For the past few years, I’ve stayed up north after our final Elite tournament on the St. Lawrence River because I just can’t get enough of that phenomenal smallmouth fishery. I stayed up there again this year, and even though the weather was less than ideal, I still enjoyed myself.
I usually spend a week after the tournament, but this time I only spent four days. It rained and the wind blew 25 mph out of the North two of the four days, and then it blew 30 mph out of the West the third day. We literally didn’t fish a full day in four days.
We stayed in the river and fished a few hours a day for three of the days, and we got more fishing time the final day. One day, I had like 28 pounds, and I caught one that was almost 7 pounds, so we caught some giants.
This year, one of my buddies, who’s also a sponsor — Clay Powell from Texas Flood — flew up and we rented a house in Ontario. Because of the rain, we spent more time in town. We visited lots of little breakfast joints, shopping centers, breweries and pizza houses.
One of my tournament roommates, Logan Latuso, also stayed up there, and we met up one night for a fish fry. We caught some nice walleye, so we cooked them for dinner.
Throughout this trip, I kept thinking how much I love this area. Honestly, I want to buy a house and live here during the summers. It seems likes it’s always 100 degrees back home when the Elites visit the St. Lawrence, but the weather’s a lot nicer up there.
This area’s very laid back and rural and the 1000 Islands region is full of natural beauty. There’s a lot of deer, turkeys, ducks and great fishing.
Also, a couple of my good friends and fellow Elites, Cory and Chris Johnston, live in Ontario. During my visit, Cory was fishing another tournament, but we saw him on the water each day and hung out with him in the evenings.
You might wonder how a Texan became such close friends with a couple of Canadians, but we just kicked it off from the start. The very first event we all fished together — the 2019 Elite at the St. Johns River — Cory, Chris and I all made the Top 10.
We’ve all been running together ever since. We like to fish hard and party harder. They’re good, they’re cutthroat and they can catch ‘em. I’m the same way. I’m all business on the water, and I like to have fun when we get done.
After weigh-ins, we can all be friends, but besides that, I’m out there to beat ‘em. Chris and Cory are the same way. It’s definitely competition, not only between me and them, but themselves too. We feed off of it.
I think that’s why it was such a cool moment seeing Cory win his second Elite trophy at the St. Lawrence, the same weekend Chris won Progressive Bassmaster Angler of the year. We all knew it was coming for Chris because he’s so consistent. And for Cory, he’d been close so many times, but mechanical issues got him.
What made Cory’s win so special was, after I won on my home waters — Lake Fork in 2021 and 2022 — and Chris won on his home waters of St. Lawrence in 2020. Cory was always the last man standing.
Cory finally got it done on his home waters — the place I hope to someday call my home away from home.
