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Using The Moon’s Phase To Target Smallmouth Bass | Fish'n Canada
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Apr 15, 2025
Angelo Viola takes science and puts it to great use in this fantastic Smallmouth Bass episode on the St. Lawrence River. He talks solunar tables, moon phases, calendar periods and the list goes on... and of course he catches a bunch of big Smallies in the process. 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
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[Music]
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you ever have the opportunity to make it
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all work like the perfect swamp the
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ideal spot ideal time of year the ideal
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moon face Oh Mac look this may be the
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best day of Smallville fish I've ever
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had in terms of big fish and numbers of
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them I believe the fish in Canada so
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brought to you in part by Ram trucks
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nothing worked harder than around turn
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trusted on the water since 1952 mercury
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and forest number one on the water and
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outdoor Canada Canada's only national
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fishing and hunting magazine the moon
1:01
holds a very mystical place in the
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history of human culture since ancient
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times full moons have been associated
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with odd or insane behavior like
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sleepwalking suicide illegal activity
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fits of violence and of course the
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dreaded wear load all of which have
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since been scientifically debunked but
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when it comes to the full moon and
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fishing
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I absolutely believe there is something
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to it one of the most well-documented
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fishing facts is the frequency of big
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fish caught during the peak moon phases
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especially during the full moon a lot
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more big Muskies walleyes and bass are
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taken right on the scheduled calendar
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day and continue for a three to five day
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stretch afterwards now we all know that
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the moon creates tides in Earth's oceans
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some as high as 50 feet which definitely
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would affect fish behavior in oceans and
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seas but according to the experts inland
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waters such as the Great Lakes and to
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some extent here on the st. Lawrence
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River tides never exceed more than two
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inches and are therefore considered to
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be essentially non tidal waters heck
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more extreme fluctuations in lakes and
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rivers are produced by wind barometric
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pressure changes and man-made
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obstructions like dams and Weir's so why
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is there a lunar effect on these
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freshwater creatures well I'm really not
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sure but what I do know is when coupled
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with any one of the perfect fishing
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condition like falling barometer cloudy
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sky air temperature and water
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temperature close together wind out of
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the southwest and you're on prime
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smallmouth bass waters well by fred's
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the full moon is the warm milk on your
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Wheaties
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don't know it oh yeah it's a fish so
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hung up on a couple weeds I started
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drifting off of some of these these nice
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open areas and then tighter into the
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weeds I thought I had a wheel but or
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nice fast big looking hand covered up
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with weeds no wonder I thought I had
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weeds on over an extra four pounds the
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weeds with it look at the size of that
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thing
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okay I'm coming out come easy easy does
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it
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get in here yes whew
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beautiful smaller the size barely I did
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book to look at this rounded nose listen
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we don't all have time to plan our
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fishing trips don't get me wrong but if
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you ever have the opportunity to make it
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all work it's like a perfect storm the
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ideal spot ideal time of year in the
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ideal moon phase holy mackerel
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if this fish is freezing cold by the
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elbows hate hold on to it here but I
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don't want to just throw it into water
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here you go I'm going to go all the way
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down to the end right to that point
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coming I've never fished this part of
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the flat here never never been on it
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before so I'm curious now that that fish
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came out of that clump maybe we can pull
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one out of every clump to go by fish
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like that pretty much owns that one big
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weed that is his I don't think there's
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very many other smallmouth in this area
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that would challenge that fish for sure
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they're very territorial especially when
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it comes time to feed mm-hmm they don't
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like to share but could there be a fifth
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factor I mean is it even possible well
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guess what absolutely there is
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and it's an easy to detect factor that
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adds even more impact to an already
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explosive fishing situation it's a
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change in the photo period or in
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layman's terms a change in season well
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guess what today just happens to be the
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midway point between the autumn equinox
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and winter solstice in other words this
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week is the perfect storm of trophy bass
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fishing all these factors combined
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really elevate big fish possibilities
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it's this window of three to four days
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right after the actual moon Peaks
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foreknew that's the most likely time
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that the largest fish of any species are
