Up next in 10
Lake Champlain Bass Tournament | Fish'n Canada
300 views
Apr 15, 2025
Angelo Viola and Pete Bowman take you into the world of tournament fishing... sort of. They film a “mock” Bass Tournament and reveal their secrets to success in competitive fishing. Don't forget to leave a COMMENT and give us a LIKE if you enjoyed what you saw. SUBSCRIBE for new videos and episodes released weekly! CONNECT WITH US -------------------------------- WEBSITE: http://fishncanada.com FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/FishnCanada/ INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/fishncanadaofficial/ 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, Pete Bowman, and the pair continue to travel across Canada educating anglers using the experience they’ve gained over the years #Fishing
View Video Transcript
0:00
[Music]
0:29
miss in Canada brought to you in part by
0:32
CERN the life jacket experts Ram trucks
0:37
nothing worked harder than a ramp
0:39
Castrol more than just oil it's liquid
0:42
engineering u.s. real when performance
0:46
means everything and radio world ask the
0:49
experts at radio world ta
0:54
[Music]
0:57
on today's program we're going to do
0:59
something completely different
1:00
peni are going to get into our heads as
1:03
we prepare for a fishing tournament now
1:05
it's not a real fishing tournament but
1:07
we will take you through the same steps
1:09
and processes that we normally would use
1:11
but the strategy started way before we
1:13
pulled on these tournaments our first
1:16
step in terms of planning to study the
1:17
available source material I try and come
1:19
up with some kind of plan today the
1:21
internet and computerized maps are
1:23
invaluable tools in the previous stage
1:25
and you know hey guys how you doing
1:27
buddy great we're going to be doing some
1:29
it also doesn't hurt to make a phone
1:31
call to a local friend sometimes that
1:33
makes all the difference we're hoping
1:35
you did help us out a little bit look
1:37
the water levels this year as you know
1:38
are super high and some of the fish I've
1:40
already even spawned I probably check
1:42
out charcoal Creek first yeah and then
1:44
probably head south down to carry bait
1:47
now once you mapped out your strategy
1:49
don't further attended it's time to take
1:51
that old-school map information and
1:53
apply it to please technology that's
1:55
where these babies come in yeah on this
1:56
Princecraft we have to Laurens HDS eight
1:58
units they're eight inch screen regular
2:00
fish planters that we're all used to
2:01
however the difference is that has
2:03
structure scan which no scans at each
2:05
site and it has down scanning which
2:07
gives us kind of a 3d image below the
2:09
boat but there's more this is a GPS unit
2:11
and the magic to the GPS unit is in here
2:13
that's the goal baby little Navionics
2:16
chip it's actually platinum buddy well
2:18
after our this feature allows us to
2:20
eliminate all that running around and
2:21
puts us on our chosen spot one more bag
2:24
for anybody thanks but now we happen to
2:27
know that this body of water Lake
2:28
Champlain has spread over three
2:29
jurisdictions for BEC New York and
2:33
Vermont now you know we don't plan on
2:34
fishing all three during the tournament
2:36
you should always buy all the permits
2:38
you'd hate to get caught out of bounds
2:40
and lose a tournament over a $15.00
2:42
permit that will mess you up ready to go
2:45
buddy ready
2:54
after a modern day map session phone
2:57
calls we make sure we've got all the
2:58
gear that we feel would be necessary to
3:00
get the job done if a particular bait
3:02
works well on the lake you're both the
3:04
fish then by a few extra as well you get
3:07
an accurate way scale measuring stick
3:09
and some kind of culling system
3:10
oh and make sure you stock up in the
3:12
fishing line Department you don't want
3:14
to forget to rescore before the event
3:15
otherwise it could be very costly we're
3:19
starting with what tournament anglers
3:20
call pre-fishing literally scouting the
3:22
areas that we found using our Navionics
3:24
charts back in the office our goal is to
3:26
catch a few fish allowing us to see what
3:28
each spot holds but not to catch too
3:30
many in case we decide it's a great
3:31
tournament area if we see a big bass we
3:34
make note of it pop in a waypoint and
3:36
definitely do not attempt to catch it on
3:37
a previous game the problem with some of
3:40
these spots so like this one especially
3:41
is that if it's so obvious to you and it
3:44
was not as soon as we looked at it on
3:46
the chart it's probably obviously the
3:48
other 149 guys on the tournament so you
3:51
can't really count on it what we're
3:53
doing in here is trying to establish a
3:55
pattern we want to see what these fish
3:56
