Up next in 10
Ang and Pete make an off-the-cuff decision and decide to head east onto a portion of the St. Lawrence River that reeks of big Smallmouth. Not only do they catch a ton of Smallies in half a day, but they also encounter what the St. Lawrence is known for… a giant among giants!
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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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0:01
[Music]
0:05
[Applause]
0:05
[Music]
0:07
look at this oh it's a jumper
0:13
double there's one got him that a boy
0:18
little
0:19
jumper if it's a small M it's big oh
0:23
look at the size oh my God this is one
0:26
of those days we're having that we all
0:29
dream of
0:31
the fishing Canada show brought to you
0:33
in part by Princecraft boats the spirit
0:37
of boating Garmin plot your Paradise
0:41
reel them in and Ontario Canada in
0:45
partnership with destination
0:48
[Music]
0:58
Ontario
1:01
hi everyone now normally our shows are
1:04
well planned months ahead of time but
1:06
today we're going to take you on a last
1:08
minute fishing Canada shoot it's one of
1:11
those spur of the- moment things where
1:12
you just kind of say let's just go do
1:14
this and today's this is targeting
1:17
smallmouth bass on the St Lawrence River
1:19
arguably the best smallmouth bass river
1:21
in the world a place very near and dear
1:24
to our hearts the reason for this last
1:27
minute shoe well we're already in the
1:30
area is sort of and there's no way that
1:35
Pete and I are going to turn down an
1:37
opportunity at targeting this gorgeous
1:39
small mouth Oasis I mean let's be honest
1:42
if you were Towing your rig full of gear
1:45
past a world class fishery could you
1:47
resist the
1:49
temptation we didn't think so the area
1:52
on the river we're targeting today is
1:53
Lake St Francis it's bordered by
1:55
Southeastern Ontario Southwestern Quebec
1:58
and Northern New York State
2:00
some of our Fondest Memories have come
2:02
from here including our now famous less
2:04
than 1 hour double haul of 50 lb plus
2:07
muskies a feat will likely never
2:10
duplicate are you kidding me oh Angelo
2:14
that's your biggest musky ever oh for
2:15
sure without question oh Bud look at
2:18
that fish God what a gorgeous
2:21
must look at
2:23
you
2:26
beautiful oh my God as far as fishing
2:30
for Smallmouth bass here we've done some
2:32
tournaments as well as some Primo
2:34
television shoots in the past we
2:36
definitely have some history with that
2:39
said today we'll be fishing a totally
2:41
new area and we've only got one
2:43
unscheduled day to try and get a SMY
2:45
show done so we thought it might be a
2:47
good idea to confer with our good buddy
2:50
and local fishing Legend Ryan Flo and
2:53
after some good Intel it's on fishing
2:56
for bass it's not first nature to me I'm
2:59
a wildlife fisherman that's my
3:00
predominately that's what I understand
3:02
that's what I enjoy and that's my
3:03
passion bass fishing just fell into
3:06
place for my walleye spots we're getting
3:09
when we're guiding we're fishing where
3:10
we're getting lots of bass so I was
3:12
always catching the Bass from there it
3:14
just kind of got me a little bit hooked
3:17
our first stop is a mid River or in this
3:19
case Mid Lake rise in the bottom we
3:21
should note here that even though this
3:23
portion of the river is class as a lake
3:25
it still has a constant strong current a
3:28
rise or drop in the bottom Contour is a
3:29
perfect place for smalles to set up on
3:31
and wait for food to flow their way we
3:34
see it as their Ambush or hunting
3:36
areas once we find that contour and
3:39
position our boat for the perfect drift
3:41
we know it's going to be a good
3:45
day you got one buddy right off the Hop
3:48
feels good oh coming up coming up go
3:51
back down thank you got one
3:56
too nice now what do
3:58
we
4:00
jumper now what do we do oh my God off
4:04
no way
4:07
yeah look at this now he's pulling all
4:09
the way down look at they come up and
4:12
then they go down they come up and then
4:13
they go down he's just going out that's
4:16
a good fish yeah he looks like about a
4:18
four pounder doesn't he yeah yeah there
4:20
he comes there he
4:22
is there you go nice one buddy big fat
4:26
is big fatty not even that huge
4:30
