Up next in 10
Fundy Stripers On The Rocks
834 views
Mar 26, 2025
► 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/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
View Video Transcript
0:00
you know you got a fishing problem when
0:02
you get out of a perfectly good warm bed
0:04
to come out here it's striper
0:05
fast fishing those are powerful powerful
0:08
animals aren't they
0:10
the only way you can describe this thing
0:11
is drop shotting on steroids
0:14
i've never seen anything rip right off
0:17
reel like that in my life
0:18
and so they get like how much bigger
0:20
twice the size of that
0:22
oh my god oh i'm gonna kill you
0:26
wow is that exciting or is that exciting
0:30
the fish in canada show brought to you
0:32
in part by
0:34
ram trucks built to serve
0:38
princecraft boats dominate the waters
0:42
garments join the club
0:46
mercury outboards go boldly
0:49
and outdoor canada canada's only
0:52
national fishing and hunting magazine
0:58
[Music]
1:04
today's episode is a very special one
1:06
for me for a number of reasons
1:08
first it's another outing with my
1:10
grandson nikki
1:11
second it takes us to arguably the most
1:14
fascinating body of water in the world
1:16
in pursuit of the baddest member of the
1:18
bass family we're headed to the bay of
1:20
fundy
1:21
to chase down some huge resident sea run
1:24
stripers
1:26
now on their own those are all good
1:28
excuses to get pumped up for this shoot
1:30
but i've got another reason to be
1:31
excited you see
1:33
i've been convalescing for the past two
1:35
months
1:36
this is my first road trip since my
1:38
heart attack
1:40
yes i found out eleven weeks four days
1:42
and nine hours ago
1:44
i'm a mere mortal fortunately for me
1:48
i not only survived it but i feel
1:50
outstanding
1:52
i haven't felt like this in years
1:55
i'm not gonna lie to you i'm a little
1:56
concerned about grandpa
1:58
but he did get the green light from his
2:00
cardiologist and he assured me he wasn't
2:02
gonna push it
2:03
but i'm still gonna have to keep an eye
2:04
on him for sure or grandma's gonna kill
2:06
me making the 15-hour trek from home
2:09
base in ontario to the maritimes
2:12
for me well it's one of the most
2:13
enjoyable road trips
2:15
imaginable especially when you've been
2:17
grounded for an extended period of time
2:19
like i have our final destination
2:23
is bass barn fishing charters and tours
2:26
located just
2:27
outside of economy nova scotia it's on
2:30
the north shore of minus basin
2:32
which is an inlet of the bay of funding
2:34
one of north america's seven wonders and
2:36
of course
2:37
famous for having the highest tides on
2:39
the planet
2:41
this is truly one of the most amazing
2:42
places on earth i've been reading up on
2:44
it and apparently more water travels
2:46
through here in just one tide than all
2:48
the freshwater rivers in the world twice
2:50
a day 160 billion tons of sea water
2:52
flows in and out with a bay of fundy
2:54
don't ask me how they figured it out but
2:56
i believe it
2:58
now that we've settled in it's time to
3:00
meet up with our host and guide for this
3:02
extraordinary fishing canada episode
3:04
greg belivo owner of bass barn charters
3:07
and tours
3:08
by all accounts this guy is the real
3:11
deal
3:12
well i think i probably caught my first
3:13
sea bass when i was probably about
3:15
14 or 15 years old and i'm 51 years old
3:18
now
3:18
so i guess probably about 37 years a lot
3:21
of people told me all summer long
3:23
that greg that your charter is is like
3:25
an amazing charter compared to charities
3:27
we've been on all over the world
3:28
that the way that you treat your
3:29
customers the the history that you talk
3:32
about of on your charters the fish that
3:35
they get to catch
3:36
