Up next in 10
This week on Outdoor Journal Radio, Pete is on vacation and Ang and Dean are joined by Joe Ford to discuss the current state of Canadian sportfishing and a massive event that is coming to Canada this month!
First, however, a bit of housekeeping was in order. Topics discussed included: getting shocked by your boat; St. Elmo's Fire; luminous plasma; Grass Carp; eating Lake Ontario Salmon; Lake Erie walleye genetics; and the hardest fish to land.
With those matters out of the way, Joe joins the show. Topics discussed included: bad agents; bringing the bass fishing world to New Brunswick; how Team Canada is selected; New Brunswick bass fishing; Largemouth in the Saint John; what this tournament means for New Brunswick; olympic bass fishing; Joe Ford outdoors; and much more!
To never miss an episode of Outdoor Journal Radio, be sure to like, subscribe, and leave a review on your favourite podcast app!
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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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0:07
this episode of Outdoor Journal radio is brought to you in part by the invasive species Center protecting Canada's land
0:14
and water from invasive species and sale the ultimate destination for your
0:20
Outdoor Adventures hey everybody how we doing thanks for joining me I'm Angel Viola uh
0:27
Outdoor Journal radio Sans Peter Bowman Sans Mr Bowman he is on vacation again
0:34
but I do have uh the lovely The Talented Dean Taylor come on now uh wonderful program I just I don't
0:42
want to alarm anybody so uh I I I just want to let you know I have a leaker of
0:47
a coffee cup that I'm dealing with oh my don't be alarmed don't everybody just
0:53
rush at once to help me but if if it explodes and goes crazy on my desk you'll know what happened
1:00
uh Mr Bowman is vacationing somewhere do we know Dean do we know where he is I think he's in the
1:07
koras somewhere he's in Theus yeah but by the time you hear this he won't be there so you can't go find him ah yeah
1:14
oh it's like find Waldo finding Waldo I gotta all right let me have a sip of coffee here
1:21
normally Pete jumps in at this point yeah is it good ah we have a wonderful
1:29
program an absolutely outstanding program today later on we'll be joined uh by a gentleman uh that um he's like
1:37
the Energizer Bunny on that commercial uh you wind him up and he
1:43
just goes he's notop thank you very much seea was the only one who picked up on my uh my plea for a coffee cup give me a
1:51
hell yeah a boy V you the man buddy you the man don't let Dean talk bad about you okay don't let him talk [ __ ] about
1:58
you remember that there a bunch of [ __ ] that's right um yes Joe Ford
2:04
will be joining us he is uh the vice president of
2:09
cisa not to be confused with the CSA or not to be confused with the
2:16
ca or any of those Dean because I know you're easily confused with these AC yeah I I get very confused especially
2:22
putting together the outline the acronym uh that you need to focus on is the Canadian International sport fishing
2:29
Association this is a group of folks who uh put together international fishing
2:35
events across the planet and this particular one is the PanAm Black Bass
2:42
Championship that's being held here in Canada come on now uh in a few weeks
2:47
actually in uh in New Brunswick out of uh frederickton I believe Mack mck well
2:54
frederickton is is a home hosting Town yep and and Nack is the boat lach
3:00
boat launching and you know this because we've been there we spent a lot of time there I'm just checking with
3:07
you we shot there last year yeah uh but anyways Joe Ford and uh president of
3:14
said cisa Brent uh Brent ly ly ly did I
3:21
get it right am I close I thought it started with a v v that's what I said oh Valerie y Valerie yep yeah why I you
3:29
something else I thought you said you started with an L I do that every once in a while I just throw it in there just to see if we can uh wake Folks up
3:37
anyways uh the 2024 PanAm black bass fishing Championship will take place
3:43
September 25th through the 29th and it will include uh uh teams
3:50
from throughout North America uh but most importantly to us uh Team Canada
3:55
will be there uh Jeff gustavson you may have heard of oh my the only Canadian to
4:02
ever win a Bassmaster Classic uh Cooper Galant who is doing extremely well give me a hell yeah and uh the ever popular
4:10
and famous bab isumi is going to be captaining the so I mean how can we lose
4:15
let's be honest about this uh Team USA will have Scott Martin last year dad his
4:21
dad uh Roland Martin fished with him on the team but I understand he won't be up this year but uh filling in is Jacob uh
4:28
wheeler who doesn't no Jacob wheeler he's the only guy I'm worried about that might be a bit of an offset to our
4:35
talent but hey we'll see it's going to be exciting we're going to be down there shooting it we're going to be the fishing Canada show is going to feature
4:42
the event um on one of the 2025 broadcast season episodes one or
4:49
two depending on how things hold out and how things go uh but you will see at
4:54
least one episode with the entire event so we're very excited you're excited to
4:59
right d I'm very excited we're spending a whole month down there I'm very excited pretty much huh yeah yeah um but
5:06
before we go there before we do any of that we do have to do a little bit of business I want to remind folks fishing canada.com the Gateway the portal to
5:14
your next fishing Adventure is awaiting you with a plethora of goodies not the
5:19
least of which are hotspots uh howtos news current news events and of course
5:25
the ever popular store come on now that's right uh um that you can buy all
5:31
this wonderful swag that I'm wearing Dean's wearing a fishing Canada shirt you look lovely today by the way with a
5:37
checkered thing happening the red on red kind of thing I think I've had this pattern before I noticed actually it's
5:42
going to be repetitive for people I think so maybe right uh anyways get
5:48
there get there often there's all kinds of goodie s sales are going on speaking of
5:53
sale uh we have sale the big retail store on board uh this segment of well
6:00
actually this this part this show is brought to you in part by sale come on
6:05
now the outdoors people um and we're excited to have them here they've got uh
6:11
uh some let's put it this way they really enhance our image how's that
6:17
bringing us out of the rubble into the world of sale that's for you sale that's
6:23
nice uh great store great retail store if you haven't experienced it go check them out uh they also have great online
6:28
presence that you actually buy all the wonderful things that we talk about uh on this program you can buy them there
