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Trophy Smallmouth Bass from Duck Islands Ontario Canada | Fish'n Canada
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Apr 15, 2025
On this episode Pete Bowman takes off on opening week of Bass season to take advantage of the cold water period. The Smallmouth will stay shallow and be somewhat predictable. 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]
0:09
this is purposes all flat-bottomed now
0:11
is a big pile of borders whoa he's back
0:16
and he hit the spinnerbait I love
0:18
benefit nice dinner me what's a big fish
0:21
look at the black spot there and unique
0:22
look at this that's a paint job on this
0:24
fish I should not have got that fish
0:26
look at how fat that fish is a half see
0:31
village they were flirting me yet it in
0:33
order mean the fish in Canada so brought
0:38
to you in part by sales the outdoor
0:42
superstore Coleman the outdoor company
0:47
must all proudly Canadian since 1951
0:51
Cooper Tires life the road trip come on
0:54
let's go and Prince crossbow dominates
0:58
the waters
1:00
[Music]
1:02
well here we are at the eastern end of
1:05
Lake Ontario two days after the bass
1:06
opener to me opening day is like New
1:09
Year's Day full of resolutions and
1:11
promises in my case it's pretty simple
1:13
set the tone for the season right now go
1:16
big or go home
1:17
voting a five pound plus male or even
1:20
one approaching a six in the next day
1:21
and a half here in this well-known bass
1:23
fishery would set a benchmark for the
1:25
next five plus months and there's almost
1:27
no better time than right now
1:30
it's 7 a.m. and I'm making my way from
1:33
the town of Bath to the Maine Duck
1:34
Island it's a long right especially in
1:37
the fog
1:38
these Smiley's should be just off the
1:40
spawn probably hungry possibly still
1:42
somewhat belligerent and therefore
1:44
hopefully aggressive if all this works
1:46
out I could be in for a Haiti and the
1:49
way the solar science is lining up for
1:50
the next 48 hours boating a beast is
1:53
very achievable
1:54
I actually arrived late yesterday and
1:57
had a few hours of daylight left and a
1:59
storming horizon looming I figured I'd
2:01
try to get a feel for the mainland fish
2:03
so I get prep for the next day I needed
2:06
to have a plan for the big guys Oh
2:11
Little League I think yeah that was a
2:20
little guy from the motors off so I'm
2:23
out here on Lake Ontario I'm planning
2:28
tomorrow morning go way out into the
2:31
lake but I thought you know what why not
2:35
come up for a little fish have a little
2:37
extra time put them up with little fish
2:40
in the evening maybe get a few of those
2:44
before supper that's a nice fish and I
2:48
haven't got out in the lake yet I beat
2:51
the shore pretty good but could only
2:52
come up with one night small e on a drop
2:54
shot my overall impression was that in
2:56
this area the post spawn period was done
2:58
and the fish and dispersed into cooler
3:00
deeper water not what I was looking for
3:02
but with the water being cooler over the
3:05
docks conditions should be perfect
3:08
I fished main duck before so I know the
3:11
structure the south side of the island
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presents a huge flat with a very gradual
3:15
slope from the shore I could also see
3:18
that there were no fish between me and
3:19
the shore it was too shallow and too
3:21
warm I wanted to get a sense of what was
3:24
happening so my first pass was about 50
3:26
to 75 meters out from shore in about a
3:28
metre of water this spot consists of
3:31
pale flat rock with veins of various
3:33
sized boulders rocks and pebbles some of
3:35
which are covered in algae moss and
3:37
grasses so they appear much darker from
3:39
the boat I know from previous experience
3:42
that these dark areas in the overall
3:44
structure I wear my boys are hanging out
3:46
yeah this is going to be a very low-tech
3:48
expedition I have no weight points in my
3:50
GPS all I have are my trusty polarized
3:53
glasses which by the way are perfect for
3:55
seeing in the gin-clear wives love it I
3:59
think I think their pre-spawn is bad
4:02
beyond certain you look at this dead-on
4:04
this fish the fact that little dies
4:08
that's incredible
4:10
I'm just starting up the light gun ball
4:14
and spinnerbait I don't care about
4:16
anything else
4:17
that's my favorite way to catch small
4:18
off a bagel will spinnerbait
4:23
[Music]
4:28
they'll be is nice nice fish whoa
4:34
hmm I saw a couple fish you like color
4:38
guide to stop a real darkness laugh at
4:39
my jerk bait I'm gonna net these fishes
4:43
I've got a real light fluorocarbon
4:45
leader on my light braid so I got like a
4:48
10 pound braided line 10 or 12 pound
4:50
braid of mine oops
4:54
yeah that bigger today's what we're
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going to hope for folks my friends
5:05
nice that's a typical Lake Ontario duck
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island smallmouth okay Amy's about the
5:13
same size of that one I got last night
5:15
before the storm rolled in I got a
5:16
couple hours fishing in a bait fat that
5:22
is you know I mean that's a that's a
5:24
healthy fish and that's not very long
5:26
it's not a very long fish there's a lot
5:28
bigger than that around here so we're
