KINGS OF BASS | Season 2, Episode 5

[Laughter] we're here in messina new york for stop five on the major league fishing bass pro tour this really is world-class smallmouth fishing probably the best in the world a dynamic fishery with all this fresh water coming out of lake ontario going through all these islands here and all the grass and habitat it's just a fish factory oh mosquito state bird up here kind of reminds me this area reminds me of home a couple things i like is the nice weather it's not burning up heat and and humid like it is down in the south this time of year and the fishing is just uh it's incredible you know st lawrence river lake ontario you know northern michigan lake saint claire just arguably a couple of the best smallmouth fisheries on the planet there's you know waddington and then messina and you know the the whole section of river is open to it so we've got 92 miles of river to fish and a lot of fish are up we got a full moon right now and there's a the last big wave of spawners is up and these these fish are man they're big they're fat and healthy so it's gonna be fun i need a boat cushion for my chest on that gunnel [Music] i did not have the best start of the of the season this year so i'm you know i'm really kind of was kind of behind the eight ball a little bit and red crest points and stuff but you know winning the last one at chickamauga that goes a long ways gets you back up there you know i think i'm in the 20s or low 20s right now so it's tough out here but i'm digging and fighting and but i feel good about it i think i'm going to have a good shot here to to do real well i'm i love fishing this way and something that i grew up doing i think i'm pretty good at conditions are going to be a little challenging just for for sight fishing but smallmouth are pretty aggressive and they're pretty easy to catch so we should make it a little easier [Music] oh that's a two pounder [Applause] i mean look at that just in case if i'm ever in the area but that's not what we're looking for [Music] [Music] it's a little better one there these fish are just so thick [Music] that's three pounder all day this is the part of the season that i've been waiting for you know when i saw the schedule come out is is this northern swing you know i mean the st lawrence river i've got a lot of history here you know i've won a couple of times three times here you know we've got a big section of river we can fish but i think 92 miles but we can only fish the american side and you know believe it or not it's going to make a big difference you wouldn't think so but a lot of the really good water especially the bays and stuff where the best largemouth fishing is at is all on the canadian side and it seems like that northern shore is flatter and locals everywhere out here it's a you know this place is famous and a lot of people make make trips up here in the spring because the small mouth come up and it just adds a lot of extra pressure to the water [Music] in the 40s in june and it's it's not even 5 a.m and it's daylight it doesn't get dark until 10 it's daylight at like 4 15 and it's in the 40s in june none of that makes any sense to me when you get up here in new york batteries on your boat are a huge huge deal because there's so much current this is not a lake it is a river and we were here yesterday for just a few hours we went down to the lot below and i was actually drifting at over 10 miles per hour with the current that's insane your trolling motor can't hold that it's amazing how fast everything gets green because it's still so cold but yet the grass is green the trees are butted out uh the grass is tall and there's a deer crossing the road in front of me right now and i mean that's what we're talking about how cool is that you should have just asked van damme where he's putting in let me get my face mask probably want to get that jacket too got a layer up we first pull in and it's 80 and then again this morning it's in the 40s it's my birthday sugars because it's my birthday let's get this party started little seagull over there he's soaked up too he's not happy about it being so cold just looks like he's in a bad mood doesn't he telling you right now i never knew 22 would be just do this good the greatest i don't even know what that is guys what is that that's why you buy your fishing license because you never know what you're gonna catch [Music] the three remaining events all being small mouth-oriented events you know i have to really bear down and work hard because you know growing up down in texas we we don't have smallmouth and that's been a huge learning curve for me and and you know in my career in the past you know few years my goals you know for the next few events to the remaining of the season are you know not only to survive because i'm not out here to survive to do well to try to learn more about smallmouth fisheries what to look for certain times obviously we have more than just a common understanding of what they are and what they do and how to catch them but i want to feel like i know them like i know largemouth there's one that's a big [Music] no don't let anybody tell you that when you come to new york you have to do it with a fairy wand come see me in two days sweetheart bring all your friends so this is my first time to be on the st lawrence river we have over 90 miles of river to fish here in this particular event that is an astronomical amount of shoreline to cover and islands and bays and pockets and there's so much that goes into it because current is such a big deal here there's great largemouth fishing there's world-class smallmouth fishing obviously i would gravitate toward the largemouth just because that's where i come from that's what i feel comfortable doing but i also know that i have to keep the smallmouth very honest here because this is the type of place that they will dominate and if you miss that and the largemouth fishing is good but not phenomenal you will not even be able to compete i spend a little more time up here each and each and every time we come you know make the last two cups and then stay in the hunt for the angler of the year you know these next three events are are just big you know we've got 79 of the other best guys in the world so we got our work cut out for us this year on the last three events it's gonna be cloudy tomorrow it's gonna be really windy rainy and windy that's a good one right there if i can finish it off i usually just put um fours on on those tackle prep is just it's critical you know you want to make sure that you