no he's not as he's not as big as I
4:32
thought but fat strong as heck typical
4:35
small mouth right just typical small M
4:37
bad look at how fat that fish is oh my
4:41
God we get a four or five pounder we're
4:44
going to get beat up bad that's probably
4:46
close to four right there that I'd say
4:48
so just a shorty I'd say so nice see you
4:53
bu one of the simplest forms of of
4:56
fishing as far as I'm concerned and most
4:58
effective and that is drop shotting oh
5:01
yeah as simple as it gets weight on the
5:03
bottom bait just up off the bottom you
5:05
can tie this at various distances from
5:07
the bottom and those fish that are
5:09
cruising just off the bottom are going
5:11
to see this before they'll get spooked
5:13
by
5:16
that double
5:21
oh there's one got him that a boy little
5:28
jumper
5:36
as I touched on a second ago drop
5:38
shotting has become our most effective
5:40
method of hooking into these current
5:42
related smallies we've tried tubes and
5:45
crra and Carolina rigs and all kinds of
5:48
crazy stuff but day in and day out drop
5:50
shotting really is the deal
5:54
here he's on he's on
5:57
double oh no
6:01
je
6:03
whoa that's
6:05
funny this is fun yeah this guy's small
6:08
it's a little no I got a totally light
6:10
one you got a dark
6:13
one
6:15
huh fat look how fat he is they are
6:19
eating even the little guys are eating
6:21
like crazy little
6:26
chubby I don't want to break got decent
6:30
gut to him how nice is
6:33
that for a
6:37
change set himself in the top lip look
6:40
at the guts on these fish yeah they're
6:41
just filling right up tiny the length of
6:44
them is nothing but and that and it
6:47
between the weight and the just the way
6:50
a small m is built they're fighting like
6:51
crazy in the current of course they're
6:53
just fighting like
6:55
crazy our main setups are either
6:57
straight 8lb test Yuri FL Floric carbon
6:59
line to the hook and weight or 10 lb
7:02
test braid to an 8lb test leader we
7:05
typically use a number four or six drop
7:07
shot hook and a 3/8 to 1/2 ooun
7:09
cylindrical drop shot weight this setup
7:11
is perfect for heavy
7:17
current not a big one he's already up I
7:19
don't think very big yeah little guy
7:22
look at that
7:23
thing solid three he's one of our little
7:27
ones solid three get on
7:31
bud
7:37
nice so that's what you call a little
7:39
guy in this school believe it or not as
7:42
uh beefy as that guy is he's very you
7:45
know not very long 16in fish or
7:47
something like that but 15in fish but
7:50
lots of
7:51
gut see you buddy thanks for the fight
7:54
tough guy they release so nice too
7:58
straight down
7:59
[Music]
8:01
there's one got him got a boy coming up
8:07
yeah he just had enough to come to the
8:09
surface and then he said nah maybe not
8:11
this is one of those days we're having
8:13
that we all dream of you and us we dream
8:17
of days like this we dream of it and
8:20
we're experiencing right now we're
8:21
experiencing it with
8:23
you incredible here he come oh look at
8:26
the size of that
8:28
thing where I
8:30
at oh come on baby that's a good
8:34
one that's biggie big fat fish they're
8:38
so fat so
8:40
awesome coming at you buddy I got you oh
8:44
what a nice looking what a great sight
8:46
clean
8:49
water he's swimming Upstream now coming
8:52
at you got him got him look how thick
8:57
that is look at that thing that's a
8:58
block that's a
9:00
block
9:02
wow good job
9:05
buddy and you see us it looks like we're
9:08
we're wimping out here fighting these
9:09
fish nothing you can do about it it's
9:11
current right the current is just
9:13
current and a small mod bass they two
9:15
together are pretty much
9:17
incredible there we go that
9:20
gorgeous we are sitting on top of
9:23
possibly the biggest school of these
9:25
that we have ever experienced in our
9:27
lives maybe there's been one or two
9:29
other times in the past where we could
9:32
see these big schools of
9:35
smalles but not as tight as this this is
9:39
incredible we're going to tell you a
9:41
little bit about it as the show
9:42
progresses here but right now we need to
9:44
catch some more of
9:47
[Music]
9:52
them okay go out under I'll see if I can
9:55
grab one of them that was the best
10:00
little
10:08
jumper tiny you get mixture of all sizes
10:12
