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Cherry Picking Smallmouth in Northern Ontario
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Nov 22, 2023
Ang and Pete venture into Northern Ontario and find what they deem as a perfect school of Smallmouth Bass using their modern-day fish-finding technology... and the fish are willing to play. Listen to our Podcast, Outdoor Journal Radio: The Podcast ► Spotify: https://spoti.fi/3J0klPY ► Apple Music: https://apple.co/3CtzZkp ► Subscribe http://bit.ly/youtube-fishncanada Don't forget to leave a COMMENT and give us a LIKE if you enjoyed what you saw. SUBSCRIBE for new videos and episodes released weekly! CONNECT WITH US -------------------------------- ► WEBSITE http://fishncanada.com ► FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/FishnCanada/ ► INSTAGRAM https://www.instagram.com/fishncanadaofficial/?hl=en ► TWITTER https://twitter.com/angeloviolafnc/ One of Canada's longest-running fishing shows, Fish'n Canada travels from coast to coast in search of trophy fishing opportunities. First started by brothers Angelo and Reno Viola in 1986, The Fish’n Canada Show has been on the air for over 30 years. Today, Angelo is joined by lifelong fishing buddy, Peter Bowman, and the pair continue to travel across Canada educating anglers using the experience they’ve gained over the years
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0:00
This week's Fishing Canada episode is an exciting one
0:05
Fish on! That's awesome. Yeah. Oh, buddy, it's a big. Probably hundreds of small months around us right now
0:15
Oh, it's a nice one too. Oh, yeah. Nice fish. Whoa. Here he comes
0:22
Here he's coming up. Coming up. Oh my God. Oh, my God
0:27
That is a giant. Giant. The Fish in Canada show. Brought to you in part by Ram trucks built to serve
0:38
Princecraft votes. Dominate the waters. Garmin. Plot your paradise. Reel them in
0:46
And Ontario, Canada, in partnership with Destination Ontario. Hey, everybody, this week's fishing Canada episode is an exciting one
1:08
Not that the others haven't been, but this week we're taking on and going head to head
1:13
with what is often referred to as the best pound-for-pound fighting freshwater game fish in all of Canada
1:19
Heck, maybe even the world, the small-mouth bass. On this trip, the small leaves that we've already located are what we call anything but positive
1:28
which is just a wordy way of saying they're negative. A cold front just blew through the area
1:32
and Ange and I are again stuck with trying to figure out these bottom huggers
1:36
The area is weed-free with lots of flat rock bottom and the odd boulder
1:41
The depth varies from about 12 feet to over 20. Add to this
1:46
we've got a very unique situation in the world of small mouth and that is smallies relating to timber
1:51
and more specifically, standing timber, under the surface, not visible to the naked eyes
1:58
Now, not all these fish are in and amongst the wood. On the contrary, in typical small mouth fashion
2:05
it seems like they're roaming around hunting for food and then moving back into the timber for cover
2:10
Interesting. When confronted with post-coldfront fish, Pete and I are always optimistic, if you will
2:16
in that we'll at least try our luck with moving bates, like crank baits, jerk baits, and even top water baits
2:23
Unfortunately, on this day, it was becoming very evident that we'd have to dig deep and slow way down to connect
2:30
This means staying in contact with the bottom with either some kind of jig or by drop shot it
2:35
both of which we're very familiar and confident with. That was behind yours, eh
2:42
So you got them all riled up? Maybe, eh? Yeah, I think that's what happened. You got it riled up for me
2:49
That's awesome. Yeah. Watch the trailer. We got a little school working up there
2:54
Try it. Get in there behind them. What the heck, right? So I threw a, whoa, a little bottom bouncing jig and started working the bottom with it just to see if maybe things are, and it worked
3:07
I think we might try that again or just start throwing this period
3:11
And the wind has got picked up too. Might make a difference, right? Yeah, might make a difference, yeah
3:15
You got them? Yep. Whoa. Oh, buddy, that's a begging. Ah! Fatty
3:25
Look at that thing. Nicely done. It is that tube jig that I got him on
3:32
And that might have been from a school that Pete riled up with his topwater bait
3:37
That's why I threw him behind him. This little tube jig. He mucked it all up on me
3:42
Now I'm going to have to retie something new on there. But that worked really nice. Look how fat he is
3:47
He's been eating down. Hey? That is one fat small of. You're welcome
3:54
Thank you. Go do that again. That was awesome. That just proves that you get the fish riled up, right
3:59
The school gets all wound up. No bites, no bites. And then boom
4:04
Nice fish, buddy. Way to go. Whoa. Go
4:22
Go ahead. My rod was coming up. My rod was in the water
4:26
away. Here's a little smally insight for you. Anne and I have fish for smallmouth on a number of lakes in a number of provinces
4:36
and the commonality of this species from coast to coast is almost surprising
4:41
For instance, these fish were catching in a lake in northern Ontario act and feed very much the same as riverfish in New Brunswick or even inland lakes
4:50
on Vancouver Island. The point we're trying to make here is if you plan on traveling throughout the province
