and gave me one HELL of a fight. I don't know what the fish had been eating but they were fighting a lot harder then what I'm use to. The rest of the day was difficult with a few fish missed and battling the wind to find new areas. On our way back to the dock we decided to do a little pit stop on the sand flat again and I hooked another decent sized smallie on a wacky worm that had just missed my jerkbait.

Not a lot of fish today but only quality smallies well over 4lbs were caught. It felt good to fish for fun and I look forward to this fall... A lot more of those football smallies will visit my livewells that's for sure!

Another unexpected win!

Sept 5th, 2010

Caro and I signed up for this fun ripple organized by Jason Gramada on the basin behind his new house in Les Cèdres. Ben and I had been there 2 weeks before to see what the place was like and hammered TONS of smallies but no size really. I was hoping for a similiar day with less fish due to the bad weather and strong winds but it turned out to be better then I expected. We have been getting some strong west winds over the last few weeks and today was no different.

It started off pretty good, catching a 4lbs on my first cast litterally. Someone had stole my net right out of my boat the night before and we found out only when I hooked the first fish... We had to lip and boat swing 'em all day... Some people are so pathetic. I never leave anything in my boat besides a few pliars, scissors and the net... I can't believe i'll have to bring that inside as well from now on.

For my second area, I was looking for a place to be protected from the wind because I knew I was going to run out of battery way too early. It was there that Caro hooked a GIANT. As usual, she doesn't say a word and I see this big smallies leap out of the water about 10 feet infront of me. I look at where the fish jumped and Caro back and forth trying to figure out if she has the fish on or not. The fish was gunning toward the boat and Caro had some slack in the line so I wasn't sure if it was still hooked or not but apparently it was because it didn't take long for that drag to start singing. Without a net, it was nerve-wrecking to bring it in the boat and let's just say that both of us were happy when it was finally in the livewell. Now we only needed to change a 2lbs fish and had plenty of time to do so seeing as it wasn't even 12:00. We probably caught over 10 bass in the afternoon but all of them were around the same size or smaller. We tried new areas hoping to find at least a 3lbs but couldn't do it in time.

Back at the launch I started hearing a few reports and was surprised to hear most that most teams had had a hard time and thought maybe we had a chance at a top 3 and maybe lunker. It was nice because we weighed in last and won it by about half a pound and took the lunker prize as well. I know I say this a lot but I have the best girlfriend in the world. I'm really fortunate to have a girlfriend that share this passion with me at the fullest. Congrats honey for that big smallie! You finally got your 2010 nickel smallmouth! :)

Our bag weighed in at 11lbs for 3 smallies, good for 1st place out of 12 teams (I think). We had a little get together in Jason's backyard and I thought it was a great idea... It's always nice to talk about our day after a tournament and even better if there's beer and good food in the mix!

Next up is the Econobass Classic, the FC.net Rumble in Rockland and the Berkley B1.

First tournament win!!

August 28th, 2010

It had to happen eventually but I didn't expect it so soon, especially not on Lake St-Francis with the quality of anglers I was up against. I knew the conditions were going to awful right from the start... West winds were howling at 25+ kmh with gusts over 40 at times. I knew the areas I was going to fish were protected from all the wind but getting there safely was the issue. I've been in some horrible conditions in my boat before, just never with my dad or for that long of a ride. It was nice to see I wasn't the only one stuggling in the giant waves and it felt good to pass a few 20ft rangers on the way to my first spot. GO Basscat!! ;)

We finally got on my first area and the wind was blowing perfectly on it. I knew some fish were going to be there but I was dissapointed to see the big ones werent at the rendez-vous. I had told my dad the night before that I was not going to wait for them today. If the fish were not there after a few cast I was out of there! We had to move quite a bit before we were able to find some smallies that wanted to play. To my surprise the first area to produce was in more then 3mph current both in 2 and 25ft of water. I was working the shallow bank and my dad was working the deeper part with a tube and we both got hit on the first pass. I decided to move around the area to reproduce the same kind of scenario and we were able to quickly get our limit which was right around 16lbs. We kept on moving and redoing some drifts and found fish as deeep as 40ft of water but not the size I was looking for. At the end of the day we probably had around 17.5lbs and although it was a decent sized bag I was disspapointed. I was missing at least one big fish and I knew it wasn't far!