6:35
uh also the invasive Spees Center you remember them they were with us uh for a whole year and then they took a bit of a
6:43
break and now back again they'll be bringing you conservation Corner which we're going to hear about and see here
6:50
in a few moments a little bit later on in the program so welcome them back as well boy we got all kinds of customers
6:55
now Dean yeah yeah it's amazing the doors are open wow do you have anything to do with that or no it just happened
7:02
organically or organically yeah I like that um all right let's get right to
7:08
listener feedback uh Jim Lemon via YouTube via
7:14
YouTube is that a first uh we've had a couple on YouTube now we have a lot of our audience kind of moving over there
7:19
especially with the on the road stuff we're doing because there's a lot to see especially in this in the the the the
7:25
tamogami one we did yeah the lake trout in the background and it was a cool it was a cool episode now you think so
7:32
these people are transitioning from the normal platforms where they just listen
7:38
to this as a podcast you think they're transitioning to YouTube or are we we picking up other people through the
7:45
YouTube our Apple numbers are going down because our YouTube numbers are going up so we're converting them and um our
7:51
video podcasts actually get uploaded to Spotify so people are watching the videos there oh we're on Spotify with
7:56
video as well yep nobody nobody told me this yeah so I can be now watching
8:02
instead of listening yep if you have Spotify and your TV or anything you can watch it right there I do yep and when
8:07
I'm on a treadmill I I listen to our podcast now you can watch yourself too
8:13
now I can watch well I don't want listen to me because I do them I do them myself I listen to all of the network podcasts
8:22
uh so anyways that's exciting that's good stuff anyways Jim alemon via YouTube is saying in response to our
8:29
discussion of Pete getting shocks while fishing near an approaching storm
8:34
remember that that was cool yeah um get shocks from a storm is called now he's
8:41
obviously did some research called St Elmo's Fire kind of odd is it yeah I didn't
8:47
know I I had heard that before I think it's a movie s Elmo is is is a yeah I've
8:53
seen him yes it is you're right yeah it's a title of a movie well he goes on to say that uh say Elmos Fire uh is also
9:02
called witch fire or witch's fire and is
9:07
a weather phenomenon which uh wow he
9:13
goes on quite a streak here uh aluminous plasma is created by a Corona discharge
9:20
from a rodlike object such as a mast a spear a chimney or in this case a
9:27
fishing rod I guess would would be or even animal horns right uh in an atmospheric
9:34
electric field so let's quickly analyze that we we were definitely when that
9:41
happened we were definitely surrounded by you could feel the energy the charge
9:47
in the sky right so somehow that was being transposed to the boat yep and
9:56
especially those Fishfinder mount.com mounts right from the boat so I think and
10:03
what's cool about it is it actually says if it was out you'd be able to see all the like electricity on it oh that would
10:10
have been oh can you imagine watching Mr Bowman electrified yeah like oh my God
10:17
got a little picture of it for those watching on YouTube that that's what it would look like in the dark that would
10:23
be really cool well there you go uh thank you very much uh Jim Lemon
10:30
wherever you may be from via YouTube you too can ask questions not just via YouTube you can just uh go to uh info
10:37
fishing canada.com and drop us a note tell us what's on your mind and we will try and figure things out for you all
10:44
right uh conservation Corner time brought to you by the invasive species
10:51
Center it says read ad two Dean I got to read ad two yep but I'm on ad three no
10:59
that's D two I think it's Mark Dad three okay I meant three yeah is it three or two yeah read
11:05
three yeah we do these things professionally folks that's what we get paid the big bucks for uh there's a fish
11:11
threatening our favorite species a fish now I want to also for
11:18
those of you who've been regulars here you will remember these from the previous go-to uh with the invasive
11:25
species Center folks but uh we're starting out with this but we're moving into to other exciting things that they
11:31
also want us to be uh Vigilant about uh but anyways it's called the grass carp
11:37
and it's one of the four species of Asian carp that have uh the ability to change fishing as we know it in this
11:45
country grass carp were originally brought to us to the US brought to the US to control aquatic plants these fish
11:52
of extremely voracious appetites and diets eating up
11:57
to 40% of their body weight and some of these Critters weigh 80 lb have you ever SE can you imagine an 80 lb grass carp I
12:04
can't even no I couldn't imagine that's like bigger than the like troud and great slave like I cannot imagine a carp
12:11
like that I wonder if they're like long and or and thin or short and thick I
12:16
don't know I've never seen one obviously anyways these uh feeding habits are one
12:21
thing but the problem is that they are eating vegetation at an alarming rate we
12:26
used to say uh let's hope they don't get across a border but guess what that ship has sailed so um they are now in a
12:36
potential war with our favorite game fish like smallmouth bass walleye yellow
12:44
perch even Pike anything that needs vegetation to survive it's an out andout
12:49
war with these grass C uh so uh what we need to do is arm ourselves with all the
12:56
information that we possibly can mostly visual stuff so we can identify those Critters if we see them when we're out
13:02
fishing and then report them immediately because uh that's the only way that they're going to start hopefully getting
13:09
a handle on them and nip them in the butt if you will or the bud depending on
13:14
how you pronounce that um and uh get us through this mess so uh you need to go
13:20
and check it out the website that you want to um go to Dean is Asian carp. CA
13:28
Asian carp. CA y not on my sheet either huh I'll have to revisit that yeah see
13:33
what's going on Asian
13:45
carp.com carb that we are so used to living with in fact um they make for
13:51
some really really good sport fishing opportunities this is not that carp this is totally different so check them out
13:59
all righty did I do good Dean that was great all right I was not but that's okay it's our first one we'll get better
14:05
honestly yeah I promise you uh podcast highlights I got a
14:11
wonderful um uh message no yeah it was a message
14:17
