Chasing Team 46 … Check it.

Canada’s premium professional angling tour, Renegade Bass, and its army of skilled Anglers roll into Cornwall Ontario this week chasing Scott Lefebvre and Rob Yantha, now the 2012 team of the year points race leaders.

This event stop on the St Lawrence River officially marks the halfway point of the tour season. And fortunately for this Canadian Professional Angling Team, they are red hot and poised to pull away from the field if they can figure out how to load the boat with GIANT Lake St. Francis small mouth bass.

After a predictable cheque cashing finish on the sewage saturated Ottawa River a few weeks ago, team 46 is riding the momentum and confidence needed to tighten their choke hold on the rest of the Renegade field of competitors.

Yantha, a likable and colorful character, was kind enough to share his thoughts with the Militant Outdoors Analytical Panel.

Noting his teams high expectations and expected performance, he quickly pointed out due respect for his competition, who by a slim margin trail them in the TOY points race. Yantha admitted that the skills of his angling peers are nothing short of phenomenal and understands that He and Lefebvre must produce huge if not to be over thrown as point leaders come closing time.

With out giving away the caramilk secret, Yantha did divulge he and Lefebvre practiced extremely hard for this event, and if all goes as planned, hopes to jack up a school of smallmouth bass that reportedly average 4+ pounds! When Yantha was asked if he could expand on the details, he just smiled politely and patted the M.O journalist on the back promising an exclusive interview after the event played out.

THE USUAL SUSPECTS

Like in any pro sport, there are teams that perpetually hover in and around the top spots. And the Canadian Professional Angling game isn’t much different.

Snipers like Mike Desforge, the Izumi’s, Dagenais/Clouthier and Sim/Touhey suck up winner’s cheques like god damn Hoover vacuum cleaners. It should not be a surprise to see any of the a fore mentioned pro’s buzzing about and dragging stupidly large sacks of bass across the Renegade stage and onto the Shimano Water Weigh In scales.

Hopefully the Renegade Bass MC’s Mike Brown and Big Jim McLaughlin are able to appreciate the guts on these fish as many lake St Francis bass are mirror images of these two’s supremely unique physique’s.

Other notables to keep an eye on if taking a Vegas line are MTL bass pro’s Nicolas Gendron and Jason Gramada. Sporting such fame as current B1 champs and a mainstay Lake St Francis threat, they are arguably the team to beat on this body of water. Anything short of a mechanical failure or an act of God may be the only way these guys can falter.

FINDING THE MAGIC ALL OVER AGAIN

Some say history always repeats itself? Duane Clifton and partner Dave Western sure as hell hope that this cliché sticks on Saturday and Sunday. Because the last time these two threw down on Lake St Francis their efforts were rewarded with a season ending Classic Championship!!!

Though we hear little about this prestigious duo (which M.O. finds odd, as they are the classic champs, shouldn’t they have more media coverage?) they celebrated last years big win by accepting a fully rigged Ranger Bass Boat, and 2 new paddles!!! That right…you read that correctly… 2 Brand New Paddles!!!

MAY NOT BE AS ADVERTISED

When the smoke settles after this 2 day tour stop on St Francis, many Teams will have realized that their hopes of earning one of the available 40 tickets to the championship will be all but lost. Some will find themselves cemented in contention for the top prize and title recipient for TOY. Others will dance loosely on the classic bubble, relying on good fortune come the last event of the season which launches out of Rideau Ferry, on the Rideau Lakes system.

Looking closely at the here and now, Anglers must ponder the potential for massive success or critical failure thanks to the increased average weight St. Francis will faction into an otherwise lack luster year of fish catching across the board…

Lake Saint Francis is a renowned bass fishery that has historically produced massive tournament weights. Currently the average weight of the top 40 anglers is 26.73 pounds after 2 events. So on average this equates to 13.36 pounds per event thus far into 2012.

First, the potential for a 1 day weight of 26.73 pounds is almost expected. If a team at the back of the points race pack hits the right spot at the right time, they will rage up the leader board with authority and find themselves in a whole new ball game.

Second, if a team currently at the top of the leader board strikes a 25 pound sack of bass, they will put everyone out of contention leaving them fighting for 2nd fiddle.

Conversely, any team that stumbles is committing career suicide. The average weight on Franny is expected to exceed 15 pounds per team, and even if a team ends up with a conservative 12 pounds it will leave them 2 pounds off the mark, subsequently plummeting them to the bowels of the competitive field.

Shitting the bed in this event is a huge NO-NO….

Keep an eye cocked for Militant Outdoors Reporters as they will be on site and on the water to catch all the behind the scenes action and hear the stories of Great Canadian Tournament Anglers.

Militant Outdoors is proud to provide Canada’s Pro Anglers with Photo opportunities, original outdoors literature and compositions and provide them with the notoriety and respect they deserve and earned.

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