About an hour before the weigh in we stopped on a shallow sand flat just to see if some fish had moved in and on my first cast I hooked a 4.86lbs bruiser that was definitely in feeding mode as it crushed my soft jerkbait without even thinking about it. With about 45 mins to get back to the launch and close to 20lbs in the livewell we had to leave to make sure to get back in time. It's too bad because I have a feeling we could've caught at least another big fish on this flat.

We made it back to the launch in time and even had a few minutes to check on our fish. The ride back didn't feel that bad but the fish seemed to think otherwise as I had a good sized fish dying... I knew we had a decent bag probably good for a top 10 but I had no idea we had a chance at winning it. I've been paying close attention to ALL the results over the years and it usually takes well over 20lbs to win it on this lake but apparently it was harder then I thought for everybody that day. Even with a dead fish we ended up with 19.03lbs and took first place with almost a 2lbs lead on the 2nd place. We were also able to get the 3rd lunker with my big fish. It felt good to win an event, especially on a lake where I have put A LOT work... Many days were spent looking for big fish and coming back without a single one but I guess it finally paid off.

Next stop is a friendly tourney on the Les Cèdres basin. Should be lots of fish caught but size is another story. I'm hoping for a 9-10lbs bag (3 fish) of smallies. Maybe Caro will catch that monster she's been looking for.

August 2010,

Almost a month since my last update... There has been a few fishing trips since and 2 tournaments. The Econobass Ottawa river tournament did not go well at all... I had all kinds of issues with my trolling motor and was only able to fish for a few hours. I was so upset at the end of the day that I didn't even weigh in the only fish we had caught. Fishing was hard for most teams as only one bag over 15lbs was brougth to the scales.... Congrats to Gary Girard for his first place!

With the help of my sponsor Fishin-Canada.net, I also organized my first friendly "ripple" ever and ended up with 19 teams for the first annual "Smackdown on Louis" which took place August 15th on beautiful lake St-Louis. Caro and I finished in 10th place with a limit of 3 bass weighing exactly 9.00lbs. Congrats to André Ouellet and Claude Joannette who won it with amazing 12.50lbs. I believe the event was a succes and look forward to organizing it again next year.

Ben and I also had an amazing day on the Les Cèdres basin where we caught over 80 bass... That place is a fish factory and is loaded with 2-3lbs smallies. There is also a good amount of largemouth with decent size as well. I will be participating in a friendly ripple there on Sept 5th.

Next tournament is on my favorite body of water, lake St-Francis in St-Zotique. I've been looking forward to this one and I really hope I can bring in a decent bag... From what I hear, practice has been hard for everyone so it'll be interesting to see what kind of weights will be needed to win. The lake has potential for multiple bags over 20lbs but fishing has been tough lately and I would be surprised to see more then 2-3 bags over the 20lbs mark.

Photos will be uploaded soon!

Hard day on St-Francis

July 25th, 2010

Our quest continued today on Lake St-Francis for a 6lbs bronzeback. Caro and I started with a little bit of powerfishing on a rock/sand flat with weed transition. I was throwing a jerkbait and she was covering water with a spinnerbait. I got 3 decent fish on the jerkbait and unfortunatly for Caro, they didn't seem to want the spinnerbait. Since we didn't get any real big fish I decided to move a bit and try deeper water. It was a lot slower then last week and the wind was picking up to a steady 25-30km/h which made it difficult to drift properly. We caught some 3lbs but it wasn't what we were looking for.... AGAIN, the biggest fish of the day, a nice 4+ smallmouth, came unpinned after she jumped out of the water completely. Every time I think I have a big one they end up being 2lbs and when I think I have a tiny fish, they end up being 4lbs... From now on, I’m not giving them any chance! Whether they seem like 1 or 5lbs I will fight them properly do my best to get them in the boat.