4:56
across Canada or anywhere else the smallmouth bass live, the basic fishing tactics that you use successfully on your home lake
5:03
should work elsewhere. Don't be intimidated by the geographic location. Smalley's love to hunt and eat
5:16
I'm hoping this is not a pike. You're under me or under me or? That's not a pipe, guarantee you
5:22
You wouldn't look at this situation to say you guys are going to get into a whole bunch of fish
5:26
but when you're doing what we're doing and that is dropping it right on. Here he comes, here he's coming up, coming up
5:32
Nice beautiful Nice fish Oh yeah you lying You must have my you must I saw something yellow Yeah yeah yeah yeah Okay I let you work that
5:43
Pull them like crazy, I know that. You got a fish on, or it's the same fish, is it
5:47
No, it's same fish. Yeah. Oh, wait a minute. Where's my, oh, there it is
5:53
Okay, so I can get around you one more time, Peter. Or is it twice? I'll just get them in the net
5:57
All right. It's going to happen a lot when you, when you, when you're
6:01
lot when you're when you're throwing a bait back to back to a fish that's already
6:06
hooked up it's inevitable yeah I got your ride nice little chunk nice nice
6:12
nice long fish yeah gorgeous fish they are loaded in front of us it is so nice
6:17
watching them on the finder and then they just with with a hundred percent
6:22
confidence throwing to you know throw into a school of those because
6:27
An's had four follow his bait in earlier so It's just amazing
6:33
Yeah, and all that size, too. Yeah, exactly. Wow, the one we got earlier
6:37
Earlier was even bigger. When we found the school. Oh, got one on
6:44
My rod was in the water. No way. Yep. That is amazing
6:48
Look at this. It's a walleye. It's a walleye. So some of those might be walleye down there, Pedy
6:55
Hey? I don't know. There you go, brother. Gold, baby. That there's Ontario. Gold
7:01
If you're in the eating mode right now, that's what you want right there. Woo
7:11
Hey, guess what? The birds are coming too. Oh boy. They're hearing it going on
7:19
They're saying it's on. The boys are on. We might start getting them into a bit of a frenzy, you know
7:24
You know, we're making it sound like they're hot fish that are turned on
7:29
With this front that you're seeing, those skies that you're saying, there's been two and a half, almost three days of this kind of weather
7:35
Lots of rain. Temperature has dropped drastically in the last couple of days
7:40
These fish are technically shut down, but they're still feeding. It's just that they won't move far for your offering
7:48
And by putting horizontal baits out there like we have been before
7:53
chances are it's a hit and miss situation. What we're doing is isolating those fish, seeing them on the scope
7:59
garment scope, and then we're vertically dropping a bait right on their heads
8:05
And as soon as you do that, then they get all excited. They get crazy. Cranked
8:10
As far as our tactics and lure choices for today's episode, one of the presentations
8:15
I'm experimenting with is a new style of tube jig that I recently discovered
8:19
It's quite a bit longer than the normal tube, doesn't have the standard tentacles
8:24
it comes pre-rigged with the jighead inside, and it's quite heavy. Pete, on the other hand, is using a little bit
8:29
a basic net rig with a tiny two and three-quarter inch soft plastic on the dedicated nethead
8:35
His bait falls at a medium rate to the bottom, while mine looks like it was shot out of a cannon
8:41
Two totally different presentations, yet with very similar Do Nothing No Frills profiles
8:48
And as you can see, both of which are working well on today's cold front smallies
8:55
Oh, he's a nice one too. He's not huge, but he's nice
8:59
Here's where you've got to watch yourself when you've got your trolling motor on anchor
9:03
There is. There is, nice. Trolling motor on anchor mode. Yep. And these things are pulling like crazy
9:09
They can pull you right into your props. You've really got to be careful here. That's what smallmouth bass fishing should be like every time out
9:17
And they're fat. These fish are so fat. For early, I mean, for early August, we're fishing in midsummer
9:26
These fish are just loaded with food. Come here, buddy. Another beautiful fish
9:34
Not a giant, but a gorgeous little fat football. As you can see, we got all our hard baits laying out, everything that we experiment with
9:44
And Angie's using a tube, I'm just using a little ned. Everybody hears about Ned rigs lately
9:49
It's kind of a normal bait for smallies anymore. Look at just a little compact football
9:58
Fatters, the eaters, they rarely do they sit still, but we're on the school here
10:05
They're pretty much sitting still because usually they're on the move and they're eating like crazy all the time
10:10
You know, little monsters, feeding monsters. So, hey, buddy. And basically just letting it sit on the, I don't know if Andrew's doing the same thing
10:19
I'm just letting it sit on the bottom, barely working it. I had to go to a heavier head because this wind is strong, so that's a heavier Ned head
10:26
just working along the bottom and just hope for a pickup some casts
10:31
sometimes you go 10 or 12 casts and I get a bite and then two casts in a row
10:35
you get them oh no
10:51
oh my God oh my God oh That is a giant. Just to let you know, we're not all about hardcore fishing
11:06