i'm a very lucky person to have this
3:38
opportunity to
3:40
to kind of be in a place where it's
3:42
never been done before
3:43
it doesn't matter what part of the world
3:45
you're in weather always seems to play a
3:47
major role in your fishing activities
3:49
greg just informed us that the bay is no
3:52
place for us to be tomorrow as
3:53
originally planned
3:55
the wind is going to be coming from the
3:57
southwest at 20k
3:58
and that means six footers our ever been
4:02
to see nikki
4:03
so we've got time to take in some of the
4:05
local sites and flavors
4:15
thanks folks appreciate it thank you
4:18
thanks for coming
4:19
welcome to the cliffs of fundy aspiring
4:22
deal parks welcome center
4:24
the tides in the bay of fundy that's
4:26
what we need to hear about the
4:27
highest tides in the world 53.4 was the
4:32
recorded
4:33
tide the tides are higher now and the
4:36
tides continue to get higher
4:38
because of climate change have they
4:40
determined why
4:42
the tide is so much higher here than any
4:44
other part of the world with the
4:45
exception of alaska i think it has
4:48
a similar tide there's a place there
4:50
actually it's because of the shape of
4:51
the bay
4:52
it's a funnel shape and so as the tide
4:55
comes
4:56
in the bay where is it going to go it
4:58
has to go up right
5:00
and so it goes up the bay but so this
5:03
this shape
5:04
the direction and the shape of the bay
5:07
of fundy is totally unique on the planet
5:10
then
5:10
yeah wow that's great
5:13
we're also going to take advantage of
5:15
this downtime and get up a little extra
5:17
early tomorrow morning
5:18
we all know how much nikki loves that
5:20
and taking some surf fishing
5:22
up on the headwaters of the minus basin
5:25
it just happens to be right outside the
5:26
four seasons retreat
5:28
our home for this shoot
5:31
hey listen i have no problem getting up
5:33
early if it means going fishing
5:35
but school not so much actually i'm
5:38
looking forward to some surf vision
5:40
i've never tried it before and it sounds
5:41
like a real blast but
5:43
seriously 4am all right you ready
5:47
let's do this wait i'm just fishing for
5:50
stripers right yes sir
5:57
it's cold it's like early
6:02
the only thing that can make this
6:04
scenario warm
6:06
fuzzy and nice is if we catch a fish so
6:08
let's just get some fish
6:10
any other place you'd rather be right
6:12
now nick
6:14
there he is yes baby
6:17
you got it buddy
6:23
you know you got a fishing problem when
6:24
you get out of a perfectly good warm bed
6:27
in the middle of the night in the wee
6:28
hours
6:29
to come out here and striper bass
6:31
fishing in the cold
6:32
dark chilly coast of the bay of fundy
6:37
but that's exactly what we're doing any
6:40
other place you'd rather be right now
6:41
nick
6:42
come on little basses
6:46
there he is a voice yes
6:51
little wee guy yeah a little wee striper
6:54
that that's what's been nibbling at us
6:56
nick
6:57
mom's out there somewhere he's small but
7:01
he's alive
7:02
that gets the blood flowing a little bit
7:03
that's what we're looking for except
7:05
about
7:05
i would say 20 times that size-wise
7:09
congratulations first fish of the night
7:11
first fish of the night day whatever you
7:13
want to call it
7:15
somewhere here come on ain't big
7:18
it's something you got a little stripe
7:20
rod that's a nice little one
7:22
nice one buddy that is spectacular oh
7:26
man
7:26
that's worth getting up in the middle of
7:28
the night for right there i'd say so
7:30
we're going to be going after fish that
7:32
are three and four times
7:34
five times the size of that out in the
7:36
middle of the base
7:37
oh yeah out in the middle of the bay
7:39
okay
7:41
goodbye buddy thank you for making
7:45
this worth it
7:49
