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Catching Giant Fall Smallmouth Bass on Lake Erie | Fish'n Canada
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Apr 15, 2025
Pete Bowman travels to one of the worlds most prolific Smallmouth Bass lakes and catches fish hand over fist. Lake Erie is the destination and vertical presentations are the key to success! 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/fishncanada... 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 #Fishing
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0:00
[Music]
0:08
you
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[Music]
0:29
position Canada brought to you in part
0:32
by coleman the outdoor companies must
0:36
call repulsive since 1951 great cast
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votes the more you know the better we
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look and richer in outdoors number one
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on the water
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today's show is something I haven't done
0:53
in a long time and that's fishing small
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boat on Lake Erie during the Coldwater
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period of the fall as a matter of fact
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my last fall fishing trip out here was
1:00
with fishing channel legend Reno viola
1:03
let's go got on a snow on the ground
1:06
freezing cold water and we're slinging
1:09
in baked Molly's buddy
1:12
later Gator
1:14
today I'm fishing with Paul Castellanos
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of cash adventures now Paul and I
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recently did a truck show on the Niagara
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River we had so much fun I thought hey
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why not pleasure them again the lake
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here is world-famous it's probably if
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not one of the greatest model bass
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fishery in the world it's early November
1:32
the fish are really putting on the
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feedbag
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I'm excited Pete I'm going to be heading
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out there trying to target some of those
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so the fish are spooling up and some of
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them potentially are you know over five
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pounds over six pounds so that's all
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we're excited you know we're going to
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using different artificials fishing
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deeper than normal deeper than we would
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miss number a lot of times we get our
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fishing 35 45 feet of water using
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jigging seen different types of plastic
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drop copy and then we add that to the
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brain rate in that loop of the most you
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love that cold fish yeah but it really
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tiny miles on that that's it that'll of
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us on this episode we're fishing the
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eastern basin of Lake Erie in early
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November Crystal Beach is our starting
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point and with the Lake common smooth
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we're able to cover a lot of water which
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means both the Canadian and American
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side we're going to concentrate on
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deepwater legs a classic pattern for
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smallmouth in the fall that's you you're
2:26
out but if it is railed you like to get
2:30
the net and then sorry I think you got a
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giant
2:33
wrong I hope you got a guy who's hit it
2:35
pretty good good fish oh yeah
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that's a nice one well which is lockable
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you know what I think he just swiped at
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it
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he's only underneath yeah I mean I
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wonder he's just fighting her well I
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could he's all guys throw that sexy
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little crap that question hey swiped at
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it I didn't take long
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yeah look kidding and I just lost one
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awesome job all a perfect look at that
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that's still peel they get ya muddy
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water we're gonna sawing it out of
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backing you gotta love that
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what's that blaze they prolly something
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flashy mines uh like a vibe Rex blade
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bait and even I believe it oh yeah
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traditional this is a real skinny bait
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but it's it's horizontal like that it
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makes a lot of vibration this is just a
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spoon that's it like this it just gives
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a lot of flash not much vibration on
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this one so but that you're really pump
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the action to a bait like that applause
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guys you need to nail them just ripping
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it up serving so pretty straight or just
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get you down there quick yeah a lot of
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fun a kilobyte yeah totally different
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than dragging the tube or a drop shot
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use your electronic yeah baby in the
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head is awesome I felt all right but
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look at all on the graph yeah you know
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what I was I was a little worried with
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the color water sucks in a lot of color
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yeah I've got a little spin to it razor
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yeah probably helps with a spoon
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wouldn't it thattaboy I like you're
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confident you get the net for me oh yeah
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might be a good one last one Street my
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hook ah today was it wasn't it might be
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a good one it was a good one that always
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had I wouldn't pressure him too bad
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how's your hook straight no no it was
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good good
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he's button on you know what they get
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swiping at it you know what sometimes
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they don't truly eat their kind of swipe
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at it as you're pulling it up and yeah
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cooked eggs and skin will be starting at
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around 25 feet of water and working our
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way deeper along the brake line now it's
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not to say that some fish won't be
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shallower we just want to concentrate on
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the deeper water areas that we're