from uh Antonio today because I uh reached out him when
14:23
I first saw uh the video piece on the uh Burger the venon bur yeah the venison
14:31
yeah I reached out to him and I just gave him a little quick message saying this might be the best thing I've ever seen I want to go out and buy some
14:36
venison and do this right now this is great anyway so he just thanked me for
14:41
the kind words oh nice uh but you do need to go check them out Callie eating wild and they're on YouTube now um and
14:50
um I'd like you to check out Antonio Mala who is the main character on that
14:56
show but he's joined by chef Craig Baxter who's another really interesting
15:04
character as they cook Lake Ontario salmon and wild mushroom risoto and who doesn't like a wild
15:11
mushroom risoto with your Lake Ontario salmon I started making this actually after that and I think it would impress
15:17
you even though you made it I've made it three or four times now it's impressive I've never made it for an Italian though
15:23
oh well there there there's the game changer right there Roto is not an easy thing to do you know I when people Roto
15:30
to me is like making um rice for sushi everybody just like well just white rice
15:37
Bland white rice you you you you cook it up and off you go
15:42
no it's tough to do and result is the same you've got to spend some time with it and you've got to do the right things
15:48
at the right time otherwise you ruin the whole batch now I'm assuming you've had no such problem no cuz I stick with it
15:55
the whole time like I don't walk away I'm like hovering over it the entire time yeah you have to yeah which that's
16:00
part of the video actually as they talk about that you can't just walk away and yeah no so anyways go to uh uh eating
16:08
Wild on YouTube on the uh Outdoor Journal Radio podcast Network how would
16:13
people do that would they go to the podcast Network would they go directly to eating wild how does that work so if
16:19
you go to the network eating wild will have the links to these videos but if you want to go right to YouTube the
16:24
fishing Canada YouTube channel has these videos ah so they have to go to to uh
16:29
fishing Canada y YouTube first y uh anyways check it out it is a fantastic
16:35
fantastic piece if you are into cooking you'll love it if you're not into cooking you'll love it even more because
16:41
just like Dean you too can uh do your thing if you know what I mean uh speaking of salmon and we were
16:49
speaking of Lake Ontario salmon sale is your home for all salmon fishing Essentials uh including St Croy Triumph
16:56
salmon and steel head spinning Rock uh head over to your local sales store if you have one otherwise go online uh
17:04
bookmarket in fact on online on the website it's sale.ca that's
17:10
sale.ca s a.ca sale.ca for up to 60% off on select
17:16
items boys and girls who doesn't want that I do for sure at
17:23
sale there you go how about the new study on Lake Eerie wallet
17:29
yep um now is this on fishing canada.com news y that's why it's here then okay
17:36
I'm just checking just making sure yeah uh Lake Erie walleye growth is driven by
17:41
parents size and experience this is interesting yeah it
17:47
is pretty interesting it just came out like a day ago as we're recording this actually and and what pray tell is this
17:52
all about so they were saying that they were going into the study expecting um
17:58
because of climate change and water temperature and stuff they were expecting that um I think we covered it
18:04
actually a few months ago that fish are projected to get smaller as Lakes warm up MH um because of factors like you
18:12
know Less Bait or whatever but what they're finding now is that genetics play way more of a role than any of that
18:18
so because Lake Yuri Walley because the parents are so big and so healthy the
18:23
The Offspring are despite the warm water despite the low bait levels it seems like gen gentics really matter in
18:30
walleye so genetics rule in that case not in all cases but certainly uh when
18:35
it comes to Lake Erie genetics and that's a good thing MH that's a real good thing because they are genetic
18:42
mutants those fish down there are just uh just uh incredible um it's an
18:48
interesting finding though yeah so the the the water temperatures will not
18:53
affect the on that L will not affect them at all it's I think down the line it eventually will but it's not going to
19:00
be like immediately impactful cuz it says that colder W or colder Winters
19:05
tend to lead to a better spawn so I think you'll still lose some numbers but in terms of the like the like the size
19:12
that's mostly determined by genetics we got to bring uh Dr Cook on for a little
19:17
fish talk with the dock on this one this one this one might be perfect mhm I agree excellent all right fan question
19:25
of the week brought to you by a fish finder mounts.com come on yeah
19:31
fishfindermounts.com that's those cool looking polls that you'll see on fnc1
19:36
and and the fishing Canada boat our Princecraft boat uh in this upcoming
19:42
season um that's all Fishfinder mounts.com Ingenuity and Engineering at its best by
19:49
the way absolutely outstanding stuff we've had the pleasure now of working with this for a couple of months and
19:55
it's changed our lives completely uh I don't even I can't even imagine how we
20:01
would be dealing with all the transducers and stuff without these
20:07
wonderful mounts I have no idea but thank you very much uh Folks at
20:12
Fishfinder uh mounts.com Steve was here from that company earlier on couple we
20:17
met him in person for the first time that was cool anyways there're the new segment sponsor to the fan question of
20:23
the week and here we go uh Gary from Manitoba via email
20:30
Gary wants to know I got it here somewhere Dean Don't Panic yeah you want me to read it uh no I'm I'm I'll take it
20:35
over here H sure go ahead and read it I like what fish in your opinion is the
20:41
hardest to land the hardest to land actually land
20:47
yeah well I mean obviously size would have a a lot to do with it uh but let's
20:52
say that we're talking about trophy proportion fish in all of
20:59
the various categories that we could pick right because obviously the bigger
21:04
the stronger the the nastier the fish um I'm going to have to
21:11
go off the page on this one a little bit because I I'm I'm GNA say peacock bass
21:20
oh wow yeah that's a great one I'm going to say peacock bass only because they
21:26
seem to be the nastiest Critter on the planet and they don't quit they don't
21:34
stop they they will kill themselves but won't quit fighting
21:39
so I'm going to have to pick peacock bass but boy I'll tell you it's a close second in my
21:46