the other way buddy there you go there
7:51
you go
7:55
what a great experience so i
8:01
so right now we're in this big like
8:03
muddy flat area and the tide is really
8:05
low and you can see this river
8:06
it's just flowing all the way through
8:08
and leads right out to the ocean
8:10
but right now it's low tide so when the
8:12
tide comes up pretty much where i'm
8:13
sitting it's all going to be filled with
8:15
water and we're going to launch here
8:17
and then we're going to smack some
8:18
stripers and we're going to have a great
8:20
day
8:23
well it's it's hard for most people to
8:25
fathom where we fish
8:26
more water travels in and out in one
8:28
tide that travels through every river in
8:30
the world
8:30
and the current is amazing if you have
8:33
never experienced
8:34
the current in the modern space near bay
8:36
of fundy it's hard to explain to people
8:38
how much turbulence there really is when
8:40
i first spoke to greg over the phone
8:42
and he told me just how he's fishing for
8:44
these stripers the first thing i said to
8:46
him was that it sounds like drop
8:47
shotting
8:48
i learned about drop shotting for
8:49
walleye in northern ontario on a show
8:51
last season
8:52
i love it it's so exciting when you go
8:54
to set the hook and you feel us all
8:55
bang on the line from what i'm hearing
8:57
about striper bass from grandpa though
8:59
there's going to be a little more bang
9:00
on the line this time
9:02
he says that these things are the
9:04
craziest members of the bass family
9:06
they're big they're strong and they're
9:08
mean
9:08
[Music]
9:10
this presentation is exactly like drop
9:12
shotting
9:13
well sort of you see drop shining is all
9:16
about finesse
9:17
this is anything but we're using a one
9:20
to three pound sinker
9:22
a main line of 80 pound braid and a 100
9:24
pound monofilament leader
9:26
oh and the hook it's a size 10 on
9:30
well that's the game when you're fishing
9:32
for stripe bass and the bay of funding
9:33
there you go buddy
9:34
oh my god you're not even going to get
9:36
that in the water
9:38
and they're going to bite it yes baby
9:40
you got her buddy
9:42
bring her up that's it nick reel it
9:44
everybody watch your step
9:46
how do i what am i doing just stay there
9:50
reel it in yeah
9:53
[Music]
9:58
that's the way that's the way that's the
9:59
way that fight i know
10:01
that's the way me get out of your way
10:04
oh my god down and yeah that's it up
10:08
that's it that's the way
10:12
that drag was unlocked dude oh yeah
10:15
oh i see what he was saying earlier but
10:17
let's be like a
10:19
full body workout
10:24
bring it up bring it up
10:27
okay drop drop drop that's it
10:31
thank you
10:34
how cool is that your biggest bass ever
10:37
that's true it's a good start buddy that
10:38
that yeah
10:39
good job that's a great start and so
10:42
they get like
10:43
how much bigger twice the size of that
10:46
twice the size of that
10:50
have a good day off he goes well for the
10:53
first one
10:55
we're a little slime did you just wipe
10:57
your your hand at my back
10:58
well you can i just catch you wiping
11:00
your head on my back oh
11:02
i'm going to kill you it's going to be a
11:03
long day
11:07
your dominance i'm trying buddy
11:12
i've never seen anything rip right off
11:14
real like that in my life
11:28
that was greasy
11:31
that's pulling that's my first drag
11:33
puller of the day i'll tell you that
11:35
holy mackerel whoa
11:38
i'm just reefing this thing you're gonna
11:40
have to net this one for you buddy
11:42
yeah i'm not even gonna stand up give me
11:44
a minute to get the net
11:46
wow i didn't think we were gonna get a
11:49
fish that was gonna pull this drag this
11:50
dragon
11:51
locked in locked in 80 pound
11:55
and he's just pulling it at will that is