have you know fresh line and change all your hooks and things like that but the other big thing is while you're doing it and you're rigging stuff you're thinking about where you're going to use it at you know you're kind of game planning for your day breaking down you know the looking at what the weather is going to be and basically everything about planning and hopefully executing you know the game plan that you put together so we spend a lot of time prep and tackle every tournament that you don't do well in it's tough in this format it's been just kind of an up and down year but this is the time of the year that i look forward to and it's when you know i should catch them so you just you never know how things are gonna go you know these three events five six and seven are gonna be you know big water big wind so it's all about the conditions and being able to adapt to it and you know so far so good but there's a lot a lot of fishing left to do [Music] you know coming into an event like this where we're not throwing super heavy line because the water's so clear i have to retie everything we're throwing light line a lot of that is going straight to a fluorocarbon leader in an eight pound test braided line so re-tying all this a small nick in your line here whether it's from the roughness of a fish's tooth or if it's from a zebra mussel that's on a rock down there all that will will take its toll on your fishing line so re-tie tie again re-tie a tie again that is something that you have to do continuously when you're up here fishing in this clear water this is the kind of practice that you want to catch them all because you drove so far to get here you hate to shake any of them off because you know you don't get to come up here but once every few years i'm excited about day one a little nervous about it though to be honest with you and that's just because i don't know what to expect i don't know if it's going to take 75 pounds a day or if it's going to take 40 pounds a day to make the cut but it will take somewhere between 40 and 75 pounds a day to make the cut i can guarantee that there are that many fish in this body of water so we've got our work cut out for us tomorrow's day one and uh at the end of the day we're gonna see where the chips fall we're gonna take it all out there we're gonna make about a 65-mile run one direction and before we shut this mercury down let's just hope that we lay our cards on the table and they all land face up because somebody's going to blast them i guarantee that [Music] you know the weather is going to be the big it factor this week without a doubt you know we've had nice weather for practice so that made it nice you know i've been able to find a lot of fish it's just being able to to fish them and get to them so today's gonna be pretty decent clouds you know i'd rather have sun it's so important to be able to see up here to to see this structure a lot of these fish are shallow right now um we're kind of on the tail end of the spawn but we're going to have basically clouds and rain for the rest of the week and a lot of wind so you're going to have to adapt every single day but this is my kind of fishing and i'm looking forward to it it's going to be special i think we'll probably break all of our records for major league fishing here this week it's game day two days of practice three days of driving to get here a lot of wind a lot of water a lot of waves i'm excited to go i'm nervous this is the kind of event that you're nervous about because the potential to catch so many fish is here and you can fall behind so fast on that score tracker and this is the kind of event where a score tracker will get in your mind quickly because everyone around you is catching fish or if you're catching fish it can work reverse on the other guys so all we can do is go with a clear mind fish hard i feel like you can land on them anywhere we go here so let's go let's go get after it [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] so today was one of those uh days that i really didn't know what to expect here i knew it was going to be unbelievable fishing and the guys really showed out and caught them you know a lot of the fish that i had found were actually gone so you know i scrambled around and just kind of managed the condition and and had a solid day caught some real good ones i know things are going to change and it's going to be a challenge to keep up with it but solid first day this place is absolutely amazing the amount of fish that are in it i can't say enough about it it was a special special day on the water 130 pounds of bass and still not leading the round that will tell you just how great this place really is but we really need to go back out and honestly i feel like look for more fish to try to put ourselves in the championship rounds [Music] growing up in the country where i grew up we didn't have a lot of options of places to buy fishing tackle from like we do nowadays and we bought all of our fish and tackle from walmart when lou's approached me about a rod line was something i was very excited about and i was excited about a rod line not only for the opportunity to actually have a rod line and to be a part of something bigger but i wanted to be able to reach those kids that i felt like i grew up like and that was the walmart the smaller places to go the more rural towns that don't have the opportunity to go to your big stores when i had the opportunity to talk about the rods and the rod placement i really felt like walmart was a connection for me personally because i was that country kid i was very small town we didn't have a lot i wanted to get my rods and the rod in front of everyone and walmart is a place that everyone can go they're in every city for the most part every kid stops by the fishing department and looks and sees what's on the on the shelf and you know that's one of the reasons that we went with the orange it's just so appealing and it's it's eye catchy we like it it says it's it's loud it says hey i'm out here to fish and have a good time there's one you know it's something that you know that people really like to get out and do and that's our future of fishing and and that's what i really come from so it meant a lot to me to be able to get to work on this project that's where it all comes from that's where it starts from just from a small town guy in east texas that had the opportunity to work with a great company now and get more rods out in front of kids that are going to be the future of fishing [Music] you know it's challenging on the best