opinion um a West Coast Steel head in a in a
21:53
river yeah my God that's what yeah that'd be my answer I mean ho smokes
21:59
they they are just Relentless Relentless and of course you know they've got the added advantage of working with with the
22:06
currents which helps them too but you know I we can't forget striper bass we
22:12
can't forget smallmouth bass MH hell even Lake tro if you're catching them in
22:18
in deep water and they're big yeah they just won't come up oh they won't come up and I think that's the difference right
22:25
in a in a shallow water fight I think we have a bit of an advantage over the fish
22:31
because you're dragging them through the water but when that fish is deep well
22:36
I'll give you another example of an insane fight is halibut oh I bet because
22:42
of the same reason you're you're you're trying to pull them up the water column right and for some reason that causes
22:48
more resistance on the fish I don't know what it is but I know lake trout like we've had this year yeah um they've been
22:54
tough oh yeah like really tough so I don't know uh but but I would say if I
23:01
if I can only pick one and we're talking gigantic proportion fish I've got to go
23:09
with [Music]
23:19
glass how did a Small Town sheet metal mechanic come to build one of Canada's most iconic Fishing lodges I'm your host
23:26
Steve NS Wiki and you'll find find out about that and a whole lot more on the
23:31
Outdoor Journal radio Network's newest podcast Diaries of a lodge owner but
23:37
this podcast will be more than that every week on Diaries of a lodge owner I'm going to introduce you to a ton of
23:44
great people share their stories of our trials tribulations and
23:50
Inspirations learn and have plenty of laughs along the way Meanwhile we're sitting there bobbing along trying to
23:56
figure out how to catch a bass and and we both decided one day we were going to be on television doing a fishing show my
24:04
hands get sore a little bit when I'm reeling in all those bass in the summertime but that's might be for more
24:09
fishing than it was punching from you so confidently you said hey Pat have you
24:14
ever eaten a drum find Diaries of a lodge owner now on Spotify Apple
24:19
podcasts or wherever you get your
24:25
[Music] podcast we interrupt this program to bring you the much anticipated bonus
24:30
code for the latest fishing cada giveaways this week's code is Champion
24:36
that's Champion c h a m p i o n all uppercase just type that in the bonus
24:43
code section of the contest and receive 100 free entries towards all our current giveaways for those who haven't entered
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yet what the heck are you waiting for head on over to fishing canada.com while
24:55
you listen to the rest of this episode click contests and sign up for all the latest fishing candidate giveaways and
25:02
now back to the show all right as we mentioned at top of
25:08
the show uh Our Guest today a very interesting gentleman um he is the vice
25:14
president of the Canadian International sports fishing Association or cisa uh he's also a three-time uh
25:21
medalist with Team Canada fishing and uh owner and head guide at Joe Ford fishing
25:27
Outdoors uh welcome to the show Joe we have you been on here before or my
25:33
no uhoh my first my first rodo wow why the hell haven't we had you on I can't
25:40
imagine I don't know I know I don't know you're agent your agent's not doing a
25:45
very good job buddy that's all I got to say I think I'm it might it just might be that I'm too busy I I normally try to
25:51
get out fishing with Pete at least once a year in the last three years we haven't been able to schedule it cuz
25:57
we're just czy it's uh yeah it's been busy busy times uh we brought Joan of
26:02
course as I mentioned earlier uh because of this event coming up in Eastern Canada uh in a few weeks that we're
26:10
going to be uh involved in um and we're we're super excited the Pan-American
26:17
black bass fishing Championship uh last held here I believe
26:22
last year uh in the Kingston area if I'm not mistaken tell us about the event
26:30
oh that's uh you know it's in New Brunswick that so the international
26:35
fishing federations the Pan-American sport fishing delegation and the freshwater and saltwater delegations
26:41
fips and siped kind of govern all of this international fishing competitions from bass to kayak so us at the Canadian
26:48
International sport fishing Association we oversee bass and kayak we have two respective teams that we send wherever
26:56
there is a World Championships or a Pan-American being hosted so this turn around it was our turn to host the
27:02
Pan-American and there was a few different locations that that were appealing but uh New Brunswick came came
27:10
to the Forefront just for the simple fact that there's there's an Allure
27:15
there it's a small province with a small population with a worldclass fishery so
27:20
we wanted to Showcase I mean St Lawrence River Lake Ontario doesn't need any I
27:26
mean they're the it's it's it's the number one ranked fishery bass fishery and Bassmaster magazine last month and
27:33
uh you know there's so many tremendous bodies of water in Canada and we wanted to Encompass Canadian sport fishing so
27:41
could brunwick yeah we we we had some conversations with the former minister
27:47
of Natural Resources Mike Holland and uh several other high-end ministers from transportation and tourism and uh
27:54
infrastructure and we were all in agreement that it just made sense um it was an awesome opportunity to have some
28:00
some economic impact for the community and showcase such a world-class fishery so this event the Pan-American Black
28:07
Bass Championship is going to have 11 Nations so we've got some First Nations that are that are located in Canada that
28:14
have put in teams and that was a um that was a concept that was designed in Cornwall when we hosted in 2019 and Bob
28:22
isumi and uh and Mike Melnick and Andy pada kind of took that event on and Bob
28:27
was the founder of the CIS the Canadian International sport fishing Association I got to not confuse the industry
28:35
Association and the sport fishing Association because they are very very similar um so that was kind of a
28:41
groundbreaking event for us they brought in four nations it was a tremendously run event for for the timeline that Bob
28:48
was given and uh we've been working on this for the past two years so this has
28:53
turned into not just a fishing tournament but this has turned into a celebration of Canadian sport fishing and it's it's
29:01
truly remarkable the people that have come come from everywhere to support
29:06
this event I mean we've got Team Canada is made up of qualified Anglers through
