Desforges defends his 1000 Islands crown

Ontario pro wins second Stren Series event at 1000 Islands

By Rob Newell - 18.Jul.2009
CLAYTON, N.Y. – Who is the smallmouth king of 1000 Islands? According to Stren Series records, that title belongs to Mike Desforges of Burlington, Ont.

For the second year in a row at 1000 Islands, Desforges dominated the Stren Series Northern Division field with Lake Ontario smallmouths to claim another Stren Series winner’s trophy.

Those who have competed against Desforges in Canadian tournament circuits are already familiar with his winning ways. And now the smallmouth master is bringing his Great Lakes knowledge to America to line his bank account with Stren Series winnings.

For three days in row, Desforges’ daily weights topped the 20-pound mark with hefty Lake Ontario smallmouths that were caught some 35 to 45 miles away in the “big lake.” His heaviest limit came on day one when he weighed 22-14. 

His three-day winning total stood at 63 pounds, 13 ounces earning him a check for $20,147.

“It feels awesome to win again,” said Desforges, who has fished just six Stren Series events. “Being in a position to win and then blowing it is so disappointing so finishing off with a win feels good.

Understandably, the Canadian pro did not want to give exact locations of his best catches but did say that a bulk of his fish came from 5 to 10 feet of water around boulder to sand transition areas.

During the week he caught four bass directly off beds but the rest he described as bass still roaming around in the bedding areas.

“I’m really not sure what these fish are still doing in these areas,” he described. “Maybe they are guarding fry or maybe they are still hanging around hoping to spawn again, I really don’t know. But they were definitely defensive of their areas. It’s not that they were on beds, they were just protecting general areas and would run off any intruders that came around.”

In order to find his fish in practice, Desforges covered water with a Rapala X-Rap #10 jerkbait in ghost color.

“Whenever a big fish would come up after the jerkbait, I’d pull it away and mark the area on the GPS,” he said. “When I returned in the tournament about half of them would eat the jerkbait but the other half I’d have to tease into biting by casting a tube or drop-shot Trigger X scent bait around the areas.”

Desforges noted that he plans to fish more Stren Series events whenever they come up his way.

“I really like these Stren events,” he said with a smile. “I wish FLW would make a Stren Series Canadian Division, that would be a lot of fun.”  Full story>

Small (mouth) talk with Desforges

Stren Series leader talks Great Lakes smallmouth

By Rob Newell - 18.Jul.2009
CLAYTON, N.Y. – Mike Desforges is from Burlington, Ont., 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 as well a lot 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.”   Day 3 Morning Story


Desforges looking to double up

Canadians rule at 1000 Islands Stren Series event

By Rob Newell - 17.Jul.2009
CLAYTON, N.Y. – In August of 2008, Mike Desforges of Burlington, Ont., won the Stren Series event at 1000 Islands. And now he is posed for a repeat performance.

At the day two weigh-in of the 2009 Stren Series event at 1000 Islands, Desforges weighed in another 20 pounds, 5 ounces of smallmouth bass to take the overall lead with a two-day total of 43 pounds, 3 ounces. He now has a 2 pound cushion going into the final day.

And Desforges is not the only Canadian reeling in big bass at this contest; in fact, seven of the top 10 all hail from Canada and many of them are running out into the treacherous waters of Lake Ontario to do their smallmouth damage.

As for Desforges, he had to catch quite a few more bass today to get to his targeted weight of 20 pounds.

“Yesterday I caught a 5- and a 6-pounder early, so I did not have to push my spots very hard,” he said. “But today I had to go through about 25 keepers to get to 20 pounds. I probably culled about 10 times so I’m afraid I beat my spots up pretty good.”

Desforges continued to use a jerkbait and tube to catch his fish today, sometimes relying on the jerkbait to find his fish.