pro tour because you know you get two days where you got to make the you know make it through the elimination round then if you win that you can go right to the championship round which is so hard to do they're arguably 80 of the best guys out there when you make it to the knockout round you still got to make that top eight to make it to the championship round but boy if you can get to that championship round anything can happen you know guys that manage that you know the major league fishing format is not new to me but it's just you've got to have kind of everything go right and and kind of have things fall your way to be able to put it all together so it's tough and there's nobody that i can say is going to consistently say going in that hey man i'm going to win this tournament you know it's it's harder to win one of these i think than any other type of tournament [Music] [Applause] sitting at 15th place after the first day we got a lot different weather conditions we do got sun which is a real benefit but we're gonna have a lot of wind today so new game plan um i'm gonna fish a totally different area you know i made a really long run the other day actually ran out of gas coming back but i'm gonna fish a total different area total different pattern i'm fishing for pre-spawners hopefully i'm making the right decision you know and in the long run i'm pretty excited to get out there it's going to be a special day today we got a lot of wind total different days so we knew that was going to happen see what we can get done i feel confident the weight that we have the first day that we're not going to have to catch a lot of fish today to make it into the knockout round but we still have a chance to maybe win the round [Music] [Applause] [Music] so today i had a game plan you know with the wind that we had i i wasn't going to make the long run you know all the way out towards the lake and try and sight fish again so i thought i had a really good pattern shallow pattern but i didn't realize the level of wind that we were going to have it really muddied a lot of the shallow flats on stuff up i just didn't execute very well today right off the get-go things didn't go well i lost three or four it just kind of went down the hill from there it was a grind all day long just i just was staying right above the cut line right to the end and and i just couldn't make it happen man incredible fishery just tough break it's the way it goes i'm sore the saint lawrence river gets very big the wind blew really hard today didn't spend a lot of time fishing the area where i feel like i'm gonna fish the knockout round went in there this morning caught three pretty quick they're still there so i went and spent my entire day burning this gas out of my basket up and down the lake as much as i could still caught 40 pounds of fish today so it was it was still a great day but i am gonna be sore tomorrow i guarantee that [Music] you know i was the first to admit that you know smallmouth fisheries are not my forte but i also overthink them a lot and i know that now because smallmouth are really aggressive fish the problem with the fish in the south is you got to find them it's the same problem here in the north but when you find them you can catch [Music] them [Music] that's a happy look that's a happy look sorry listen smallmouth fishing is fun when you catch them it's not fun when you don't catch them but i'm telling you i was stressed i lost a lot of fish today you can tell that they're starting to wrap up but i think we can get out there one more day and i i don't know about winning it somebody's got to win it we got a one and ten shot i'm excited about it but nervous at the same time we're just gonna go out tomorrow and leave it all on the st lawrence river and that is what a hundred and thirteen pounds and two ounces for the smallmouth bass looks like so you wouldn't believe this but i'm just going to tell you after being here for six days and catching as many fish as we've caught every day i'm getting down to the bottom end of all my baits we've legitimately caught that many smallmouth bass this week i'm telling you guys like it's amazing how much we go through here but this has been the juice right here kvd sexy shad and kvd magic both big players this week for me big big players this week for me you've got to sometimes take some risk and tomorrow i'm going to play as long as i can play in the areas where you know that have got me here but i have a couple other areas that are not too far another 7 to 10 miles away and they're good areas they've got a lot of fish in them so i'm probably going to you know check that at some point if i get downtime that's what we're going to play tomorrow and we're going to see what the weather gives us and then we'll play it by here from there but we're not going to be afraid to pull that trolling motor and go look for more fish [Music] it's a great feeling to be here on championship rounds and it's it's truthfully as a as an adult and as a competitor it's the it's a great feeling just to be here so you can look around we're surrounded by some of the greatest company in bass fishing that says a lot about the the caliber of fishermen that are here right now so we have our work cut out for us [Music] making it here at a championship round on a small mouth fishery it really boosts your confidence it definitely helps my mental psyche and my confidence to say that hey doesn't matter if they're green or they're brown you can catch them all don't get me wrong i'm ecstatic about the finish and the week here with smallmouth on absolutely a phenomenal fishery you know i said it this place has etched its self into bass fishing history already with the amount of smallmouth that are here and the size of the smallmouth it's it's so incredible burnt through about 500 kvd sexy half shells this week i want to thank you guys think major league fishing and you know the coolest part about this is we get to catch these fish off the beds and in our format we weigh them on the boat and we release them they go right back to the bed that's super super cool about protecting the resource and prolonging the life of the sport it's super important to protect the resources for future generations so great week here in new york but listen i'm taking that chevrolet in this basket and we're headed south to texas [Music] you

Channel: Strike King

Views: 27,022

Rating: 4.9175258 out of 5

Keywords: strike king, strike king lures, kvd, bass fishing

Id: iiKX0E-NbYo

Length: 25min 28sec (1528 seconds)

Published: Wed Jul 28 2021