11:59
a good bass
12:00
i hope we get a chance to see him this
12:02
is this is
12:03
normally i think on on average probably
12:06
about four footers out here
12:07
and this is like a mill pond today an
12:10
outgoing tide
12:11
just turned around about an hour ago and
12:14
starting to head out
12:15
when we started this morning it was
12:16
ripping in
12:18
and they told me that the bigger fish
12:20
came at the end of the tide when it was
12:21
starting to run out and guess what
12:26
they're right assert your dominance
12:30
i'm trying buddy i'm trying
12:33
he's not done yet i've never seen
12:36
anything rip braid off reel like that in
12:39
my life
12:41
okay i'm gonna drop them to you yeah
12:44
there you go
12:44
got him nice give me a high five on that
12:48
because you might
12:49
you didn't think i was gonna do it i
12:50
didn't lie to you
12:52
i honestly thought he was bigger than
12:53
that that's a long fish oh i know what
12:56
it is
12:57
that's nothing to complain about all the
12:59
colors on them that little like
13:01
chanting just absolutely streak right
13:03
down
13:04
absolutely stunning bye bye
13:08
see ya how was that
13:12
i just don't care you know i mean it's
13:13
fantastic getting a fish like that don't
13:15
get me wrong but
13:16
i can't get over where i'm at where i am
13:18
right now
13:19
this is the middle of the bay of fundy
13:21
and it is like a mill pond
13:24
we're on the outflow of the world's
13:26
biggest tide 50 foot tide
13:29
and these fish are just following bait
13:30
in as the tide pushes up
13:32
on a there's a bunch of rocks right
13:34
ahead of the boat and uh
13:36
the tide pushed all the bait up into
13:38
those rocks about four hours ago
13:40
and now it's pulling them all back out
13:43
again
13:43
and the big schools these are marauders
13:45
these are these are one of the most
13:47
prolific predators that you're going to
13:48
find
13:49
in this part of part of the bay they're
13:52
like a pack of wolves when they start
13:53
feeding on these
13:54
these fish to understand the
13:57
significance of the rocks nikki and i
13:58
are fishing today
14:00
you have to first get a brief history
14:01
lesson like we did british
14:03
airmen trained in the bert and they used
14:05
that rock out there for a dive bomber
14:07
practice
14:08
and presumably there's still old shell
14:09
casings and stuff out there because it
14:11
looked like a submarine kind of
14:13
the eastern air command of the royal
14:15
canadian air force played a critical
14:16
role in the air operations on the
14:18
atlantic coast of canada
14:19
during the second world war here fighter
14:22
squadrons honed their bombing skills for
14:24
anti-submarine operations in canadian
14:27
coastal waters during the battle of the
14:28
atlantic and it's these very rocks
14:31
that were target practice for our
14:32
canadian fighter pilots in the early
14:34
1940s
14:35
they flew down the shore and they bombed
14:38
the brookhills
14:39
and at the top of our tower which we'll
14:41
go up to the top
14:42
shortly were our af uh
14:45
officers and they would radio back to
14:48
divert whether the
14:50
plane hit the target or not i could
14:53
imagine planes flying and dropping those
14:55
bombs
14:56
yes yes very cool
14:59
oh my god that's what fishing is all
15:04
about right there these moments
15:05
you can never replicate them anywhere
15:07
else this is a big fish
15:14
to get to the minus basin on the bay of
15:16
funding nick and i first took highway
15:18
401 to highway 20 in quebec
15:20
we next took highway 30 the montreal
15:23
bypass
15:23
and then got back onto highway 20. from
15:26
there it was on to transcanada highway
15:28
85
15:29
which then turns into highway 2 and
15:31
eventually turns into 104.