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confident and holding big deal a lot of
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places a jar oh my gosh look at that
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enough we could hook a ball like that
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Paulie hold of spoon there Peter I get
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was great the bottom hit yeah it's off
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to the bottom Oh Susana tonight here
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he's not that's a great fish look at
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that thing
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oh you look at keeping a free business
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it might be a natural market but that
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says hey on it no less oh look an I've
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been braided looks like Adam are the
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granite
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that's it Wow Castellano it really is it
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looks like a sharpie Dickinson 60th time
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he's been caught maybe just expound her
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you're horrible and sad bizarre you know
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what it's like so hard thing they not
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Paulie but that's more buddies over
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three how's that yeah no that's good
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you need nice all that good buy some
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more false jump that was bloody that's
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fish is quite acrobatic with water as
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calm as it is today
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it totally dictates the method of
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fishing we can do the number one pattern
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on earring is dragging tubes however
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with no wind
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it makes things difficult when you're in
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the situation why not take advantage of
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learning or working on weaknesses
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personally I'm okay with the jiggy spoon
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but could definitely use some practice
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still conditions like we have today are
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perfect for vertical jigging we're
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another Colonna yeah but little longest
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one is when he fills out yeah oh yeah
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yeah that's a lot it is bad as he looks
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up hearing still skinnier than compared
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to the rest of this today but well yeah
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healthy solid yep you know what it's
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Paul I just got out here I mean
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literally just got out here you could
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catch you always could catch 50 to 100
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of these in a day because someday
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certain conditions are right and
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everything line up
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yeah if you got 20 of these in a day you
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know it's officially a hard to believe
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until you get out here and try it yeah
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you hear these numbers and it sounds
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like a farce but yeah and we're having
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we're going to playing around today
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reasons iggins foods don't let you drag
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tubes it's maybe catch more fish but we
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want to just have fun it's just like fun
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if we get going and I think Tom and Jeff
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know I get a sore back into fighting
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market a lot I'm on the graph see you
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see them in
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[Music]
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oh that is your legacy right there to me
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this is what fishing is all about a
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couple of guys out having a great time
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on a perfect warm fall day just a breath
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of wind only a few boats to deal with
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and tons and I mean tons of active
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feeding fish getting everything we can
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throw on the generator so I've dropped a
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couple fish look at that I want stuff to
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react when they get in there it didn't
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usually get off so solid little fish
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again since we wrote the article yeah
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yeah bloody lip throwback yes sir sorry
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nice work Bob by fishy Lake Erie is the
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fourth largest of the Great Lakes and
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the 13th largest in the world
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it's about 241 miles long and around 57
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miles across and its widest point it is
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the southernmost
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shallowest warmest and smallest by
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volume of all the Great Lakes Lake Erie
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has an average depth of 62 feet quite
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shallow compared to Lake Superior which
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has an average depth of 483 feet the
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main inflow into Erie's comes from the
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Detroit River at the outflow exits into
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the Niagara River making it the prime
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source for Niagara Falls Kosta ventures
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is located in Niagara Falls Ontario we
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are year-round operation there's Lake
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Erie the upper Niagara River and the
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lower Niagara River we move around from
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smallmouth bass during the summer months
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and steelhead during the fall lake trout
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brown trout steelhead during the winter
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months we do a little bit of pan fish in
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the early season on Lake Geary a lot of
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fly-fishing we do a lot of gear fishing
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artificials and like bacon we try to
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make this as easy as possible basically
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if you want to catch big smallmouth bass
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all you need is a fishing license we've
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got all the equipment life jackets
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just dressed for the weather bring a
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positive attitude let's go get some big
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fish I'm getting absolutely schooled