29:11
a qualification process we had on the St Lawrence River and also our two bmas
29:17
Elites Cooper Gant and Jeff gusterson will make their debut on Team Canada so we're very excited USA is bringing up
29:24
Scott Martin and Jacob wheeler and JT Kenny and um J J uh sorry mckenny JT
29:32
Tomkins and several other guys are coming up so it's it's really exciting Mexico always brings up a tremendously
29:39
amazing team Costa Rica is involved Puerto Rico the First Nations I'm sure I'm sure I'm forgetting somebody but
29:45
it's been quite the worldwind we've got a lot of people a lot of people that are working on the subcommittees and and
29:51
we've got an amazing officer square is where the opening ceremonies are going to be and uh we are going to have food
29:57
truck trucks and live entertainment and a a flag bearer ceremony where all the nations get paraded out on stage so
30:03
we're very very excited it's a celebration an um you now I forgot what
30:09
I was going to ask you as because I love working with you because all I have to do is wind you up throw you out there
30:15
and I can sit back and have a smoke appreciate that all right let's
30:20
talk about Team Canada you said that there there are qualifiers cuz I'm sure there's people listening right now and I
30:27
no off to your organization but I'm sure u a good number of people are saying what
30:33
the hell is he talking about right so let's let's slow it down a little bit take a deep breath and let's uh set up
30:40
the whole concept there so is this so when you say qual people can qualify to
30:46
represent Canada in this event how do they do that where did that start give me a little
30:51
backgrounder so we've we've gone through the board of directors is made up of of
30:56
Anglers that have for Team Canada that um you know several of us got together
31:02
years ago and decided we're going to build something very special for the Anglers because we're a non-for-profit
31:08
organization and our our mission is to grow the sport of competitive fishing
31:13
and support the communities that support us and um which is all the bodies of
31:18
water that that we get to represent in Canada so we started our our journey in
31:23
cisa and Canada Bass with an open call qualifier and we we found with all the
31:30
tournaments that are happening in Canada we weren't getting the support that we would have liked and we went through
31:36
some some changes and we experimented and tried some different things and uh after the last Pan-American last year uh
31:43
USA hosted it was in Arkansas um we came back and we got beat and uh it it you
31:50
know we made some changes the board of directors discussed a a a plan to support the tournament trails in the
31:57
Anglers so better way than to uh to solidify our mission with growing the sport of competitive fishing is to
32:03
extend an invitation out to all the tournament Trails so if you competed in the
32:09
2023 um bass fishing season in in Ontario and some Quebec and the
32:15
maritimes we've chosen top 10 team of the years get an invitation to a
32:20
qualifier this year which will be held in November 1st and 2nd on the Bay of Quinny so Bay of Quinny is kind of
32:27
neutral it's not too far for the southwestern guys it's not too far from the maritimes and Quebec guys and uh it
32:34
proves to be a very diverse fishery with large Mo and small Mo see Mexico is hosting next year so we're going to
32:40
qualify a team this year not for this Pan-American but we're always offset a year an so we qualify our team for the
32:48
next year's Pan-American which is usually sometime in the spring um Mexico
32:53
is going to host sometime between May and June through that team the eight
32:59
teams and one alternate so we're allowed to bring nine teams to a pan Americans eight compete four get scored the
33:05
highest four scoring teams it's a very unique environment it's not individual fishing you got to work together as a
33:12
cohesive unit as a family and if the team works together the team is successful so we've sent out invitations
33:20
to the bait fuel tour the csfl we extended uh 10 the top 10 at the
33:25
destination Nack and the top 10 at the shootout and the two shootout divisions
33:32
and the top 10 in the Canadian uh Cup Series that's run by the csfl so the
33:38
reason behind that was we wanted to support the organiz the organizations that support us and we wanted to make
33:44
sure the Anglers that are working the hardest are the ones that deserve a fair shot at making team candidat they're
33:49
going to get an opportunity to fish against the world's best and if they compete in a Pan-American and they score
33:54
in the top see we've developed a ranking system so so every team even if you
34:00
don't qualify if you finish in the the 10th 11th or 12th spot at a qualifier you've paid your membership into cesa
34:06
it's 50 bucks you're on the ranking list now kind of like how the RCMP hires police officer they have a ranking list
34:13
so you you get scored and you get put onto this list every year so if we drop a team from qualified teams we go down
34:21
the list to who's next in line on the ranking system got so that keeps it fair keeps continuity keeps everybody happy
34:27
and and that gives us you know an opportunity to showcase the Anglers that have worked the hardest and we've also
34:34
extended invitations to um the professional level Anglers that travel abroad to fish at the open level like
34:41
the Bassmaster opens and the FLW Toyotas or sorry MLF Toyota series and um we
34:48
hold the right to reserve the top two spots at cesa so moving into a Pan-American Year we will name the top
34:54
two teams so what do you mean hold spots I well we we made a decision that we
35:01
wanted to be able to be in a position where you know our best Anglers get to fish for Team Canada and I think it's
35:07
it's only fair that Bassmaster Classic Champions get sent an invitation to be on the team so cesa reserves the right
35:14
to name the top two teams so for example an this year at the panamerican we've named Cooper Gant and Jeff Gus gusterson
35:21
to the team and we've named Bob isumi as our team captain okay so now the alternates Bob doesn't have a partner so
35:27
the alternates get an opportunity to fish each day with Bob okay and then we have an alternate team below them so
35:34
we're we're we're pretty complemented across the board with with our Anglers and um we've got a very diverse mix of
35:40
guys on the team and and you're also fishing an area that is uh relatively
35:45
unknown to most of these names that you just mentioned in fact uh probably will
35:51
be brand new to most of them which is makes the whole thing that much more exciting uh it's a wonderful fishing
