The St. Lawrence River continues to amaze.
The Gananoque Cup, hosted by the Canadian Sport Fishing League (CSFL) took place on September 21-22 on the St. Lawrence River and the results were astounding. Not only did the duo of Joey Di Cienzo and Joey Teofilo take the title, but they did so while taking down a couple of Canadian weight records that have stood for many years.
Di Cienzo and Teofilo’s Day 2 catch of 32.02 pounds, which was anchored by a 7.60-pound kicker, broke the single day weight record for Canadian bass tournaments that was previously held by Matt Belzil and Jason Clay and their 31.8-pound limit that was caught seven years ago. As if that wasn’t good enough, their two-day total of 61.88 pounds also broke the Canadian record for two-day total weight.
“It was a magical couple of days,” Teofilo said about their record-breaking weekend. “After a really good practice and a great start on Day 1, we knew we were onto something special, but we didn’t expect this.”
After a magical Day 1, the team of Di Cienzo and Teofilo knew that they needed to back it up with another solid day of fishing. Little did they know at the time, they were about to break records on Day 2.
“With a number of teams right behind us in the standings, we knew we had to have another solid day to have a chance to win,” said Di Cienzo. “After boating a few good ones in the mid-morning, I had a bunch of rods tangled up, so I sat down to get situated and eat a sandwich.
“Once I stood back up, I instantly caught a 6 and a 7.60 on back-to-back casts. We knew at that point it was going to be another really special day.”
It didn’t stop there either. The team consistently culled up until their scale was reading north of 31 pounds for the day. At this point, there was still three hours to fish and they already captured a mind-blowing bag of smallmouth.
Just to play it safe, Di Cienzo and Teofilo came in early to make sure that the fish were all healthy. Once the incredible bag of fished was weighed, the team realized the magnitude of their day. Records fell and the trophies were raised.
To notch themselves in history, the Canadian duo stayed in the river and fished shallow water to boat their incredible bags of smallmouth.
“The spot that we caught our fish is actually a spot that we found a couple of years ago,” said Teofilo. “It’s basically a shallow flat where smallmouth will feed for short time periods. The timing aspect of the spot was super important.”
The main bait that did the damage was a homemade 1/32- ounce hair jig. Di Cienzo and Teofilo feel as if the extremely light hair jig was key to their success.
“A lot of guys will throw a 1/8-ounce hair jig, but that lighter jig really allows the bait to hover in their face which was key,” Teofilo said.
A hair jig has been a popular choice when fishing for northern smallmouth for years now, but subtle differences in the way that the duo fished the bait was key to getting bites from pressured fish.
“Having watched guys who fish hair jigs properly in the past has really helped elevate our game,” said Di Cienzo. “The Johnston brothers are so good at fishing a hair jig on the St. Lawrence River, and I can vividly remember picking up things those guys do while watching Bass Live.”
While catching a record-breaking bag of smallmouth was the highlight of the tournament, the duo’s win qualified them to fish the 2024 Bass Pro Shops Team Championship at Kentucky Lake later this year.
“That’s one of the things that makes this entire deal even more special,” Di Cienzo said in response to qualifying for the 2024 Team Championship. “This is our third year in a row qualifying for the Team Championship which is really the highlight of our year.
“We have loved getting to fish the Team Champ the last few years, so we are really looking forward to getting back down there this year.”
