Ice fishing, Wolf hunting and Bass fishing

It seems like I always feel the need to apologize whenever I put up a new post on here because it always seems to take me so long to get around to doing it!  Life's busy and I guess that beats the alternative!  
Since the start of the New Year it's been a hectic couple of months.  I spent the first few weeks of January guiding wolf hunters then hit the road to Florida for the first FLW Tour event of the year at Lake Okeechobee.   I've been home now for a couple weeks and have been spending quite a bit of time on the ice catching some fish, mostly walleyes since I like eating them so much!  

Bernie Stoecker was a successful wolf hunter!  The action was really good this year overall.  There were a bunch of sightings but unfortunately not all of them turned into tags getting punched.  Still it was a fun few weeks!  Already looking forward to next year.  
If anybody has any interest in a wolf hunt next year send along a note, let me know and we can go from there.  The wolf numbers are great across the Sunset Country Region right now so it's a good time to come!  

After wrapping up the wolf hunting it was time to hit the road to Florida.  I usually try to get down there to fun fish for a week or so before the practice starts for our first tournament because I want to break in my new boat and just get fishing again.  It's nice to get a little break from winter and heck, I hadn't caught a bass since October so I had to get back in the zone!  Typically the first stop every year when I get to Florida is at the car wash so I can clean all the salt off my rig from up north!

I like to fish a variety of lakes down there and do a little bit of everything as far as playing around with different fishing techniques.  I've been going down to Florida for five years now doing this so I have sampled quite a few different lakes now, its a lot of fun.  It's amazing how much they can change from year to year because of water levels, vegetation growth, etc.  

My buddy from home Sean McAughey made the big drive down to Florida with me and spent a few days fishing.  Here he is with the biggest fish of the trip for us.  A six pounder from Lake Toho. 

I had another friend come down to fish for a couple days just before the practice started on Okeechobee.  Mike Richards plays for the Washington Capitals and had a few days off because of the NHL Allstar Game Weekend.  We had a great couple days!

The tournemant at Okeechobee went great!  Well, compared to my tournaments in Florida over the past few years!  I ended up with a 34th place finish that earned me $10,000!  So I was happy.  I was fortunate to stay at my friend Brandon McMillan's place for this event along with my other Canadian buddies Chris and Cory Johnston.  We all did well in the tournament and between the four of us we won a total of $63,000!  Pretty awesome!  It was a fun week. 

My best bait of the week was a 4" Jackall Sasuteki Craw rigged up on a 3/4 oz tungsten sinker.  I fished it on a G. Loomis IMX 954C Flippin Stick paired up with a Shimano Chronarch CI4 reel and some 65 lb. Power Pro braided line. 

Since I've been home I've been eating good...
I'll try to be a little quicker on the next update!  

A good fall season in Sunset Country

Another fall season has come and gone in Northwest Ontario.  As usual, it's went by way to fast but we managed to have some fun.  After really harsh winters in 2013 and 2014 our deer population was hit pretty hard.  I was not all that optimistic that there would that many deer around this fall but I was pleasantly surprised by what showed up on my trail cameras.  There certainly weren't as many big bucks as there were six or eight years ago but I had some really good prospects show up so I'm looking forward to the 2016 season!  

My friend Mitch Bonnema came up to hunt for a few days in late October and scored on a pretty nice eight pointer.  Mitch, his brother Scott and friend Dave Hartig have been coming to hunt in the Kenora area for many years and we always have a great time! 

This was a pretty picture from the ride back to the boat ramp one morning after dropping the guys off to hunt for the day.

This buck is no record booker either but it made my day on a Sunday in late November.  We love eating venison so this one did a good job filling up the freezer! 

Over the course of the season I captured photos of several nice bucks, you can check them all out in the 2015 deer trail cam gallery...Happy Holidays everybody! 

Fall is here!!!

After getting my butt whipped in most of the tournaments around home over the summer my partners and I had some better results this fall.  Fishing is just about finished now for me so we are switching over to hunt mode for the next couple of months.  There is always something going on around here! 

My buddy Dennis Favreau and I won the Shoal Lake Last Chance tournament in late September with a mixed bag of smallmouths and largemouths.  We weighed five of each over the two day event.  Felt good to finally win a tournament this year!  

Earlier in September Mike Reid and I took third at the Bassin' For Bucks tournament on Lake of the Woods.  The turning point for us in this three day tournament was when Mike caught our two biggest fish of the day on the same cast on day two, a couple of beauty smallmouths.  There was some good high fives going on after this!  

In early October Mike and I teamed up again and took fourth at the Whitefish Bay Fall Classic, again mixing up some smallmouths and largemouths.  We have a lot of fun fishing together! 

The last Sunset Country tournament of the year was the Frank McClymont Memorial, a one day event that took place over the Thanksgiving weekend.  My buddies Jay Samsal and Scott Dingwall laid a beating on everybody with their 22.60 pound load.  Congrats guys! 

Here is a really pretty one that I got...probably my favourite thing there is to eat!  

