CSFL Chippawa

Ok, ok I said that I was staying away from big water for the rest of the year cause of what happened at the Everstart 1000 Island event, but the thought of my year already being done and its only September just depressed me. I got a call from my good friend Andy Pallotta of the CSFL asking me if I was fishing the southwestern tour of the CSFL, I said I was honestly thinking about it. Then talking to Casey Ruttan he expressed great interested in doing it. I think it was a "hell yeah!" And with a call from one of my best friends Danny Dunn saying he was going that sealed it. I figured we would be fishing deep dropshoting smallies in big waves. So that's what we did for the 2 days of practise and caught very little. Come Saturday morning I was figuring we would weight in a small limit every day and hope we would get enough points for next years Classic. Talking to Casey in the morning before blast off we came up with the idea that we would try something completely different because everything we were doing wasn't working. So shallow we will go! Where I don't know. lol! We will leave the Chippawa river and hit lake Erie and as soon as I see something I like we'll stop and fish. We were 1 mile out in the lake when I pull hard right on the north shore stopped and started fishing. We moved up to 4" and I started whipping my watermelon red and black senko around. I figured if nothing else this thing always catches fish. We weren't there 5 minutes when I caught the first smallie and started seeing all kinds of smallies swim around the boat, from 2 to 6 pounders. But the wouldn't bite, the close ones never do too spooked I guess but it was hard not to chase them so we did, lol. As we moved to a little deeper water, like 6 to 8" we started dropshoting them using Xzone slammers. We spent the whole day moving along this break on the gps going deeper then shallow throwing senko's and dropshoting picking up fish as we went along. Day one which was a wildcard event we ended up with 5 smallies for 14.25 lbs, which I was happy with cause of such a bad practise. I figured if we could do this again tomorrow we could get some good points and then work on Lake St. Clair in 2 weeks.

 Laying in bed that night I thought about the fish we saw and what we did wrong. Tomorrow I will not chase the fish I see no matter how big they are and just concentrate on those fish cruising around  far out in front of the boat. I'll long bomb my senko out as far as I could get it. It worked and we culled the whole day. At the end of the day I was hoping for 17 lbs and Casey was think closer to 18. Well we were both shocked with 5 smallies for 19.65 lbs and 3rd place.

 My Evinrude ran fantastic all week long and the Ranger handled perfectly. The bite was so soft that there is no way I would have felt those fish without my St. Croix Legend Tournament Drop Shot/ Finesse rod. We weighted in 3 fish and caught so many on Xzone Slammers it was incredible. I would like to thank JB's Fishing Depot for keeping me supplied with Slammers and Senko's, they always have a good stock of both. My partner for this event was Casey Ruttan, a great stick and a solid angler. He was able to adapt to whatever was happening and act without me having to ask. I would have not been able to pull these fish without him. And of course none of this would be possible with out the funny man Russell Peters. I would also like to thank Bay Marine for keeping me on the water, Sirius Satellite Radio, Evinrude, JB's Fishing Depot, Xzone Baits, everyone at CPI Pictures & Management for all you do, and St. Croix Rods.

 Well I'm off to prepare for Lake St. Clair, I've never been there before so I have a lot of homework to do. Take care and tight lines everyone.

Mike.  

FLW Everstart 1000 Islands

 Wow what an event! First I had to fight my way to this tournament. My Ranger has had steering issues for the last month. I haven't been able to locate the problem so it has put a damper on where and how I run to my water. I was at my mechanic's till 4 pm on Wednesday, I called Ron and told him I was on my way but was going to be late. Made it just as the meeting started. So the next morning I hit the water with no pre-fish and not knowing if my steering was fixed. My only choice was to run to my Canadian Open water near Kingston. It isn't far just 14 miles away on the north side of Wolf island in the Bateau Channel. But when I hit the gas at blast off and my Etec ripped to the right I knew my motor wasn't fixed and had gotten worst. So what to do? Do I run anyway or play it safe and hang around Clayton fishing the boat slips and docks? Well I know there's fish at my spot and the Lord hates a coward so we ran. Fighting the boat to my water I was beat! And I was right my fish were there but they wouldn't bite, what a long day and then the trip back to Clayton wasn't very fun.