are doing and and this is a pretty good
3:59
place to learn that because it's big
4:01
there's lots of cover that we're fishing
4:03
fry ball all over the place all flooded
4:06
timber so it gives us a chance to kind
4:09
of feel things out and come up with what
4:10
we call a pattern then the trick is to
4:12
take that and pattern it in an area
4:15
that's not quite as obvious to everybody
4:17
maybe a little more secluded maybe a
4:19
little bit farther away from tournament
4:21
headquarters or maybe a little closer
4:23
there's a lot of times where tournaments
4:25
are one within 150 feet of the blastoff
4:28
area the key is to find a pattern and
4:30
that's what we're doing here and by the
4:33
looks of it there is a lot of junk to
4:35
cover and it all looks great
4:36
mm-hmm there's one you know you know
4:43
there any other small fish that's small
4:46
fish that small honey
4:51
another smaller nice yeah we're in the
4:53
low kid you know if these little guys
4:57
are here is going to be a big big one in
4:59
here
4:59
hi that would probably even way that you
5:02
know what exactly five of those were off
5:03
the bat that would help
5:06
going into the bags or what oh nice
5:10
I'll just pull up all I got he stopped
5:13
himself right as I'm looking at ice oh
5:15
my god stuff this stuff right in there
5:17
come on get the mud off there alligator
5:19
too much fish there to another one yeah
5:21
we're going to stop setting the hook now
5:22
we have to mark this spot Pete is one of
5:24
our tournament spot something that's
5:26
pretty good salad but that guy real
5:27
light colored fish this one right on the
5:29
sand right yeah that light colored
5:31
different type of water and the other
5:33
guys that is as our pre fishing game
5:36
moves on we try and establish as many
5:38
good areas of a lake as we can while
5:40
eliminating unproductive water in the
5:41
process now believe me on this one
5:43
you'll find wave or officials water than
5:45
hot spots that's pretty much a guarantee
5:49
[Music]
5:55
you're gonna be my Reese I don't know
5:58
you hung up old all those guys in the
6:01
bath yeah can't even see it I just saw
6:03
the head say what we read now I have to
6:06
go follow the shame that we call yeah
6:08
this you don't exactly we don't have a
6:11
net today because we're free fishing but
6:12
we learn a lot to go over them here let
6:15
me run the motor yeah you gotta roll up
6:17
there didn't really want to set the hook
6:19
on this but that's a huge bass I would
6:22
look great on weigh-in day brother
6:25
you got him bud not that we would need
6:28
them in the boat unfortunately buddy we
6:30
saw that's all we do yeah holy macro
6:33
it's nice yeah the doorway we'd have our
6:36
hooks all bent and twist it up so that
6:38
we wouldn't hook the fish like this but
6:39
we got so excited what we saw this Reed
6:42
bit this work that we thought we'd just
6:44
go and have a quick peek and of course
6:45
the inevitable this is a fish you want
6:48
to catch during the tournament look at
6:50
this Pete how many times he would got
6:52
yeah I love seeing that buddy catch and
6:55
release works anybody who says that
6:56
these fish don't survive or better yet
6:59
that won't bite I mean I I know I've
7:01
caught fish the next day pre pre fish
7:04
fish the next day during a tournament
7:06
exactly there's a testament this guy's
7:08
butt caught a few times not that long
7:10
ago either yeah good stuff buddy tonight
7:12
what's a good omen
7:17
to get to today's bass location we took
7:19
highway 401 all the way to the Quebec
7:21
border we've entered highway 22 highway
7:23
15 and traveled south to highway 202
7:25
next we travel east to the north end of
7:28
Lake Champlain as stated in the show to
7:31
really take advantage of this gigantic
7:32
and very productive body of water
7:34
angular should obtain Quebec Vermont and
7:36
New York fishing licenses
7:38
[Music]
7:45
there's no bike wait sneak him out buddy
7:49
come on up okay yep see ya $30 two
7:51
pounder
7:52
okay thanks but look at this there's
7:55
another one right there okay during
7:58
tournament free fishing it's a good idea
7:59
not to hook fish from time to time we
8:02
know this one was a fast
8:03
so why sting it when there's a chance of
8:05
catching it when it counts during the
8:06
tournament and who knows I mean we could
8:09
push back into this stuff that's right
8:11
as our pre fishing day progressed we
8:13
definitely found the numbers we wanted
8:14
but the big fish were certainly not
8:16
active luckily we spotted a few post
8:18
spawn females cruising the shallows
8:19
giving us hope for competition day yeah
8:22
he gave himself away at that wood buddy
8:23
that's a bad fish to look at him look at
8:26
his thing football sling him I'm here
8:28
I'll get him for you yeah he gave
8:31
himself away he was very hot at this