little guys fat they're all full they're
10:15
all right full of food still fun no
10:18
matter how big they
10:19
[Music]
10:22
are it's a small M it's big what do we
10:26
got whoa as usual it'll be a while oh
10:30
look at the size oh my
10:36
God we're using two different drift
10:38
fishing methods today while trying to
10:40
stay on top of the school of smallies
10:43
the first is to bring our boat directly
10:44
up current of the fish and then drift
10:46
our baits through the school with near
10:48
vertical
10:49
presentations this works great until the
10:52
fish get spooky because of the boat and
10:54
become
10:55
weary if the fish do get spooked then we
10:58
position ourselves 20 20 to 30 ft away
10:59
from the school hit anchor mode on our
11:01
trolling motor to Hold Us in position
11:03
and then cast out and drift our baits
11:05
past the fish much like trout fishing in
11:07
a creeker River both methods are
11:10
extremely
11:13
efficient we quick whoa look at the work
11:16
that this Rod is doing like there's no
11:19
way no way that you could do this with
11:22
anything other than just a perfect drop
11:24
shot Rod but look at the bend perfect
11:29
curve in that you need like a normal you
11:31
could use a medium light if otherwise
11:33
you have like a 7 foot medium light
11:35
would be a good rod to do this with too
11:36
so you a nice fast tip on it but you
11:38
need that Medium at least at the
11:40
backbone section but drop shot rods are
11:42
perfect for this stuff because they just
11:44
like you see on what ANS his Rod there
11:45
it's just bending all that first third
11:47
is bending and then the rest is just
11:49
backbone cuz of these big fish cuz of
11:51
small mod come on not that big either
11:54
big that is weird k your butt that's
11:56
your forearm being sore for the last two
11:58
days maybe
11:59
[Laughter]
12:03
you're getting weak on it buddy he got
12:05
oh whoa look at that that's musky stuff
12:08
right there either that or a disease is
12:11
it look at that what is
12:14
that that is boy it's dog eat dog down
12:17
there I'm telling
12:18
you even those big Walters that's oh
12:22
yeah it's a gou that's a gou that's look
12:25
at that e ain't touching that I did ask
12:31
that's crazy it's a tough World down
12:33
there man tough world I'm assuming musky
12:37
and Pike would be the ones musky more
12:38
than anything right would be the ones
12:40
that would do that because just the way
12:41
they're you don't think a big walleye
12:43
would I don't think take a piece that a
12:45
smly that big yeah that's
12:50
true let me know buddy I'm still tying
12:52
up RTI buddy as usual it it'll be a
12:55
while don't forget there's walleye in
12:57
here too apparently eh yeah oh yeah
13:00
there's lots of wall in this place you
13:01
never know this guy feels pretty SM
13:03
esque though yeah just the way he's pull
13:05
bulldogging so we're doing two different
13:07
techniques here we're doing going up and
13:09
drifting down with the current and the
13:11
wind wind is a
13:12
perfect angle and speed today and we're
13:15
also on um on anchor lock with the
13:17
Garment with the force and we're let
13:20
we're drifting almost like we're River
13:21
fishing like for trout and throwing it
13:23
up there and just let it kind of work
13:24
its way down as long as it's moving down
13:26
close to the current speed and uh and
13:29
they're both working it's a big Walley I
13:31
think is a big Walley he's long oh it is
13:33
Walley yes look at this thing nice one
13:36
bud smoke you call brother what a bonus
13:40
you call that here he what a bonus holy
13:43
holy
13:46
mro you're a genius brother you're a
13:49
freaking genius let me get that out
13:51
right here look at the marks on this
13:53
fish this is a huge walleye that wal
13:57
massive
14:00
wow that is a biggie that's crazy that's
14:05
crazy right there love it all those
14:08
teeth all of those Predators All in One
14:11
Hole yeah no kidding eh see you buddy
14:15
boom powered down that's so awesome call
14:19
it the minute he went up river that kind
14:21
of yeah gave it away jumps whatsoever no
14:23
jump moving up
14:25
River yeah that's a Walter that's f man
14:29
we're having some fun today
14:31
bro oh I feels like heavy fish from here
14:35
eh but they're so they're built so tough
14:38