 Day 2 was building to be a day from hell. High winds and thunderstorms, everyone at the hotel was talking about it. Where to go? Run out to Lake Ontario or stay in the river. I didn't know what to do, and now with the weather adding to my boat control issue the smart thing to do is to call it and keep the boat on the trailer. I'm not that smart, lol! I quickly changed my 3 blade prop to my 4 blade hoping to get some traction and headed for the ramp. Now where to go? I only have a few spots besides the Bateau channel and they will not protect me from the weather coming which was there by blast off. So off we go back across the river to Canada with the thought of slowing it down and a colour change might get a bite or five. At 2pm I had 4 fish that were not very promising but was better that a scratch. Our trip back to Clayton was going to be tough so I gave us 45 mins to do that 10 min run. When I made then turn out to the gap at Quebec Head to make my run I thought the world was coming to an end, LOL! 4 to 6 foot waves coming off the lake with rouges coming from every direction cause of the wind gusts. I tacked my way back with out incident till just outside Clayton when I stuffed the first of several waves. Wasn't too bad I thought and I could see flat water less than a mile away in Clayton Bay. Then we stuffed another, and another and then a big one! I got that sliding backwards sinking feeling that turns your stomach. I looked back and saw my Evinrude disappearing, water was running off the back deck, the pumps were on and my Etec was pinned and not giving up. My non-boater ran up to the front deck to try and bring it down to pull the stern out of the water. Slowly she climbed out of the water and we pulled out of it. By then my timing was off and we stuffed another one. Keeping the bow up and my Evinrude pinned we pulled out and was able to make it to the calm water of Clayton. I have been in bigger water with bigger waves and I have never had to fight so hard to make it back. Between the weather and my boat not steering right I happy to be back and safe. I have to say I love my Ranger and my Evinrude, once again the saved my life. I will never have anything else!

 A special thanks to St. Croix Rods, I caught all my fish on a Rage dropshot rod using a Xzone Slammer Road Kill Perch, which was purchased at JB's Fishing Depot. And of course none of this would be possible with out the funniest man alive Russell Peters.       

  Well I'm off to air out the boat and dry my equipment. Tight lines and take care everyone.

2012 Kingston Canadian Open

 Wow what a tournament! I always have so much fun in Kingston. Let me first tell you how my pre-fish went. The weather wasn’t always cooperating so I had to launch the boat from a different place every day close to where ever I was planning to fish that day. My fish where exactly where I left them last year and I notice that some bigger fish had moved in including some smallmouth! My problem was that there’s so many fish there that I was going to be culling all day. But what was bothering me the most was all the giant pike that I was seeing. On average I was catching about 6 to 8 pike a day and 2 or 3 of them were over 40”.

 Come day 1 I was feeling great, I knew my fish were there and all I had to do was get through enough of them every day to bring in 20 lbs a day which I thought would cut me a check. But first I had one stop to make, and that was to some secluded cane I found in a foot of water that was holding a few big largies. Well with a cold front that moved in overnight we were only able to pull two keepers and a 3.55 out flipping. So off to my deep grass drop shotting for largies. That’s right I dropshot largemouth in 18 to 25 feet of water over grass beds. I did this all three days and slammed them. Besides catching the odd toothy critter it was none stop action! Oh yeah there’s a pike out there with $500.00 of equipment in its mouth! It grabbed my bait from the side of the boat and took off with my rod! Lol! Yes I can laugh now but not yesterday morning, I knew that if I couldn’t move past it I might as well put my boat on the trailer.

 Well at the end of it all I was pretty consistent weighting in 15 to 16 pounds every day and having a blast doing it. I look forward to this tournament every year; I love Kingston and its people. I have so much fun hanging out with all the other anglers and meeting so many new people and making friends. The CSFL works so hard and does such a great job of everything it run so smooth. I would also like to thank Shimano for all they do to make this event possible and run so smoothly. Their live release boats are a great asset to the tournament industry here in Canada. So I ended up in 34^th fishing against the biggest names and the best sticks in Canada and I’m more than happy with that.  

 I would like to thank Russell Peters for his endless support, CPI Pictures and Management for everything they do with my career and the show. JB’s Fishing Depot, VIA Rail, Bay Marine, Xzone Baits, Sirius Satellite Radio. My St. Croix dropshot was great all the way till the pike stole it, and my BRP Evinrude never gave up in those giant swells bring me home safely every day.

 Tight lines everyone.

CSFL Georgian Bay & Gloucester Pool

 What a weekend! Prefished Thursday and Friday on both lakes found a ton of fish and shook off a ton more. Saturday was Georgian Bay, we had a 2 hour delay due to a tornado warning which never showed thank god but we did get a ton of rain. My fish were largemouth on a flat first thing in the morning. They come out there to feed for first light, They stay out there till about 10 am in 2 feet of water chasing bait fish, I have also caught the odd smallmouth there doing the same thing. It's a great place for me to do what I love to do the most which is throwing a swimbait. But with the rain and a big drop in temperature they weren't there so a flip'in we go. My partner for these events was Casey Ruttan, a great angler and a real funny guy. We flipped the rest of the day pulling fish out of clumps of weeds and managed to weight in 8.3 pounds for our 3 fish. I don't know why the bay has a 3 fish limit cause the lake is so health. Well the wind picked up in the afternoon so we gave enough time to make our way back safely. You always have to be careful when your dealing with weather on the Great Lakes. My Evinrude didn't miss a beat while I was working my way across the bay. I love my ETEC. We finished in 40th not great but it happens.