8:32
point
8:33
how's this tail but you know what that's
8:35
in good shape in perfect shape that fish
8:38
is in great shape
8:39
fat feeding and I mean it looks like a
8:41
male but no he would not have just come
8:43
off a nest that fish hey yeah I don't
8:47
know yeah I don't know so we that's a
8:49
healthy-looking maybe but you know what
8:51
maybe they're in different stages right
8:52
now it would be definitely maybe that's
8:53
a small female all eggs yeah it could be
8:56
that too and this bond yet could be that
8:57
too hard to say good-looking little fish
9:00
though if it's cool all right we don't
9:02
have a whole lot what we found here is
9:03
this little Bay is all flooded the
9:06
community here is a grassy babe all
9:07
those little sticks there's a little
9:08
pieces of wood sticks here and we've
9:10
come to about ten fry balls so far and
9:12
the male should be hanging around the
9:14
fry balls the baby bass are still
9:16
tightly school together to the middle
9:17
shouldn't still be around them so this
9:19
whole area right here we've seen ten
9:20
fright balls I just broke off a fish
9:22
back there and it's got one here you
9:24
know this isn't with fish now it's going
9:26
to I mean the Sun is sitting pretty low
9:27
on the horizon if we can get here first
9:29
thing in the morning and get good
9:30
visibility we should be able to see even
9:32
midday midday litter this is the pockets
9:35
of fish throughout this whole area
9:43
[Music]
9:48
so now it comes down to competition day
9:50
our strategy is lead I will try to
9:52
adhere to it as best we can but nothing
9:54
is set in stone with that said if we see
9:57
something like a shoreline full of wood
9:59
or Reed will quickly check it out
10:01
especially we've got to live in our
10:03
tournament day is going well for numbers
10:05
but definitely not for big fish we can
10:07
see some great large moles in the heavy
10:08
stuff but they're totally turned off
10:10
let's face it when a three-and-a-half to
10:12
four pounder swims away from your
10:13
presentation something is wrong little
10:19
getting a little guy in the big fish in
10:21
here we're getting all the little guy
10:22
Wow all smaller that's kind of scary but
10:27
yeah you can win the tournament right
10:28
here you could do every one of those was
10:31
a pound every well these big girls have
10:33
ever seen a bike well that do my god
10:36
yeah baby
10:41
got a man let me get some that picnic
10:48
get out of that stuff on there yeah
10:50
that's that boy there you go okay all
10:54
right get the qualities get in there
10:56
yeah it a little bit a little better hey
11:00
yeah yeah yeah it's good in the box
11:03
buddy well put a bit but we could use it
11:05
today okay now he's knocking away and
11:12
I'll take buddy but now he's a tight one
11:14
you might you think so I don't know
11:17
that's neat
11:20
thirteen buddy he's going in and then
11:23
he's gonna go out
11:26
well as you saw our large mug didn't
11:28
quite pan out I mean we've got tons of
11:29
fish but we've got a small bag of
11:32
largemouth in the box when you're
11:34
fishing a tournament versatility is so
11:36
important to get so hung up on large
11:39
motors mom oh you got a dull spots where
11:42
you can catch both of them situation
11:44
with us we've got way way too small a
11:46
bag limit and we've got to upgrade
11:48
qualities got to come up significantly
11:50
so we found this incredible
11:53
it's a hump that's got an underwater
11:55
point that's joining it to a piece of
11:57
shoreline way way back down there it's
12:00
out in the middle of this lake and I
12:01
don't imagine it gets a whole lot of
12:03
pressure it's one of the reasons why we
12:04
picked it when we came out pre-fishing
12:07
there was some small fish on it I think
12:08
we caught the biggest one would have
12:10
been around three pounds but lots of
12:12
two's we're hoping we can just blook off
12:14
a four pounder just to start upgrading
12:16
our our largemouth time will tell
12:21
boom fish be together before I cast good
12:26
man
12:26
fish kill Bob baby oh she besides my
12:31
thing came over the water oh that's a
12:37
good fish that is definitely going to
12:38
get rid of a large boat man if he comes
12:40
close to just swinging by I'll get him
12:41
in come on baby stay on they pinned I
12:45
hate losing will dogging that's a nice
12:48
fish I didn't see the whole thing but oh
12:50
yeah that's that's good that's going to
12:52
help us that's going to help us you
12:54
ready ready yeah
12:56
calm in the air good what kind of it
12:59
yeah that'll work
13:00
our Smalley's bud hey Anthon I hope the
13:04
rod do dice to get rid of all those
13:07
large bugs with it
13:08
nice okay you want to just make sure we
13:12
we cool with that what's that he's going
13:14