right they're built like little blocks
14:40
yeah here it comes oh he just
14:43
[Music]
14:44
jumped wow you think he jump some of
14:47
them jump it's weird smallo they're
14:49
weird some jump and some won't they'll
14:51
just they'll probably get a jump out of
14:53
this guy but he seems to be a real
14:56
bulldogger and I was just I was just I
14:58
pass up and I just lift make sure it was
15:00
just drifting down yeah like a small Mo
15:03
compared to a large mo
15:05
oo yeah out he's under the boat there
15:07
there's totally different fight I mean a
15:09
small MO is much tougher a large Mo will
15:11
pull and sort of bulldog but nothing
15:14
like this I think they give up easier
15:16
too I got here rch he's a biggy he's a
15:19
biggie a good
15:22
one we to see this
15:26
guy nice w oh nice fish that's a that's
15:30
a real big that's a f oh yeah for sure a
15:34
some
15:36
yeah nice
15:39
wow wow wow is Right amazing right in
15:42
the lip top lip perfect hook up look at
15:46
that folks oh my oh what a small M what
15:49
a monster what a small M gorgeous fish
15:53
beautiful man what's nice about this is
15:56
that we're out in a really open area
15:59
and there's no worries about these fish
16:01
running alongside of a ridge or you know
16:03
breaking your line off on stumps or or
16:06
rocks or anything just a big weed line
16:09
and we're just drifting basically
16:11
drifting our baits down beside it yes
16:13
yeah and the fish are swimming out of
16:15
the weeds and into the Open Water which
16:17
is fantastic nice noce yeah yeah and
16:19
there's there's deep water there's all
16:20
kinds of deep water all around I mean
16:22
that's typical especially well all I
16:24
think all year soon as they're done
16:26
they're spawn they start working towards
16:27
deeper water you catch small these
16:29
shallow all the time when these fish are
16:31
semi- shallow but but there's always AC
16:34
or close you know access to the deeper
16:36
water you know way out there sort of
16:37
thing we found the spot Bud we found the
16:46
[Music]
16:49
spot this hot spot is a large underwater
16:52
rise in beautiful Lake St Francis along
16:54
the mighty St Lawrence River the
16:56
Waypoint on your screen puts you right
16:58
there
16:59
this is a very typical small M bass area
17:01
where the fish sit at the front of or on
17:03
the shallower portion of a depth change
17:04
and wait for passing prey the smallies
17:07
here aren't picky and will usually hit
17:08
most well-placed presentations early in
17:11
the day work best for us we ran drop
17:13
shot rigs with small 3 and 1/2 to 4 in
17:15
finesse Plastics with 3/8 to/ oun drop
17:18
shot weights to fish this Hotpot
17:20
effectively we started up current and
17:22
drifted down once we found the fish we
17:25
anchored our gar trolling motor and then
17:27
cast up current and our presentation
17:29
slowly drift Downstream a natural
17:31
presentation is key here for more
17:34
hotpots like this one check out fishing
17:41
canada.com now I don't know if the
17:43
audience can see the bend in that Rod oh
17:46
there you go over you go my darling
17:48
there you go oh that's a big fish oh
17:50
look at the size of oh my
17:53
[Music]
17:57
God
17:58
[Music]
18:05
after a fish like Pete's last one we'd
18:07
normally say well it's going to be hard
18:09
to top that I mean let's be honest a 5
18:13
lb SMY on like tackle it gets no better
18:16
than that right normally we'd agree with
18:20
that however we did not expect what was
18:22
about to
18:24
unfold oh oh boy so tough
18:28
well now here go bind it they are so
18:30
tough holy
18:33
smokes even the little ones yeah is that
18:36
a little one like I don't think it's
18:37
well can't tell it's hard to tell eh no
18:40
I don't know the audience can see the
18:42
bend in that Rod what Bend IN an's Rod
18:44
see how that works that's a drop shot
18:46
Rod so he's got lots of tip action it's
18:48
really softest tip but a lot of Backbone
18:50
in the back end if you're going to buy a
18:52
drop shot specific Rod Buddy this thing
18:54
is that's what they do a lot of weight a
18:56
lot of weight
18:59
I mean a lot of
19:01
weight we got a
19:03
giant keep away from that motor yeah
19:06
it's what I'm worried about he's just in
19:07
the wrong place there you go swim up
19:10