“I had a couple on beds yesterday; I did not have that luxury today,” he added. “My goal for tomorrow is another 20 pounds. If the wind cooperates, I should be able to catch that again. Today it was a bit choppy in the morning then it laid down in the afternoon. If it would do that tomorrow, it would certainly help me.”  Read More >

1000 Islands
7/16/09 - 7/18/09 -- 1000 Islands
French Creek Marina, Clayton, NY

Desforges looking to defend

Mike Desforges of Burlington, Ont., won the 1000 Islands Stren Series event last year and now he’s looking to make it two wins in a row.

Desforges brought in 22 pounds, 14 ounces of smallmouth today to begin the event in second place. His massive stringer included a 5-pound, 15-ounce smallmouth that claimed the Folgers Big Bass award.

Desforges is going into Lake Ontario as well. He believes that the fish he is catching are either still on beds or just beginning to leave the nests.

Several of the big fish he caught today he found in practice when they showed themselves on a jerkbait.

“They would come up on the jerkbait and I would pull it away and just mark the spot,” he explained. “Today I went back to two of those spots and they produced my two biggest bass.”

Desforges hopes that calmer weather tomorrow will allow him to push even farther out into Lake Ontario to some other areas he marked in practice.  Read more >

 

BASSMANIA Tournament Trail - Western Tour
6/29/2009 -- Lake Simcoe 
Couchiching Park, Orillia, Ontario

Mike Desforges & Doug Brownridge 1st place win

Results

BASSMANIA Classic XII
8/31/2008

Mike Desforges & Doug Brownridge 1st Place Win

Results >

 

 

 

1000 Islands
8/20/08 - 8/23/08 -- 1000 Islands
French Creek Marina, Clayton, NY

Winning without the wind

Desforges scraps Lake Ontario plan to win Stren event at 1,000 Islands

By David A. Brown - 23.Aug.2008

CLAYTON, N.Y. – The scene must have been pretty nasty when Mike Desforges surveyed the wind-whipped monster known as Lake Ontario. However, trading a miserable ride for placid St. Lawrence River action proved prudent as the Burlington, Ontario, angler upheld his two-day lead for a Stren Series Northern Division win at New York’s 1,000 Islands.

For three days, anglers had expressed amazement at the mostly calm conditions prevailing throughout the Clayton, N.Y., area. Day four brought the ego equalizer, as blustery south winds pushed 4- to 6-foot waves across Lake Ontario.

As Desforges attested, the lake turned so rough on day three that he had to leave his main area and work other spots in calmer water. Still, day three was doable. The final round – not so much.

Making the decision to stay inside the St. Lawrence River, the top pro scrambled around, working spots he’d fished in years past. Realizing he was working in backup mode, while fellow pro Charlie Hartley had been whacking big limits of smallies in the river all week, Desforges said he did not believe his day would end as it did.

“I was fishing all day for second place, because I figured Charlie was really on them – he had weighed 20 pounds the last two days,” he said. “I figured he would get them (today), so I just didn’t want to fall too far back.”

Entering the final round in second place, Hartley was indeed poised for a big move. As it turned out, his spot dried up and he fell a bass short of his limit.

Desforges split his time between smallmouth and largemouth spots, fishing jerkbaits for the brown bass and Texas-rigged Senko-style baits for the green ones. His mixed bag weighed 17 pounds and boosted his winning total to 77 pounds, 1 ounce.

While most anglers agreed that you could practically sink a boat with 2- and 3-pound smallmouths, Desforges said he didn’t actually boat a lot of fish during the tournament. In the final round, he brought just eight to the boat.

“I wasn’t really catching numbers; I was just catching quality fish. Most of the fish I caught were over 3 pounds.”

Desforges finished day one in seventh place with 19 pounds, 6 ounces. On day two, he posted his heaviest stringer – 21-3 – and took over the lead. Desforges defended his lead a day later with a 19-pound, 8-ounce effort that gave him a 2-pound, 9-ounce margin going into the final round.

For his victory, Desforges won $25,000 plus the prestige of prevailing against a talent-rich field of competitors.

“There are a lot of good fishermen here, so I’m really proud to (win).”  

Full Story >