5:30
hoping that hoping that we can get this
5:34
and larger and you'll see I'll get a
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real dark one to show you the difference
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colors is really light really like tone
5:40
fish most of them I've seen today are
5:41
light but there are some there are some
5:43
really dark fish to come up here too and
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you'll see the real difference of those
5:47
stripes coming at them very aggressive
5:49
when they get caught those stripes camo
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they show their aggression bye buddy
5:55
look at that after being cooped up all
5:57
winter and yearning for my first crack
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at the bass season today feels like
6:00
total ecstasy this is so much fun
6:02
I love this I haven't voted my absolute
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hog yet but I guarantee she's in this
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area this is the coolest folks paint job
6:14
nice Adela Marley I love that so I'm
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wacky rigging these psychos the normal
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tendency is to take the hook and put it
6:31
through the body of the psycho in and
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out problem is if you lose a bait for
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fish you're getting down baits the
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numbers the color is good working good
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you only have four or five of them you
6:41
might want to consider putting using the
6:42
old ring method it's a little different
6:44
piano ring tool and they have ring set
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or set off bottom is a set of series of
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rings they're basically just slide this
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bow ring down the tool because it goes
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on the set go like that you can adjust
6:57
it a little bit what's on there it's
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just so much easier to like that
7:00
and then essentially you just take your
7:04
hook and you hook it through the O ring
7:06
it's go to the body to be you can debate
7:08
will not fall off near as much as it
7:11
would to the base off a little bit
7:13
different action
7:14
it still works pretty good so we'll try
7:16
that see we're venturing out to the dock
7:23
Islands is pretty much an all-day
7:24
commitment even on flat water the
7:27
journey still seems like an eternity and
7:29
not being able to see your destination
7:30
on the way out
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that's just plain freaky once you're
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though it's game on with the skies being
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overcast my only saving grace for seeing
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fish is the calm water throw a one foot
7:44
chop on top and I'm pretty much toast
7:47
this type of area is a prime example of
7:50
where a sunny day would be much better
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for sight fishing
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you get it you don't walk to pick up I
7:59
didn't get another books Adam oh they're
8:03
like a nice fish yeah finally I saw one
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and eight
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they dig man they dig you dig deep look
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at how fat that fish is folks there's
8:14
another one sitting right there I think
8:16
I got the bigger of the two I didn't
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even know there's two there get this day
8:19
in them there is a small e let's all
8:23
Lake Ontario slowly right there folks
8:26
and I'm sure that's a pretty spot just
8:28
look at the barrel on her oh it can't be
8:32
not much food yet there's no way dad god
8:41
there's no one right there
8:43
if I had this isn't like tuning this
8:47
from here the success I'm having here
8:50
now is in no small way attributable to
8:52
what started out as folklore about 90
8:54
years ago regarding the relationship of
8:56
the Sun and the moon to peak periods of
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animal activity nowadays these are known
9:01
as saloon er tables and without giving
9:03
you scripture and verse let me say that
9:04
the greatest number and the largest fish
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that I nailed today were caught within
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the major and minor times of peak
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activity for the day just a little food
9:11
for thought this is small one but you
9:14
know what that's cool they're getting
9:16
now neither were scooped neither one
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really cared about the boat or saw the
9:20
boat so then we got here