 Sunday was Gloucester Pool, I love this lake. I have had a spot on the pool for 3 years now and the fish have been there during practise but were never there tournament day leaving me high and dry to run and gun. Well they were there this time and we crushed them! Smallies in 25' to 50' of water. When we practised we were catch them dropshotting Xzone slammers but tournament morning they were all high just a foot down so we threw to the fish. Topwater smallies in 50' and it was crazy, we were culling by 9:30. As the day progressed the fish moved deeper and we moved with them. We went from topwater to jerkbait to dropshotting Xzone slammers. I tell you my St. Croix baitcasting dropshot rod it perfect in everyway. I was able to pull those big smallies up from the deep and never worrying about the rod giving to much slack or not giving enough for my 8 lbs fluro to hold. In the end we weighted in 15.15 lbs and came in 9th place. I had a great time, Casey fished hard and was a real pleasure to fish with. The CSFL did a great job as always keeping us safe on Saturday and making everything run smoothly.

 Well I have to go clean the boat and prep for a Renegade on the Ottawa river. Take care everyone and tight lines. 

2012 Renegade on Mississippi Lake

 Well last week was the first Renegade of 2012 on Mississippi Lake, I had never fished this body of water before and it took a bit to get my head around it. It's a shallow lake that seems to be a smallie lake, and the largies I was finding were deeper than the smallies! I spent 2 day practising and I thought I was gonna be alright but no I wasn't. Tournament day the fishing was slow and the bites were few and far between. I don't think there are a lot of big fish there but there are a lot of 2 to 4 pounders. So I didn't do so well but I did get on the board and got some points and my co-angler Nelson Oliveira did get us a good largie. The highlight of my day was sharing the stage as co-emcee with Big Jim. I had a blast, he was a very giving and we worked really well together to get every ones bag weighted and have the fish looked after properly. The whole Renegade crew worked hard and professionally in that crazy heat to make sure everything ran smoothly.

 I will be with Big Jim for the rest of the season call the weights and cracking jokes on the Renegade trail. So come out and check us out or tune in on the Renegade website at

http://www.renegadebass.com/  where have a live feed to all our weight-ins.

 Its time to sign off for now I'm sitting in my hotel room in Midland getting ready to pre-fish for a tournament on Georgian Bay in the morning.

Take care & tight lines.

Mike. 

 

2012 CSFL Casey Cup

 Wow what a day! As you all know I hate lake Simcoe and it hates me, lol. So why do I fish this event?, I'll tell you why. Because its great! Its for a good cause and that lake is so wild anything could happen, plus the smallies that are caught have to be seen to believe. Now saying all that I didn't leave Couchiching lol. My co-angler Nelson Oliveira and I spent the whole day in 3 spots about a mile from the boat ramp. We weighted in 17.50 lbs and spent less than $10 in gas. As good as that sounds it took 20 lbs plus just to break the top 20! So 17.50 put us in 43rd. I was hoping to finish better but Simcoe really gave it up. But I had fun and caught fish all day long, we were culling by 9:30 and having a blast. The day was not so smooth as it sounds though as I had to replace a live well pump, the trolling motor release rope and the batteries were dead in both my weight scales so we were kicking it old school with the balance beam.

 Xzone Slammers ruled the day as dropshotting was the way to go to get those smallies up from the deep. There is no better bait to use if your dropshotting! And for my largemouth the Xzone Swammer was the ticket. The sensitivity and strength of my St. Croix Legend Tournament dropshot rod can not be match, it preformed perfectly allowing me to set the hook and fight those smallies using light line.

 I would to thank the whole gang at the CSFL for doing a great job as always running this event. Well I'm off to make repairs and prep for my next tournament. Tight lines and take care everyone.

 

Everstart on Kerr Lake

 Wow what a tough lake! I'm so happy that its done. When I got there and found out that a local tournament was won with 12 lbs the week before I was worried. Then when I got on the water it was even tougher than I thought. I went 2 days without catching a keeper at one point. But slowly it started coming together, very slowly lol. It would take months for me to learn that lake and I'm not willing to put that kind of time in on a body of water that I might not have to fish for a few more years.
 Well onward and up ward, This weekend is my first Canadian tournament of the year. The Casey Cup is a main stay for a lot us and it's always a fun time.
 Good luck everyone and tight lines.