35:58
Community as uh as we both know we we were both down there last year um I
36:03
think there's going to be some scary weights coming out of this I really do I think it it's going to uh open up I
36:10
don't think the the folks in New Brunswick know exactly just how impactful this could be if the fishing
36:18
is on and and I think um I think I'm feeling good about it I'm feeling real
36:23
good about it I am too and at that time of year you know I've got two tournaments in New Brunswick on that
36:30
body of water under my belt and uh I've seen two 16lb bags a 15 lb bag and an
36:37
18lb bag and each event I fished I've seen a small moth between 4 and a half
36:42
and six PBS now they're random they're they're like unicorns out there but I truly believe that time of year in that
36:49
transition period in September when when all those gas Bros or Al wies are coming up that River and those fish get
36:56
offshore I truly believe that these guys that are coming to this event are going to unlock fishing that has not been
37:02
unlocked yet they're going to see Brent valer and myself fished the the first destination hawick an and he he broke a
37:09
fish off he'd hate that I'm telling this story he broke one off I'm not kidding you was was north of six pounds ouch and
37:17
I had one just shy of five pounds in the live well and it was the second biggest fish of the tournament and this is
37:22
coming from a guy from Ontario that has no working knowledge of this body of water I was pointed in a few directions
37:29
I went and tried to figure something out and we caught some respectable bags in the tournament and this fish that Brent
37:35
broke off it it made my big one look small oh they're there fre they just
37:41
haven't had enough intelligent fishing pressure that's that's the thing with that area there hasn't been enough uh
37:47
pressure from really good U Anglers that understand patterns and understand fish
37:53
and I think that's what's about to change uh here this uh in the next few
37:58
weeks um now is this a small moou Bass Tournament only or are you opening it up
38:04
to large moou as well we are working diligently to open it up to largemouth bass so I've been having multiple
38:11
conversations with the province about this because there's there is a gray area with large mouth there there's
38:16
nothing in the regulations to say you're not allowed to transport um the way New Brunswick works with these offseason
38:23
bass tournaments is they issue variances to transport fish in your Live Well and bass season is actually going to be
38:30
closed when we get there for possession so we get a um from DFO we get a
38:35
variance so part of our commitment to the pro province is and this is a huge
38:41
huge huge deal because bass fishing in America last year took up $20 billion of
38:47
a 57 billion industry um you know you follow the the numbers along the way and
38:53
being so close New Brunswick is in such close proximity to Maine and and those you know eastern states that this would
39:02
be in the province's best interest to Showcase large we we have aadia
39:08
University is going to be there studying fish we are going to be able to survey the Anglers it's an opportunity where
39:14
you know some of these Anglers that have competed at these levels you talked about um e educated Anglers you know
39:22
I'll never take anything away from the recreational tournament angler but the guys that fish for living that have
39:28
access to the electronics that they have and the Liv scope that they have that do this for 300 days a year have the
39:36
ability to to unlock a fishery in in a matter of days
39:41
and it's it's truly remarkable when you get to see it unfold larg Mo bass in that river system I think are are are
39:48
few but they are big see I I think you're wrong on that buddy I
39:54
think they're few because nobody is targeting them and they they they are there in very few
40:02
areas but I think but I think I think if it if it was open well we're going to be
40:08
down there fishing Largemouth later on this season uh I'll I'll have a better knowledge of that when I get back but I
40:15
think that if Largemouth were to be allowed in this event it would be
40:21
breathtaking that's what I'm thinking I saw I saw a kid holding a kid and his dad last year when I was down there
40:28
holding I saw a picture of an 8B Largemouth on his phone and that's what
40:35
15 to 20 year old fish oh at least at least and uh and and of course it it was
40:42
non-targeted and but but Dad and and the kid both said oh yeah we we we get them
40:48
you know every once in a while we I said not that big oh well yeah they kind of
40:53
yeah we don't yeah there's kind of blew my mind blew my mind yeah so they're there but nobody without
41:00
question I think um you know you're going to see a lot of small Mo because there's just so many and I think small
41:06
Mo are going to be for a lot of the Nations coming small MTH are going to be an easy target beg I mean you have what
41:12
what are the boundaries Joe what are the boundaries for this event basically the entire upper pool so we haven't
41:20
discussed yet with the tournament directors if um beyond the Heartland Bridge The Covered Bridge is going to be
41:25
off limits I think we may close it just due to safety factors but that'll come
41:31
up in the next uh the next several meetings with the respective tournament directors and the other the uh the
41:37
delegates Tony Forte and um the captain of USA bass and chewy Morales is the uh
41:43
he's the the president of the Pan-American Federation so we'll have those discussions when we start to get
41:48
into what's before the the everybody has the rules right now but when we send out
41:55
the the detailed angler package AG with you know certain off liit areas and
42:00
parking instructions and Logistics and all the Anglers will be on the same page so is that normal to have restricted
42:06
areas in these events like if in Mexico or us or wherever else you've had these events is it normal to have it is it is
42:14
yeah it is I mean there's always I've been to reservoirs in the States where there's been military ins institutions
42:21
and you can't cross a certain boundary line or one point to another you can't go into certain bays at certain times of
42:26
the today uh Mexico has protected fishing areas where I think locals net commercial fishing that you're not
42:33
allowed to compete in in some of those reservoirs so I mean everybody of water is unique and and you you fall subject
42:39
to to local law and and yeah yeah you mentioned um of course
42:46
your organization is not for profit I want to also mention to the audience at
42:51
this point what makes this event unique maybe even a unicorn in in the world of