that's it there you go over you go my
19:12
darling there you
19:13
go
19:15
wow either we got a giant on or I'm just
19:18
totally wimping out here but holy M what
19:20
is going on here yeah look at this thing
19:24
it's just raw weight now
19:27
yeah no now he's moving I can uh yeah I
19:30
think you need back up let me just Mark
19:32
I think you try and back up a little bit
19:33
on him Pete so I can get I'm going to
19:35
drop a way point right here of an angle
19:38
oh that's a big fish holy mackerel I
19:41
just want to get a peek at it to be
19:43
honest with you cuz I'm curious now if
19:45
that's a small mouth so I'm starting to
19:48
and he came up so quick and H him Splash
19:50
yeah exactly that's that was the freaky
19:52
part that's what bothers mebe you got a
19:53
Musky that ate a SMY I'm thinking this
19:55
this is it does not feel like
19:59
the norm if it's a small mouth it's big
20:03
it's all I got to
20:05
say or like you said you know maybe he
20:08
hung himself up and maybe got himself by
20:11
the
20:11
tail giving him a lot more strength
20:14
although it doesn't feel tail a shallow
20:16
enough we can see I'm going to see we're
20:17
going to see a great big musky with a
20:18
small mouth on his mouth oh Baby that
20:21
would be the
20:23
best big old 50
20:26
iner there it is right there it's
20:28
wrapped or something
20:30
it's no it's a Musky it's got a Musky at
20:32
your bass it is I told it's a Musky on
20:34
my bass oh look at the size of oh my god
20:37
oh he let it go no yeah he let it go
20:39
look at this folks oh God did you see
20:43
that that was a big 50in look what he
20:46
did to the bass he killed
20:48
it holy
20:51
smokes no he's still there oh look at
20:54
this poor
20:56
fish wow wow that was an incredible
21:01
scene that you and I just witnessed oh a
21:04
big musky I saw that musky folks that
21:06
musky was see this net from handle to
21:08
tip it was like that it was that long it
21:11
was a tank and look what he did to this
21:13
poor small
21:15
mouth oh man now that fish Will Survive
21:18
oh yeah he'll we can we can take them
21:21
back and give them to somebody to eat
21:22
too but I think he oh he'll survive
21:24
it we'll try letting him go if not we'll
21:27
pick him up with a net yeah let see what
21:28
he
21:30
does well he wasn't doing the fighting
21:32
it was the musky no he's gone see he's
21:34
already gone he was that that fish as
21:36
soon as he hit yeah that fish stopped
21:38
fighting cuz the musky hit him
21:40
immediately he came up that surface he
21:42
just b a tail a little tail switch went
21:44
down and that musky must have nailed him
21:45
on the way
21:47
down we've had Pike before I'm all never
21:51
had a Musky on a smallie that was huge
21:53
oh buddy that thing was giant down that
21:55
far like he was down in 12 8 ft of water
21:57
and you can you see he was
22:00
fat my God imagine folks a fish that
22:04
eats fish like that I mean you know what
22:06
I mean normally you're talking about
22:07
minnows to goes to whatever that guy
22:10
eats walleye and small mouth and
22:12
whatever else he can get so that my
22:16
friends was a
22:19
[Music]
22:22
thrill getting there brought to you by
22:24
The Outdoor Journal Radio podcast
22:27
Network
22:30
to get to today's excellent smallmouth
22:32
bass fishing we first drove East on
22:33
Highway 401 to exit 814 at the town of
22:36
Lancaster we Then followed County Road 2
22:38
until we arrived at Max Marina on the
22:40
shores of Lake St Francis please take
22:43
note of a couple of points here first
22:45
there's a lot of current in the middle
22:46
section of Franny expect to be using
22:48
your trolling motor quite a bit second
22:51
this water can turn nasty in a hurry if
22:53
big winds are predicted please plan with
22:56
caution
23:00
the fishing Canada show brought to you
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23:11
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23:19
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23:23
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23:25
Adventure come along to a
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23:31
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23:32
Canada yes we're in for some good
23:41
[Music]
23:43
fish
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