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here probably well there you go 75 to 1
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you get to 70 5 to 1 he just got me
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retying and sharpening hooks so all he's
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doing that's my rod and really GZ right
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there yeah you're good
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you taught me how to use a digging boom
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brush see oh yeah yeah I didn't want to
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see them if I got to get a net on
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nice nice fatty that's a letter I got
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fatty not long but God look at the
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weight of that fish God like a fat
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it's a shortened donkey though diamond
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dodging today yeah I got I don't think
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everyone be able to see just how many
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bites we've had but yeah I'll twist it
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up in that let's go get the hook at him
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first and move pliers doing oh there we
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go there we go just a short little gate
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look at this fat I am give that black
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spot on his tail
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what is that you know I always find it
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in cold cold cold water temperatures but
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I might be wrong on that the only time I
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ever see it especially a large mode in
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the cool 50s you know no water come you
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got randomly out here yeah we see a lot
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in the spring to sand that's on earth
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the great buddy I've tried I've talked
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to biologists and there nobody sure what
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is it just like a pigmentation look yeah
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they pick it up and it's large and small
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mode it didn't take Paula night long to
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get into fish by using our Navionics
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charts and fish finders we could move in
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on a good area and then hone in on
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specific fish it makes life a whole lot
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easier fishing these Deeks mollies can
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be done without the aid of electronics
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but honestly you'd be crazy to try
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precise boat control and position are
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obtained with the GPS while reading
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structure and fish are achieved with a
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depth finder these tools in this
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situation are as critical as rods and
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reels there you go nice sized piece has
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a lot static in the bin on a mouse yep
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now you don't hit but when you dress yep
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thank you the drivers are fatty nope
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we're ready folks
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oh that was not your ride that was my
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journey with lots of em around boy man
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yeah your idea of this you fish enough
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around here the age class I will say
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that fish converted a three and a half I
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couldn't tell you the wind started to
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pick up and that means practical changes
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had to be made
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Paul gravitated to dragging a tube with
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a very heavy head in order to stay close
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to the bottom
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well I switched over from a half ounce
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spoon to a one ounce
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should we do 20 bucks for the next fish
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hey Gus if the wind gets any stronger
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ought to drag a tube as well you know
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what's nice though you get so many
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opportunities oh the hell you get one
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ball you know if you middle one who
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cares we get oh I don't know freak to
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freak your part is that starting to get
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every pound you know it's fall
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Lake Erie yeah great you think there's a
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record in here there's a rule what
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figures a record yeah you know I do I
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really do me angrily this is what he's
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all about right here double-header
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no no you said at first it wasn't big
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now still a loser then why am i look
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good fish pee I think it got me I gotta
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fill me got me paranoid you should read
11:38
more my nose battle cattle is all over
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them like that guys hold boy yeah big
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one yeah you know what I'm going to
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double them up in the net absolutely
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this is what we like to do there we go
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oh you got good and there get your first
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good real nice one teeny little bit
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better you got to take their told that's
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a good one oh yeah it's well done
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falling Wow oh you got a good one there
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man fine that's what we're looking for
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right there that's that all fits on one
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the warm-up one that's the real deal
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right there - gee nice see the old tube
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always comes supergiant there you go
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awesome what a place yeah what a fishery
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fabulous fisheries Fieri
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the scary thing is they get a lot bigger
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I know what that is that's a song / go
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back right
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excellent we're doing very nice
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oh yeah don't fall in kid hahaha fishing
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for a while beauty
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Lorenzo's awesome yeah let's get more
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take a spoon and a tooth but you know
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not everything yeah this is really
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gettin pretty good on this top yeah
