Small (mouth) talk with Desforges

Stren Series leader talks Great Lakes smallmouth

CLAYTON, N.Y. – Mike Desforges is from Burlington, Ontario, which sits on the extreme western edge of Lake Ontario, yet just off the northeast corner of Lake Erie.

So Mike Desforges knows a thing or two about the Great Lakes.

And Mike Desforges knows a whole lot about those great big brown fish that live in the Great Lakes.

“He’s the man,” has been uttered more than once around the Stren Series stage this week whenever Desforges’ name has come up.

“He won this tournament last year and he’ll win it again this year!” another spectator offered.

The Great Lakes are still untouched frontiers in terms of bass fishing, especially when it comes to guerilla smallmouths. There are still hundreds of untapped places on the Great Lakes that have hardly ever seen a bass lure.

And due to the short fishing season and treacherous waters found on the Great Lakes, it takes a special kind of person to go out there and put in the time and energy it takes to discover some of those untapped bronze mines.

Mike Desforges is just that kind of person.

Understandably, Desforges is not in a big hurry to divulge a whole bunch of his hard-earned bass fishing knowledge at one time. So whatever bits and pieces of small talk he offers — or rather smallmouth talk — will have to suffice.

Desforges did win the Stren Series event on 1000 Islands last year, but that was in August. This year he is fishing much differently.

“The fish I caught last year were definitely already out – out on points and deeper breaks in 10 to 20 feet of water,” Desforges said. “This year we’ve had a late spring and the tournament is earlier; the water temperature is probably about 10 degrees cooler. It seems like last year it was about 75 degrees and this year it’s more like 65.”

As a result, Desforges is catching his giant grade smallmouth much shallower this time around, mostly in the back end of bays.

“It’s the tail end of the spawn and they’re just now leaving the beds,” he revealed. “The fish I’m catching are not necessarily bedding fish – it’s not like they are locked on beds – but they are still up shallow in some kind of guarding mode. I don’t know if they’re guarding fry or what, but they are definitely interested in protecting the area.”

Desforges is working a one-two punch pattern, throwing a fast moving jerkbait and spinnerbait, tricking the plump prowlers into showing themselves, and then he flicks a tube back out there where the fish rose up on his flashier baits.

Desforges fishes Erie alot as well and notes there is a marked different between Lake Ontario smallies and Lake Erie smallies: Ontario smallies live shallower.

“And they bite a jerkbait much better here, too, which is a lot of fun.” he commented with a grin. “There are a lot more islands and bays here with shallow transition rock. Plus the water is cooler so all in all they live shallower here. Over in Erie they just don’t have as much of that shallow rock so a lot of the fish spend their summer out deep.”

Going into day three of the Stren Series event, Desforges enjoys a 2-pound cushion over second place pro Chris Johnston of Peterborough, Ont. If Desforges sacks another 20 pounds today he will be hard to handle at weigh-in.

Johnston, however, plans on going much farther into Ontario than he has gone the last two previous days.

“I want to go another 40 minutes past where I have been fishing,” Johnston said this morning. “If I’m going to catch Mike I’ll need well over 20 pounds today.”

The day-three weigh-in of the Stren Series event on 1000 Islands will begin at 4 p.m. at the Walmart in Watertown, N.Y.

Saturday’s conditions

Sunrise: 5:38 a.m.

Temperature at takeoff: 63 degrees

Expected high temperature: 73 degrees

Water temperature: 65 degrees

Wind: SW at 10 to 20 mph

Day’s outlook: partly cloudy with possible thunderstorms