to he's going to get rid of all he'll do
13:15
it for sure I'm going to weigh them I'll
13:17
put a weight on him in case we get a
13:18
crazy day going on here
13:22
Oh buddy what is it 3:35 buddy yeah baby
13:29
okay it's awesome
13:31
come on come on two in a row sometimes
13:34
you get out three spots man well you rep
13:36
repeat turtle official years ago three
13:40
[Music]
13:45
there you go buddy
13:49
[Music]
13:55
come on baby go fishing
14:01
any size I don't know
14:03
so he hammer I could label this hammer
14:06
it like a blade session how he's staying
14:07
down I'm going to bring up buddy I got
14:10
70 bow line on here I'm going to just
14:11
cork it right in here that yep now put
14:13
the net here you bring him well that's
14:16
another nice witness here hundred
14:17
Jackie's gonna just pick up sit down
14:20
get out of here
14:25
I don't think even either way in how
14:27
fantastic is that
14:31
come on you pop over your drink no
14:35
sticking a dragon really hurting a
14:37
dragon buddy you going on dragging the
14:38
tube yes baby
14:40
ha ha yo solid good fish feel solid it's
14:47
gonna bring them over here for me yeah
14:48
if you get feeling wall I guess that's
14:52
how that problem lands but a head out of
14:55
here I'll give you the front you can
15:00
paint my tank if that is a small boat
15:04
shredder watch that motor around your
15:07
chest pull yeah right way yeah if that
15:10
is a small Molly this is a smaller yes
15:12
oh my god okay I got the net here you
15:18
just do do what you do ready here it
15:20
comes here it comes
15:22
yeah that's incredible look at this
15:27
thing does it like that gimme gimme some
15:29
wine holy Oh
15:34
sure oh my gosh on a to uni your bouncer
15:38
out there I found look at the belly out
15:40
of oh you're kidding me
15:45
that's it that that's the weather put us
15:48
over the top
15:48
you came all awesome Rob excite we're
15:51
gonna weigh them this my friends is what
15:53
tournament fishing is all about calling
15:55
or upgrading your cat replacing the
15:57
little guys that will bring your total
15:58
weight down with solid zonkers it's the
16:01
best feeling in the world
16:07
we have a cat I went on tour in the cast
16:11
oh the lines Oh another oh I got what I
16:15
they got without my lands all tangled up
16:17
so I don't care I got one eye come on
16:19
please please be a keeper and then a few
16:22
love you said you said if I'm hung up I
16:24
got to feel like an idiot it's not
16:26
coming up he's coming up be a smallmouth
16:29
come on baby yes mama
16:31
oh I think you've got a smile start to
16:32
move guy I like it where they start
16:34
moving across like that it come on up
16:36
baby let's have a peek oh that's a solid
16:38
man tight in here buddy that is a solid
16:40
fish even a real termina kind of mistake
16:42
that is a solid fish oh no he's turned
16:46
up very old
16:47
look at the size hat smallmouth look at
16:49
the white on that look at all yeah it's
16:51
a big fish
16:53
Chester all motor away from you okay I'm
16:56
gonna bring them over here yeah I'm
16:57
going to swing them into your net yeah
16:59
you ready yeah I'm ready
17:00
oh my god no he's not
17:04
oh my god oh that's big come on baby
17:07
okay coming at you come on that's coming
17:08
at some magic yeah holy moly you go
17:14
money on there didn't ya oh I lost to
17:21
fish for speck Jordan liking nothing
17:25
worse oh my god
17:27
there's our there's our living buddy big
17:30
we got away that got away hello nine
17:35
five oh nice nice scoot a bit buddy kay
17:39
we got about a half hour life you know
17:41
my buddy I said go away in get it on a
17:44
great day
17:46
large most small most pistol good at our
17:49
friend
17:49
hopefully we've shed a bit of light on
17:51
tournament fishing there's certainly a
17:53
lot more to it than what we show today
17:55
but you get an idea of how we attack a
17:56
permit situation
17:57
start to finish maybe it's your time to
18:00
catch the ever addicting term above
18:03
[Music]
18:06
today's hot spot is a huge spawning
18:09
vapor largemouth bass we're pointing to
18:11
screen legaia down on this particular
18:13
trip we encountered unusually high water
18:15
levels leaving all kinds of brush and
18:17
wood underwater it's a perfect occasion
18:19
to target early season large models use
18:21
a combination of a spinner bait and a
18:23
flipping jig to search the area
18:24
leave no piece of structure untouched
18:27
for hot spots like this one check out
18:29
fishing canada.com
18:32
fish in Canada brought to you in part by
18:35
Coleman the Outdoor company must call
18:39
repulsive whose 1951 print craft boats
18:43
the more you know the better we look
18:47
mercury of course number one on the
18:49
water and sail the outdoor superstore
18:56
[Music]
19:07
you
19:09
[Music]
#Fishing
#Outdoors