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how cool is that we can cruising in on a
9:25
release and I got him too now there's a
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bunch of boulders and rubble here could
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have it could be a spawning pair you
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know to me
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I could do the mail like I had a scar on
9:37
all over this car ye Begley okay
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looking back quick because it's got
9:46
anymore the bundle the bunching up or
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bundling up or where we call it there's
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one one fish whenever you see one be
9:53
cognizant that there's there's more in
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the area this is purposes all flat
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bottom and ours and these big pile of
10:00
boulders
10:04
often times mother nature has a tendency
10:06
to drop a black sheep into an animal
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family and fish there are no exception
10:11
nice there goes my sank oh look at that
10:15
wrote my life I've seen all kinds of
10:17
unique specimens to be it's just another
10:19
element as to why fishing is so awesome
10:25
that's like a paint job on this fish
10:29
it's bigger than I play I'm I'm looking
10:32
at him like he's a little weed they do
10:34
put my anchor out always that a bit of a
10:38
weird lip too I always like to say that
10:42
the chod this is the coolest folks look
10:45
at that paint job
10:49
psychedelic smiley oh look at that
10:54
just get flat now that's what you call a
10:57
Blacky
10:58
that's that's a black bass right there
11:02
and then the moat is moats all kind of
11:06
discombobulated a little bit probably
11:07
been Connor its crippled in one time or
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caught and released a couple of spots
11:13
there and there but that right there is
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so cool look at that like a paint job
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love it that those ones right there
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they're just pitch black that's a good
11:27
fish - nice one
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see you later buddy you look so cool on
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camera
11:34
Wow
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here I'm just swapping them off like
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that's another fish
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not so much good treat every fish as if
11:44
they're a trophy this one's got some
11:47
weight room back I'm fishing smallmouth
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bass on main dock island way out in the
11:55
middle of Lake Ontario and I'm now
11:56
looking for a real stud of a fish I've
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had an amazing day so far and there's no
12:01
reason why I can't tie into a mule one
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will remember for the rest of the bass
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season they're here I can see them
12:08
swimming around yeah boom yeah I love it
12:15
Wegener's good oh that's a beauty that
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is a good one Scotty this one's got some
12:27
weight to them Oh didn't realize it
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they're playing around like it's a 2
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pounder but you're gonna see a little
12:35
difference is he's a confounder this guy
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mmm all right whoa
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now we're getting an early season
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Smalley's ah look at you how I love you
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that right there folks is what it's all
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about now that's what early season
12:57
smallmouth fish that's what any time
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smama fishings all about bow well you
13:01
can get onto them like that as you see
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them cruising around they're hanging the
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rest nesting areas they're there they're
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revving up and raring to go
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nice okay big marks like that side of
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that small mold bad people whoo pretty
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bad yeah
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don't stick a fork in me yet it in order
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me
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[Music]
13:32
[Applause]
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[Music]
13:39
doctor me loans ship seen in the air
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there goes your single button half I