A couple weeks ago I got out and filmed a great show for crappies.  It was some of the best fall fishing I have ever experienced, we found a mega-school!  I was catching them pretty good on the new Northland Tackle Buck-Shot Flutter Spoon.  

We found the fish using the Side-Imaging on the Humminbird...all of those little white spots on the screen above are crappies.  We found an about 200 yards long that was littered with fish.  It was fun!  

I have been out bass fishing a few times for fun...this one was from earlier in the week.  I sold my boat this week so I got out one last time in it the day before it was picked up.  Here is a nice umbrella rig beauty!  

Finally, the Lake Eufaula FLW Tour event that I did well in back in May was put up online this week.  Check it out here: https://youtu.be/TKBTZBKM5Xc

Summer fun in Sunset Country

It's been a busy summer around Kenora...actually it's always kind of depressing this time of year because our summers always go by way to fast!  Fall is a great season though, fishing is good and hunting season is about to start ramping up.  

 

The Kenora Bass International did not go very good for Chris Savage and I this year...it was dismal actually.  We did have a decent practice and were optimistic heading into the event but it just seemed like we couldn't catch a break throughout the weekend.  Here is my buddy Cameron Mosbeck with a nice largemouth he caught while out with me a couple days before the tournament.  

We actually had a mixed bag of smallmouths and largemouth going prior to the tournament and figured we had some good options...here was a nice smallmouth from practice one day.

We fished the southern end of Lake of the Woods in the tournament this year and caught several nice muskies like this one over the course of the week and during the tournament.  I went back a few days later to try to film a TV show and we got shut out.  Typical for me, I have probably caught 200 muskies in my life and maybe five when I've actually been fishing for them.  

After the KBI I was able to get out and shoot a few TV shows.  My buddy Jamie Bruce and I got a great topwater smallmouth show done that will be a good one!  

At the International Falls Bass Championship at the end of August it was the father/son team of Travis and Jace Peterson who bested a full field of 60 teams.  They, along with some of their family that were at the even were sporting pink t-shirts in support of Travis's mom Jeanne who is battling cancer.  Was great to see these guys!  They are good friends of mine and great people!

In between tournaments and filming TV shows I have been doing a few guide trips.  The walleye fishing on Lake of the Woods this summer has been top-notch on just about every day that I've been out there.  Can't wait to eat my next batch!  

This past weekend, my buddy Mike Reid and I took third at the 19th annual Bassin' For Bucks tournament out of Sioux Narrows.  We have fished this event together every year since it started and always have a lot of fun fishing together.  

Coming up over the next few weeks there are a few more tournaments left on the schedule before we get into full blown hunting mode.  
Sept 26-27 - Shoal Lake Last Chance
October 3-4 - Whitefish Bay Fall Classic
October 10 - Frank McClymont Memorial Tournament (out of WSL in Kenora)

Fish, fish, fish...

It's been a while since my last post on here, sorry for that!  I spent three weeks in June on the road for the last two FLW Tour events at Lake Chickamauga and the Potomac River.  After I got home it was right into guiding and tournament fishing back in Sunset Country. 

Things went alright at Lake Chickamauga, I ended up squeaking into cheque range there after a pretty tough practice.  After the event I stuck around for a few days and had some absolutely incredible fishing.  Found a few big schools of fish and caught a nine pounder, a seven pounder and a bunch between four and six.  I only had a week off between this tournament and the last one at the Potomac River so I just stayed at Chickamauga a few extra days.  Glad I did!  
The Potomac tournament did not go so well.  After only catching six bass in the three practice days I managed to catch a limit for 12 pounds on day one, which landed me in 28th place.  On day two, though I scraped out a limit again, they only weighed 9 pounds and I came up about a pound short of cashing a cheque, so that was disappointing.  

Back at home, I teamed up with my buddy Jay Samsal for the Kenora Walleye Classic, an inaugural event on Lake of the Woods.  We caught a bunch of fish and had a fun tournament.  Unfortunately we did not catch big enough "kickers" to earn us any money.  Here is a 29 incher from practice. 

I have also had a few guide trips on Lake of the Woods...fishing has been excellent for everything, especially walleye.  Here is a nice batch for dinner!  

Last week at the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship, my friend John Peterson and I attempted to defend our wins there the past couple of years but things did not click for us this year.  We ended up with a dismal 38th place finish.  I'm not sure if we just had to many memories from the past few years or what, but nothing seemed to go our way last week.  
Still, this is one of my favourite tournaments and my favourite weeks of the year.  I love Rainy Lake and the town of Fort Frances, already can't wait to go back again next year!  
Congratulations to Scott and Steve Sandberg on the win there this year!  

One of the best stories that I heard last week came from Duane and Travis Peterson, John's brother and nephew.  The day before the FFCBC on Rainy Lake, they had a 48" musky grab a two pound bass they were reeling in.  The fish would not let go of the bass and they ended up landing it.  The musky never had a hook in it.  Pretty good stuff!

Up next, we have the KBI tournament next week on Lake of the Woods, can't wait to get it going!