15:33
we exited the highway right on station
15:35
road turn right onto highway 2
15:37
a quick left on the cove road and
15:39
finally reached our home away from home
15:41
the four seasons retreat near the town
15:43
of economy nova scotia
15:45
the property here is in a perfect
15:47
setting directly on the minus basin
15:50
which is the innermost area of the bay
15:52
of funding
15:53
beautiful sunrises and sunsets as well
15:55
as a view of the world's largest hides
15:58
makes this the perfect fishing
16:00
destination and even more so
16:02
a great place for a family vacation
16:16
okay let me get up just relax don't
16:20
don't give them any slack no no you just
16:22
just hold on don't even worry about
16:24
reeling him in let him do his own thing
16:29
no slack whatsoever
16:33
oh my god
16:37
that's good take a little bit of line at
16:40
a time you don't have to get them all in
16:41
all at once
16:43
oh my god just take your time take your
16:45
time
16:48
it's better you're tiring them out you
16:51
know when you're doing what you're doing
16:52
right now you think you're not gaining
16:54
on them but you are because you're
16:55
tiring them out
16:57
take a little bit of line not much oh my
17:02
god
17:04
you were laughing at me earlier with
17:05
that big fish
17:07
i'd say something those are powerful
17:10
powerful animals aren't they
17:11
oh yeah plus you got a pound plus you
17:14
got a pound plus a weight
17:16
plus you got this five mile an hour
17:17
current
17:19
[Music]
17:21
that's a big fish buddy well come on if
17:24
you want to come over here
17:26
because he's over here yeah right you
17:28
want to walk over here
17:31
that's it watch the rod get down in
17:33
front of you that's all
17:35
that's it you okay yeah take a break
17:38
take a break
17:39
he's tiring you up and he's tiring out
17:41
himself too so just be careful look at
17:42
them
17:43
look at the bend in that rod wow that's
17:46
insane buddy
17:47
this is a uh this is a big fish
17:51
oh yeah he's tiring that's the way
17:54
perfect
17:54
doing great man you want a massage
18:02
oh that's a big one he's the biggums
18:04
bring him over here
18:06
see if we can get him with this
18:10
nice oh nice got it yeah let it some
18:13
slack
18:15
see if you can open your bail a little
18:16
bit or put your rod down
18:18
perfect that was like a workout
18:22
nice buddy look at that
18:26
look at you buddy lift them up a bit i
18:29
can't do
18:30
this again pull them pull them pull them
18:33
that's it
18:33
pull them like that hold them up there
18:35
you go
18:40
that is fantastic that's what fishing is
18:42
all about right there these moments
18:45
you can never replicate them anywhere
18:47
else never doing anything else
18:49
fantastic that's a 25 pounder buddy
18:53
wow gorgeous congratulations man
18:57
okay let's put him home
19:01
stripe bass fishing has been around for
19:03
decades on the bay
19:05
but it's been the last 10 years or so
19:07
that it's become one of the more popular
19:09
game fish on the east coast
19:11
i think a lot of that has to do with the
19:13
decline of the atlantic salmon sport
19:14
fishery
19:15
pete and i have been fishing for east
19:17
coast stripers for years now
19:19
but this well it's the first time i've
19:21
sampled fundy for these nasty critters
19:24
normally we hit flowing tributaries that
19:26
connect with the bay
19:27
which is the source of the biggest and
19:29
most healthy migratory striper
19:31
population in eastern canada
19:33
maybe even the world hooking up with one
19:36
of these extremely aggressive giant
19:38
striped bass has got to be one of the
19:39
most exciting forms of angling you can
19:42
experience
19:42
anywhere else in the world i promise you
19:45
they're one of the hardest fighting fish
19:47
you will ever do battle with
19:49
look at you buddy
19:56
[Music]
19:58
today's hot spot is probably the most
20:01
unique fishing area i've ever been on
20:03
the waypoint on your screen will get you
20:05
right there during world war
20:07
ii this exact fishing area was used by
20:09
the canadian military for target
20:11
practice
20:12
with live ammo nowadays this rock pile
20:15
is one of the best striper structures
20:17
i've ever fished by anchoring and then
20:20
free lining a one to two pound drop shot
20:22
rig
20:22
with a piece of herring on a 10-knot
20:24
hook to the bottom
20:26
we read the big stripers in no time i
20:28
highly recommend giving captain greg
20:30
bellaval a call if you want to
20:31
experience this great fishery
20:33
trying it on your own without tied
20:35
fishing experience can be extremely
20:37
dangerous
20:38
for more hot spots like this one visit
20:43
[Music]
20:46
fishingcanada.com
20:48
the fish in canada show brought to you
20:50
in part by
20:51
ram trucks built to serve
20:55
princecraft boats dominate the waters
21:00
garments join the club
21:03
mercury outboards go boldly
21:07
and outdoor canada canada's only
21:10
national fishing and hunting magazine
21:13
closed captioning for this episode was
21:15
brought to you by fishingcanada.com
21:17
the gateway to your next fishing
21:22
[Music]
21:28
adventure
21:30
in canada
21:44
[Music]
21:53
[Applause]
21:54
[Music]
22:03
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