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going it down hit me oh that sort of I
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always it's loll lining sometimes it's
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hard to hide itself
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let's go through way yeah come on come
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on double up you blow it anyway you want
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to get it who I don't know you know what
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we've definitely fish today it's hard
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hard to see how it might just be a
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little lottery or horse in a min that's
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a good one no you're good fit you can
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you don't want to play you want them
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handball him in anyway
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[Music]
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go alright yeah they are fat man they
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are fat full full studs look at that
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look at that belly and that's a little
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quality a bunch of a little and
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pigmentation again little specks fine
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see my Raj uncle there I can you come a
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straight up look at oh no it is I do not
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do well you do I missed one go on girl
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I get this amazing Oh like we just the
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wind changed and then yeah it died yeah
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and then we just kind of moved around a
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bit and flying up on top of that little
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pointy good Nepali point on my point but
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how about eight years today how's that
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you could take two you could taking 14
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million viewers to come look at oh yeah
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Oh another talker same size another
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fatty compete you will wake over that
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line no fat nothing right that's what we
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need or need 21 into that yeah exactly
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whoa there you go perfect that one's
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that boot
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when fishing the eastern base in the
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Lake Erie look ahead at the weather
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conditions to make sure of winter
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wretches if there's a strong south wind
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chances are the Canadian site will be
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unfishable the answer would be to get a
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New York license and fish the US side if
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a strong wind blows from the West your
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best to reschedule for another time it
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usually takes Peary a couple of days of
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settling both wave and water clarity so
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we'll do double / so here if it's
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rightly if you wanna bring the kids down
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here or you like eatin fish we got great
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big Jumbo's on a day like today you can
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get on top of them
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yeah you can even get this time of year
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to fall wraps and this is actually what
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they really starts the feed on it right
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you're congregated big time and it start
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to get a little easier flying at the
15:35
time here the push our follow those
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middles around just kind of kind of like
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what we're doing here right
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we chase smaller plate for the end right
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here a lot of the lake escape and then
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we get them in the river too but maybe
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not as many as this follow a sharp eye
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on them I hope very good that's a fish
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hey everybody
15:56
end of the day bonus hey clouds are
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coming over overcast and up we're
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getting to get cold we're going to get
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really cold so where you think it's like
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here in the liver oh dude I love it it's
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awesome I mean how often you get get
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like this like constant as soon as we
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got here
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till we have to go home because it's
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getting do it we're right under the
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light but it's too steady all day yeah
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awesome good fortunate scary becomes
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rosy that's a good fish at the patio
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eight fat look at him look how fat that
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fish is like scary he's not long but he
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is just a ball tank for a chunk good one
16:35
okay Wow
16:38
though we had that too buddy right in
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the roof of the most you got to love
16:42
that and quality fish well look at that
16:45
right there
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I've got yq7 powder
16:49
yeah what leaders literally paint emails
16:53
on that back yeah it was I'm going to
16:57
pull them back but it's the best part of
16:59
it all right there he's at this bar yeah
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that's huge bust even here look at this
17:03
fix and there's one ring on the bottom I
17:05
thought I thought first you know what
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you might later fiscal Avery that's all
17:09
taken the bottom layer that's good cut
17:11
up some candles or something and maybe a
17:13
using this well if you're smart guy game
17:16
hahaha awesome
17:18
you liked today's radio hotspot is a
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deep water break line in Lake Erie the
17:31
waypoint on your screen will get you
17:33
there a Navionics chart will have you
17:36
navigating from Crystal Beach to this
17:37
world-class sum of water in minutes
17:40
depending on wing conditions Smalley
17:42
anglers have a choice they can fish you
17:44
to the north side or the south side of
17:46
the lake
17:47
make sure you have your appropriate
17:48
licenses try dragging to using drop shot
17:52
rigs or hover over the fish and drop a
17:54
jigging spoon right on their dinner
17:55
plate for more hot spots like this one
17:57
check out stitch in Canada calm the
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eastern end of Lake Erie is literally
18:03
loaded with small eggs of all sizes to
18:05
get to today's great fishing
18:06
I took highway 401 West so Toronto -
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highway 403 I headed south on 403 and
18:12
merged under the QEW I then headed south
18:15
on 116 took a left on Terrace lane and
18:18
finally turned white to the excellent
18:19
boat launch at Crystal Beach
18:23
this in Canada brought to you in part by
18:26
turn the life jacket experts Ram trucks
18:31
nothing worked harder than a ramp
18:33
Castrol more than just oil into liquid
18:36
engineering and us real when performance
18:40
means everything
18:42
[Music]
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