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truly vulnerable to anglers
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in other words that Soho fatty I'm so
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glad
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[Music]
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drop-shotting is typically a light line
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technique usually associated with bass
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but can also be used for many other
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species having electronics on board is
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especially helpful with a surefire
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method for catching fish the whole idea
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of this finesse technique is to keep the
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bait suspended off the bottom as you
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fish it with a slow retrieve a drop shot
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specific hook is tied on gap up leaving
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a tag end in the line as long as needed
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for bait suspension off the bottom
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finally a drop shot weight is clipped on
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the tagging minnow goby and worm
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invitations are terrific for this
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technique when fishing the drop shot try
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imparting subtle actions to the bait all
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while keeping the sinker in touch with
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the bottom the slow undulations of this
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movement almost always trigger a bite
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talk to the pros at sale for more
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information about this effective way to
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catch fish
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[Music]
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[Applause]
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[Music]
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you'll notice that I'm actually casting
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out my drop shot rig normally a vertical
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presentation for in activists that's
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because these small E's are so Craig's
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up right now that if they sense my
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presence they're actually spooking so I
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need to put some distance between them
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and my boat
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fufu daddy you spit it out to spit off
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my bait think they're all doing where
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you can't even get it
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he's got masks it's the moon movement
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takes crazy I can lift you in that's for
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sure this is too much fun for one person
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to have I'm telling you way too much fun
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for one person same thing look at the
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head on this fish now that fish would
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normally be you know maybe a to two and
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a quarter pounds under normal conditions
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but he's got the girth of a midsummer
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for four and a half five pound fish it's
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so cool
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got the black spots on him like a lot of
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smallmouth did that is so neat now he
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hit on a different color shad shaped
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worm I went away from the wacky rig
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Sanko for a couple of casts and put on
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this Goldy color shad shade where you
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know what I really don't think it makes
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a whole lot of difference in terms of
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colors at this point I think it's more
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profile and shape and both of those
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offerings the shad shaped worm and that
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lacking rig saenko both give it that
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that shad kind of a shape in the water
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as a twitch through exactly let's go
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back and howl at the moon baby something
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to keep in mind
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drop shining is not a one-dimensional
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presentation it's extremely effective
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even when fish are active like they are
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here today
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but
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I'm going to drag them up over top of it
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over sweet come on baby
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theory cups or not maybe haven't seen
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the fish yet Oh Big Daddy oh man
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so this beautiful fish yes gorgeous dick
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see how we can beat this speed in this
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thank you oh look at the size that's it
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we just started picking up again to
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might not have a whole lot of time in
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here before I get blown right off
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Wow of that
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Wow fantastic just in the upper lip too
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which is kind of nice I get lucky I
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guess
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look at the size of that two reasons
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obviously the most important reason is
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the time of year which is obviously
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getting oh look at them how round that
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is I just can't get over it
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timing here they get big great time of
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year to go trophy hunting obviously but
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I think also the moon just cranks these
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things up that they just go here an owl
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Wow
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go back and house more baby experts will
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tell you that there are actually four
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phases of the Moon that can have a
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positive effect on your fishing and they
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are the full moon the last quarter all
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the new moon in the first quarter yo wow
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he's got it all baby
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[Music]
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it's really hard to detect strikes of
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these conditions because you can't keep
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a tight line on that beat the winds blow
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on the line so hard that you can't tell
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whether it's the wind whether it's a
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rock whether it's a weed when you feel
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stuff really tough but these fish are so
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aggressive that they're giving you
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second and third chances which is really
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nice dude here's one that was hard I
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thought I was coming up against the rock
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there I barely felt that barely it's a
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lively thing oh my god this may be the
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best day of Smallville fishing I've ever
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had in terms of big fish and numbers of
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them