throughout every minute of a shooting day. We got to keep the machinery fueled When staying at most full all lodges bringing out a boxed lunch prepared by the kitchen staff is always an option And unless there a chance at a classic Canadian shore lunch we normally like to take our lunch to go
11:24
It saves so much time during the course of a day. Oh, and by the way, when Pete said it's not all about hardcore fishing, even on lunch break, we're always looking for fish
11:37
That was so weird, Anne. Just the way this fish hit. Oh
11:42
It was just not. Oh, good one? Old drag. Well, that's always good
11:48
And I got my drag stuck stiff, too. He's cooperating decently. So, Anne's got, we just found some wood, and we both got snagged up in it
11:57
It's a walleye. It's a nice one. No kidding. Look at the walleye
12:03
Yeah, yeah. That's an eater right there. Boy, would that make a nice shore lunch? Oh, my God
12:08
Would that make a nice shore lunch? nice shore lunch buddy yeah no kidding he is lucky we're not an eaten mode
12:14
that is amazing we get a little bit of everything out here that's that tells
12:21
you what when you find the right when you find the food source of these fish
12:25
you can get multiple species and lots of your target species gorgeous
12:34
perfect Lagan says perfect eater wallet depending on where you are anywhere in
12:39
Ontario now. There's slots. You definitely would need to bring a measuring board, tape measure
12:44
something, and measure that fish, squeezes tail like that. You get as much measurement as you can
12:49
out of them. Make sure you're in the range of keepers or, you know, make sure you throw them back
12:54
Because if you get caught with fish that are not the right size, you will get charged. So
12:59
and it's, there's a lot of places in Ontario now that have size limits, et cetera. So be careful
13:05
with that. The new modern day tube that I've been throwing so far
13:09
for some reason, started to slow down on me. So, I decided to stay with the same program
13:15
but go to a basic pumpkin-colored three-and-a-half-inch old-school tube. Bread and butter, baby
13:25
Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Hanging off a submerged tree. Oh, no
13:35
Coming at you. Got it! Oh! That's a slab. That is a giant
13:43
Whoa, nice job, buddy. Come on, buddy. In the bottom lip? Yeah
13:49
How often is that happened? Oh yeah. Nice job, buddy. Ooh. We take those
13:55
He's got a bit of a bump. We like those. That's a big fish
13:59
Look at that big, dark slab. Oh, that is cool. Jumped right up
14:04
Beautiful silhouette from that. Yeah. And we can see these fish. I mean, they're all bunched up on the bottom
14:10
They're not ready to start actively running around and busting up the bait and stuff
14:15
Look at the gut on her. Yeah. And it's full. Like, that fish is full
14:19
It's still eating. That is great. Good stuff. All right. In you go
14:29
I think I'm going to need a new tube. That's okay. That one was worth it
14:33
Worth it? Okay, let's get back on them. They're right in that one spot
14:39
I don't mind telling you. That made me a little nervous. No, no kidding. And as you can tell, I had no control over that fish
14:44
I mean, he pretty much was free to go anywhere he wanted. I saved that, Pete
14:49
I saved my tube. Good man. Yeah. Pull the right back onto it? Yeah
14:53
Beautiful. There we go. If you want to talk about an adaptive creature, the smallmouth bass surely fits well into the category
15:02
In Ontario, for instance, their numbers are as incredible in Lake Erie or east
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the most southerly point of the province, as they are in the upper reaches of Lake of the Woods
15:10
in the northwest portion of the province. That's about 2,000 kilometers of highway driving
15:15
When you add in pretty well, every fisheries management zone in between, you can see these fish can tolerate a wide variety of conditions
15:28
Strong, strong fish, man. Come here
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Come here, they're young man. Come here, chidden. Come here, chidden. Look at the size of these
15:43
He's a skinny one, and he's still a good-sized fish. That's a small one in this school
15:50
That's really small in this school. Yeah, loads of fun, but really small
15:56
Belly and all. See you, buddy? Little Ned, right? Lock her up again? Yep
16:05
We're right in front of a tree which is perfect. There's fish all around us. There's probably hundreds of smallmouth around us right now
16:30
Today's hot spot is a great smallmouth bass area on Eva Lake. The weight point on your screen will get you there
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Although Camp Quitico offers access to 40 lakes for a variety of species, if you're a smallmouth lover, there's no need to leave Eva Lake
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In most areas like this hotspot we scour left right and center looking for structure and cover that holds fish If you find signs of sunken timber or other classic forms of cover and structure make sure you investigate it thoroughly Of course with today
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extremely powerful and accurate electronics, we always look for signs of fish in these areas
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No matter where you go, Northern Ontario's smallmouth bass fishing is tough to beat