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think that the best jumps underneath it
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this is the left quit F is bolded for 15
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feet away there just to put the cruise
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on by being so dark even in this
14:00
overcast guys give me a nice jump here
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buddy
14:03
even the overcast guys you can see if we
14:06
really dark fishing keel for your bait
14:08
you know you get the right bait when
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it's a when they're doing that you know
14:13
I get a medal perfect I bring catches a
14:16
little bit hi folks a little high nice
14:20
look at that this is probably a great
14:23
time to do today's klp knew I was going
14:27
to say knowledge would be the key
14:28
because I know this area pretty good I
14:30
got some good buddies that I talked to
14:31
you last night I kind of knew the mode
14:33
of oppression we're going to be in I
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thought yeah you know what L location
14:37
dock Islands you can't go wrong you know
14:39
what it's got a it's going to be the
14:40
team's go to the presentation on this
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one because as soon as I went to that
14:44
drop shot saenko it seemed to really
14:47
dial in and once I found them it to a
14:49
bunch of stuff Goldy invitations etc
14:51
cheddar spinner bait York make the whole
14:53
nine yards the most consistent bait
14:55
today it's a drop shot at zanko so it's
14:58
got to be there
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klp is going to be the peak for sure
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presentation
15:04
my drop shot saenko is written about a
15:06
foot above my sinker which will stay in
15:07
contact with the bottom while I gently
15:09
flick the rod tip up and down to keep
15:11
only the worm moving a 12 inch drop is a
15:13
good starting point with this technique
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what's that Oh dark that one is I should
15:24
not have gotten that this book and this
15:27
fool me I'm a fool oh it's the fish stay
15:33
on this is an extreme example of a dark
15:38
fish oh yeah look at what he fights to
15:42
you're gonna throw his hook but I know
15:44
he's good to it I'm just getting I'm
15:46
cruising around coastal bedding area
15:48
I'll say that oh whoa easy Bubba Oh
15:55
bingo
15:58
this one finally get to show you a dark
16:00
one shine a happy aha hello
16:09
now I'm gonna I got to tell you the
16:12
truth you know you think yeah we did go
16:14
pink you're such a great fisherman I had
16:16
no idea that fisherman okay I saw my
16:19
line drop perfect down oh let me see a
16:22
fish coming to the surface I don't feel
16:24
anything my line wouldn't hear this
16:26
coming up here he was one with it in his
16:28
mouth I set the hook oh look at that
16:32
thing oh man I love big smallmouth bass
16:38
Oh heavy that thing's heavy
16:41
[Music]
16:44
whoa well I've done what I set up to do
16:48
got a bunch of great fish voted my fiver
16:50
and a giant pushing six this definitely
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raises the bar and sits a standard for
16:56
the rest of the smallmouth bass season
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oh yeah
17:07
today's hot spot is a flat adjacent to
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main duck island on Lake Ontario the
17:12
waypoint on your screen will get you
17:13
there this is a pretty shallow area but
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remember I was fishing here the first
17:16
week in the Ontario bass season so the
17:18
fish were active and moving as the water
17:20
was still relatively cold a pair of
17:22
polarized sunglasses are essential in
17:24
this type of fishing as an angler we'll
17:25
have plenty of sightings of moving fish
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many of these fish will take a well
17:29
presented bait drop-shotting a Senko was
17:31
a ticket today but definitely try other
17:33
taxes like dragging a tube or fast
17:35
presentations like a spinnerbait or jerk
17:37
bait for more hot spots like this one
17:39
check out fishing Canada calm
17:40
[Music]
17:43
you
17:44
[Music]
17:47
to get to today's fantastic smallmouth
17:49
bass fishing I first took highway 401 to
17:52
highway 41 at Nappanee and headed south
17:54
next I turned east on highway 2 and then
17:56
sewed on road 7 at storms corners I
17:58
finally turned south west on royalists
18:01
Parkway traveled through the town of
18:02
Bath to a boat launch on the shores of
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Lake Ontario a word of warning this boat
18:07
launch can be unsafe with strong
18:08
incoming winds fish in Canada show
18:12
brought to you in part by Ram trucks
18:15
nothing worked harder than a ramp Stern
18:18
trusted on the water since 1952
18:22
mercury and Florida's number one of the
18:24
water and outdoor Canada Canada's only
18:28
national fishing and hunting magazine
18:31
[Music]
18:46
you
18:46
[Music]
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