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oh I was on that gold colored light
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colored gold sad shape oh they are so
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cool him I swim into the net
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yep jump in then oh look at this way I
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don't think this thing was even hooked
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by the way look at this
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that was just city great they're just
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barely barely got that fish it I got
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lucky
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Peter and I fish this body waters of
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course as I mentioned the st. Lawrence
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River we fish a tournament on this water
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every year have been for the last
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several years and I got to tell you it I
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think the most consistent smallmouth
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bass fishery on the planet right now
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look at that thing perfect perfect
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full absolutely full is still chasing
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down food I mean they these things will
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not stop will not stop especially during
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this phase whew that water's cold see ya
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today's hot spot is a large shallow flat
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area the peat night but fishing for
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years with great success the Waypoint on
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your screen will take you right there
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this area is a combination of weeds
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rocks and open holes with close access
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to deepwater smallmouth bass use the
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weeds is covered and use the rocks and
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the openings to feed wearing polarized
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sunglasses is a must here as you can
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often see the fish swimming around try
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drop shotting Yamamoto shad shape worms
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and cinco's like I did today you won't
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be disappointed for more hotspots like
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this one go to fishing Canada's calm
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[Music]
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yep oh then that's another nice fish
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that's actually a bigger fish too
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did he ever hear we going to get all
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nice hey let's go somebody had said to
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me oh six seven months ago
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I'd be here late in the year fishing
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these fish in shallow water relatively
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shallow waters this time of year I just
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said you're crazy
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get in there fanny get in there Betty
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get in there nice one heavy fish Wow
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this thing's got length
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he's got width he's got it all baby look
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how long that fish is I don't know what
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it is and nobody has really proven it to
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me yet but I got to tell you if you
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start following the mood phases when
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you're fishing or hunting it's going to
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make a huge difference there I know
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there's all kinds of speculation out
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there a lot of guys say it makes no
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difference at all more importantly it
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makes a little difference when you have
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no option in other words you book a
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fishing trip and and whether the
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Buddhists full-face moon or not you've
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got to go on that fishing trip it's your
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vacation time or your weekend away or
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whatever but if you have the option of
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booking your trips around moon phases or
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the saloon er tables and booking them in
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the prime time of year where trophy fish
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like this are a possibility Wow holy
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smokes it makes a huge difference folks
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I'm telling it
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most freshwater fishermen will generally
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agree on the effects of sunlight wind
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direction barometric pressure water
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temperature and other deciding factors
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having a huge effect on fishing but if
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you're serious about taking trophy fish
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well I'd suggest you start really paying
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attention to the big factor and instead
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of just going fishing go howl at the
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moon out to get to today's fast and
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furious late season Ontario smallmouth
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fishing I first drove east on highway
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401 and then took the Brookdale Avenue
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South exit at Cornwall I then turn left
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on Water Street West and finally turn
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right at the great boat launch near the
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waterfront trail
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[Music]
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my face kelpy we're going to talk about
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the K pastors knowledge a lot of us are
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aware of moon phases a lot of us
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sometimes uses two lunar tables but most
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of us don't pay enough attention to it
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I'll be perfectly honest I'm one of
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those guys there is some weird and wacky
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effect that the moon has some of these
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critters and it really really shows
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itself well late in the year when
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they're starting to put on the feedbag
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and put on your winter weight if you
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really really pay attention to the
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actual moon phase itself and plan your
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fishing trips around that moon phase if
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you make a huge difference so lunar
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tables are a great tool to help you land
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prophy fish especially in the fall the
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changing seasons along with the proper
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moon phases triggers big fish to feed
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and fatten up for the winter the fish in
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Canada show brought to you in part by
18:54
sales the Canadian outdoor superstore
18:58
Coleman the Outdoor company Cooper Tires
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life's a road trip come on let's go and
19:06
drink classhole' dominate the water
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[Music]
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you
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[Music]
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