42:58
uh uh fishing events is that it's for bragging rights right these guys are all
43:03
doing this essentially for bragging rights this is not a million-dollar event and you you know you you you
43:10
aspire to to pay your your mortgage off no this is for bragging rights which is
43:16
pretty cool I actually left out the biggest piece of the puzzle internationally so fips Ed and sips as I
43:24
mentioned earlier are the two International federations that govern all of us um their primary goal is to
43:30
make fishing an Olympic sport that's why we're doing what we're doing when I was at the world championships in Mexico I
43:36
had a coffee with two of the um the representatives from the international Olympic Committee so they were there to
43:42
be Spectators to see with Olympic competition they need numbers they need to see um you know Community involvement
43:50
can an event or can a sport generate uh enough fan base to Warrant being in the
43:56
Olympics so so that's why these countries but I question that thinking though because
44:03
you know with all due respect there are a lot of events in the Olympics that I don't think have an audience okay so
44:10
just so we get that started okay don't get me started I mean like break dancing
44:16
was in this year's Olympics you know a$ 50 billion doll industry in one country has no place at
44:23
the table I mean fishing is an amazing sport competitive fishing is is a grueling marathon of a sport for anybody
44:30
that has is listening that has never competed when you compete at those higher levels for those higher Stakes
44:36
I'm telling you it is a marathon of work and and the guys that are being the guys
44:41
that are successful and I've been calling this event and I so proud of the work that our team has has put forward
44:48
to make this event a reality and and all the local support we've received and you know Pat Olson and frederickton and
44:55
mayor Tim Fox and Tanya Fox and naick and our entire team at cesa and I've probably forgotten a whole bunch of
45:02
people but I'm calling this a celebration of fishing because it's truly a remarkable time for Canadian
45:08
sport fishing we're going to have the biggest International non-for-profit competition a celebration of Anglers and
45:15
a beautiful community in Canada our Elite Series boys are just crushing it right now so through border I mean Jeff
45:23
gusterson wins a classic Cooper qualifies is an aoi Cory Johnson wins the St
45:30
Lawrence I did the math now in their short time on the Elite Series um
45:36
there's five blue trophies two black trophies an aoi and a classic and there's only angler the Year by the way
45:43
for aoi just for those of you want yeah that's that's the aoi that was just W like that's mindboggling there's only
45:50
four of them that that that that's dominance you know that average is spectacular what these boys are doing so
45:58
it's time to celebrate our fisheries and our Anglers and and get these guys on the Forefront because it's truly special
46:04
times well we're pumped and ready to go uh we haven't mentioned it yet but the fishing Canada crew will be covering the
46:12
event uh we're going to be uh shooting it and producing it for a future fishing
46:18
Canada episode and uh we're we're pretty excited about it's going to be a challenge uh hopefully the weather will
46:24
hold up but it's a big big area right that's that's the challeng going to be a breeze we're going to crush it Ang I
46:31
can't wait this is this was very personal for me so the my background
46:37
like I came up I grew up fishing and walking creeks and doing everything I can so so having the fishing Canada be a
46:43
part of this organization and partner with cisa with my fishing career growing
46:48
into this this role of being the guy that can put all this stuff together
46:54
having an opportunity to work with you an and Pete is so special and you guys have become very good friends of mine I
47:00
was a little kid seven eight years old watching your show no no this is how this is how personal this is for me and
47:07
this is what it means for for Canadian fishing right I watched baboomi and I
47:12
watched fish in Canada that was just what I did I ate Cheerios and I put too
47:18
much sugar in my Cheerios and that's what I did in the mornings and I catch the runs on Sunday and and my dad took
47:26
me in into the old store and I got my first fishing rod from you and Reno when I was a little kid so it's very very
47:32
special and here we are full circle so many years later being able to do something so special really personally
47:38
means the world to me that we could we could all do this and Bob's our captain and Bob asked me Bob called me one day
47:44
and asked me if I wanted to fish for Team Canada at Lake okachobee in the first Pan-American Black Bass
47:50
Championship and uh and we took silver and it was such an honor to be down there with those guys and yeah it was an
47:56
amazing experience which really that that deal started it all for us and and here we are now doing something pretty
48:02
remarkable so thank you our pleasure we're thrilled to death to be involved in this this is going to be exciting for
48:09
all of us um so let's talk a little bit about Joe Ford and and where you came
48:16
from in terms of the fishing um experiences you have your own guiding
48:22
service which is kind of cool um but talk to us a little but walk us through
48:27
Joe Ford's fishing history as as you grew up in the industry maybe even to the to the tournament
48:33
level my uh so I grew up in a really big family and uh and my parents weren't
48:39
outdoorsy people my Dad loved to take us camping but they didn't fish we didn't fish and Hunt but I had cousins that
48:46
fished and my if my Uncle Bob gets to listen to this uh this this podcast he'll be really thrilled so it was my
48:52
Uncle Bob my cousin Jamie and my cousin Matthew and uh my cousin Ed and my Uncle
48:57
Eddie were like they were all big fishermen in the family so I can remember going to Lake del rimple where my family had you know multiple Cottages
49:06
there between Lazy Acres and Meadows end and there was that they all had all the matriarchs my great aunts and uncles my
49:12
grandma they all had places so I SP uper is that upper or lower yeah well lower
49:18
but the northern part of the lake up by the trailer parks in the point Y um so I
49:24
spent my Summers as a child fishing off the Dock and chasing Bullfrogs and doing the Canadian kids thing right and uh you
49:31
know I always just wanted to fish with my my cousins I looked up to those guys and years later um you know my parents
49:39
would do my I remember my mom when I was a kid driving me to Rice Lake to find a pier that I could fish off of after