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For more hotspots like this one, check outfishing Canada.com. Whoa, this is a mutant
17:19
Oh, I thought he got off. Yeah, he's on. Oh, my God, I think he's bigger than the other one. Okay, we're getting spoiled
17:24
I mean, that's a nice fish. The area we're fishing today is slightly north of Aquetical Provincial Park
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a world-famous park known for its excellent portaging and fishing with an emphasis on small-mouth bass
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Only barbellous hooks, artificial baits, and no. low up or boaters are permitted in the park
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This massive park is almost 5,000 square kilometers and shares its southern border
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with Minnesota's Boundary Waters canoe area, part of the Superior National Forest
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Equetical provincial park includes over 2,000 unofficial, unimproved wilderness campsites spread throughout more than 600 lakes
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That, my friends, is a lot of fishable water. Whoa! This is a mutant. Oh, I thought he got off
18:22
No, he's not. Oh my god, I think it's bigger than the other one. We're getting spoiled is what we're doing. I mean, that's a nice fish
18:27
Three pound and three to a pounder and we're saying, oh nice. Whoa
18:32
Nice buddy! Look at that, look at a beef-o. You know why he's bigger than I thought
18:38
Yeah, yeah, he's more than three and a half. Oh yeah. Forsy. Well, top left this time where he should be
18:45
Nice work, buddy. Look at them again. Full belly. Every other fish is full
18:50
They're just chalked. And that's why they're sitting down there too by the way. Yeah. There's not much reason for them to be up chowing down in those big school of bait
18:57
Every now and then they do a shot. They're gorgeous fish. They're nice stripes on that one. Woo
19:05
Nice work. Yeah, pretty hard to control a boat in this. As soon as feet went off on the lock
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Whoa! We almost lost the cameraman that time. Pretty hard to have control
19:22
But you know what, in these conditions, who cares? We're out basically in the middle of this. We'll call it a mini lake
19:27
And we literally have only worked two places on this whole lake
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and that is here and right across the gully there on the other side
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And there's not much reason to be moving around. And depending on the mood that they're in
19:41
which is obviously weather dependent and food dependent, but they'll come up off the bottom feet on the surface
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in 30 feet of water, 20 to 30 feet of water, or they'll just sit right on the bottom
19:52
and just kind of hunker down, and that's when we drop the jigs down on them
19:57
So a vertical presentation when they're not as aggressive. Obviously, fish like God that are so stuffed full of food
20:03
they're not going to be roaming around chasing anything down. So vertical presentation in that case
20:09
but when they come up and are hungry and aggressive, then horizontal and we'll use topwaters
20:13
fun time begins. As you can probably tell, Anne and I are huge fans of the Small Malt Bass
20:24
Yeah, there are a number of skeptics out there that still consider them damaging and invasive
20:28
Hey, everyone's allowed their opinion. As far as we're concerned, regardless of how they got there
20:35
where they came from, or how they play in the sandbox, we've learned to love these little brown beauties
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God bless the Smallmote. To get to some of the best smallmouth bass fishing in all of northern Ontario
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drive north on highway 400 to 69. From there, turn west on highway 17
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Next, take the 102 bypass at Thunder Bay. From there, head west on Highway 11 and finally turn right on Camp Critical Road
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which takes you to the beautiful camp critical on Evo Lake. This great resort oozes everything fishing from the moment you arrive
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Evo Lake is an awesome fishery if you want to stay close to the lodge. However, with over 40 lakes nearby, your party can fish a different lake each day for smallmouth bass, northern pike, walleye, and lake trout
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As with most Ontario lodges, you can choose an all-inclusive American plan, or you can bring your own food and go with a housekeeping plan
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Either choice will make a great fishing vacation. The Fish in Canada show
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Brought to you in part by Yuzuri Fishing Lures, Fish the Best
21:51
Mercury Outboards, go boldly. And Outdoor Canada. Canada's only national fishing and hunting magazine
22:00
Closed captioning for this episode is brought to you by Fishing Canada.com, the gateway to your next fishing adventure
22:13
Come alone to our cabin in a while because we're in the song
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