49:45
school cuz it just meant so much to me and I grew up in Bowmanville just down the road from you guys and I walked all
49:50
the creeks and I did the salmon run and the troat Spring Run and I I did all that and then I think I was 20 years old
49:57
I bought my first boat and uh I I fished in some local tournaments and I got a little bit of a bug for it and I was in
50:04
a tackle store on on Rice Lake BJ tackle in Bey and uh there was one of the lodge
50:09
owners was there and was talking to Ben Schultz the owner of BJ tackle a remarkable little fishing store and a
50:15
small community supports the community is an amazing amazing Place Ben said to
50:21
the uh the the gentleman that had customers at his lodge that couldn't catch fish hey you should talk to
50:27
Joe um he's out there all the time he can probably steer you in the right direction I had a chat with this guy and
50:34
he said well how much will you charge me to take out my customers they're from Ohio they haven't caught anything all week I'm starting to feel really bad I I
50:41
I don't give me a hundred bucks tank of gas so I took them out I had a a 16 1/2t
50:48
um aluminum low with a a 60 horse on the back and a side console and a trolling
50:53
motor and two fish finders and and I took them out we caught a bunch of bass had a fun time a few Walley and and
50:59
these guys gave me like a $300 tip I was like holy smokes I'm GNA be a fishing guide I
51:06
never made money like this for a day of work so I uh I got some business cards
51:11
made from a local guy and they were like the worst business cards they were all laminated and so ugly and I started like
51:17
dropping them off at places and then I made a few bucks and I got some better business cards and I got a logo made and
51:23
then I joined the Ontario sport fishing guide Association and got commercially insured and licensed and first AED and
51:30
uh and it just kind of grew to a place where you know after 10 or 12 years I
51:35
had an opportunity to go to Lake Fork in Texas and uh and guide there I I I uh
51:41
struck a deal with Ranger Boats I've been with Ranger Boats for almost 15 years now and uh I used to place and win
51:50
money in the Canadian fishing tour out of that little aluminum and I can remember I didn't know Bob at the time Bob isumi and I can I was on the b
51:56
acquin in one of the super one of the uh the one day Mercury series events that the CFT host did and I'm ready to go in
52:03
my my little aluminum and I'm ready to rock and roll and I look over and Bob isomi gives me a nod and he's in the big
52:08
Ranger and we take off and I I think I actually beat him that day but I remember that was the moment where I
52:13
felt like this is a real deal like I want to be there I'm fishing you know so
52:19
it kind of grew to a place where i' I've had a lot of amazing opportunities and a
52:24
lot of amazing um um stories in my my fishing career you know I've won a gold
52:30
medal now with Canada I've won a silver medal and a bronze um we've won Nations and individual stuff in in
52:37
internationally we had a fifth place at a world championship I've topped 10 in the FLW in the states I was really close
52:44
to winning a big one on the St Lawrence River and uh and then when that St Lawrence River Deal started to get
52:49
really popular 10 years ago I really started to learn learn my game out there and now I offer um I you know I'm really
52:57
proud of all the work that we put in myself and my wife she does a lot of the admin work and helps me out we've got a
53:02
small little thing going on but we do a trip on the St Lawrence Lake Ontario and it is truly the number one bass fishery
53:09
on the planet I have been everywhere I fished from Mexico to New Brunswick and
53:16
that place is remarkable beyond measure you can't even I I think you would line up 10 recreational Anglers and tell them
53:22
how good it actually is and tell them stories of what comes out of there and may not believe you that's how good it
53:28
is so it's uh the best there's no question about it the absolute best um
53:34
so it's been quite a ride it's been one of those one of those you know story book uh I'm I'm very very blessed and
53:41
grateful to have the life that I have and be able to do what I do and um and the the memories and the experiences
53:47
have been amazing and this this this opportunity to be on the fishing Canada show with you is just you know one more
53:54
notch on the belt so well well my friend uh we'll have time to chat about that and a lot more coming up in a few weeks
54:01
down in New Brunswick as we uh bring the whole fishing Canada troop down there
54:06
and hopefully get some some exciting moments I got like I said I got a real good feeling about it I think it's going
54:11
to be very exciting show I look forward to uh spending some time with you talking to the other uh people involved
54:18
Brent and and the rest of your group and of course interviewing some of those superstars in fishing that's going to be
54:24
a a big deal as well well so uh I want to thank you for joining us buddy absolute uh pleasure you're a great
54:31
ambassador to the sport of fishing a certainly a wonderful spokesperson for
54:37
your organization and uh professional fishing in general so uh thanks buddy
54:43
hopefully we'll get a chance to spend a bit of time on the bow of the boat down there he it's been the pleasure of my
54:48
life doing this you know and sharing this with the community and people around the world and uh now I get to
54:55
share it with my two little guys which is you know I'll die a happy man so and I guarantee you an we will be on the
55:02
front of the boat at some point in time all right catch in a few thanks Buddy Joe Ford wow this is going to be uh I
55:11
think Dean this is going to be the highlight of our year uh when we get down there it's going to be uh Mayhem on
55:18
the NAA absolute mayem all right I'm going
55:23
to end this wonderful uh broadcast C on this note and that is uh fishing
55:30
canada.com the Gateway the portal to your next fishing Adventure don't miss
55:35
it the store and everything else that's there I think we we've got some articles coming up uh about this PanAm bass
55:42
fishing Championship as well on behalf of the entire team minus of course senior Mr Bowman who is vacationing once
55:50
again uh that's voba over there uh Nick the empty chair Nick is is there uh Dean
55:58
our illustrious producer now over there and Orion is over there come on now
56:04
thanks folks I'm Angel Biola catch you next time [Music]
56:15
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56:24
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56:32
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