Another Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship is in the books, and this year saw its top team extend their winning streak to a third year.
Motei Demers and Ian Waterer are the 2026 FFCBC champs, marking the third consecutive year they have emerged at the top of the field following three days of fishing action on Rainy Lake. Not only have the champions emerged victorious, but they managed to dismantle several longstanding tournament records in the process.
As last year’s winners, Waterer and Demers’ entry into this year’s tournament was assured, so long as they intended to return, but not even being the returning champs was enough to protect them from the harsh realities of fishing; sometimes the fish don’t bite when you need them to, like during pre-fishing to get a feel for where to go during the big show.
“We had kind of a short practice,” Waterer said following their win.
“We just came off a walleye tournament on Sunday, and just kind of rolled into town, and actually had a crap practice. The last day of practice, things started to look a little better. It was insanely hot and we were just having a tough time. And finally, things came together.”
The trend of practice improving towards the end continued into the tournament proper, where the pair had something of a rough start on Day 1, bringing in a respectable 19 lbs, and then they hit the stratosphere on day two, where the pair’s trajectory to the top of the leaderboard seemed to be assured.
“After a tough Day 1 this year, and probably one of the worst pre-fishes we’ve had, we knew we had to step it up, and we had a dream day on Day 2,” Demers added.
“It just felt like we couldn’t do anything wrong.”
Day 2 saw the anglers bring in a catch weight of 22.83 lbs, breaking the One Day Catch record that was set back in 2002 at 22.28 lbs, and setting them up for success through the rest of the tournament. Waterer and Demers went on to break the Three-Day Catch record, which had stood since 2021 at 62.01 lbs, with their final combined three-day weight of 63.17 lbs, earning them the top spot on the leaderboard and the grand prize of $15,000.
The anglers said their strategy remained the same this year as it has in years past, even with the hot weather in the lead-up to the tournament.
“We strictly fish deep, that’s all we do,” Demers said.
“This tournament’s a week earlier than it typically is, so I think that hurt us in the beginning, and there just weren’t a lot of fish out there. The fish came to us as the tournament went on, and it just got better and better.”
“I know it seems cliché, but we have a pretty good idea of where they’re going to be this time of year, and they certainly weren’t there during practice,” Waterer said.
“And every day we said, ‘They have to be coming, they have to be coming, they have to be coming,’ and eventually they were there, and it seemed almost like you could do no wrong the last two days.”
On breaking such longstanding records, ones set by individuals still fishing the tournament today, Waterer and Demers shared that the experience was somewhat surreal, owing to the respect they have of the fishing legends they now find themselves among.
“It’s unbelievable,” Demers said. “A lot of those guys are legends. Like the Day 1 record was set when I was one year old, so it’s cool to break it.”
“Those dudes that broke it are like my idols,” Waterer added.
“The one-day record, Mike Luhman, is my idol of deep fishing, one of them, and Troy [Norman] and Jay [Samsal] are both super awesome dudes, and when I saw they were winning this tournament over and over, I was like, ‘What on earth could these dudes be doing?’ They’re head and shoulders above, and now it’s cool to feel like we’re in the same conversation.”
Mike Luhman has fished the tournament for years and this year landed a grand total weight of 57.20 lbs alongside partner Bryan Gustafson, earning the team the third place spot on the leaderboard. On the winning team breaking his longstanding record, Luhman said that it brought up some complicated emotions.
“I’ll be honest, I was a little sad,” he said of learning his 2002 record being broken.
“I was very proud of that. Mark [Raveling] and I set that record in 2002; we had an opportunity that day to have 24, 25 lbs, we left them biting. The reason I say that is that we had a 5.31 and 5.28 weighed on the official scale here, obviously pre-scope, pre all the fun tactics we have now. So yeah, I’ll be honest, I was always proud of that, and I always will be. To have a record stand that long is something to be proud of in itself. Hats off to them, congratulations boys.”
Meanwhile, multi-FFCBC winner Jay Samsal, who along with partner Troy Norman landed in the 13th spot this year with a total weight of 52.51 lbs, also expressed his congratulations to the new record holders of the Three-Day weight record.
“Honestly, I’m not surprised with Ian and Motei,” Samsal said.
“They’re the absolute best around here. What they’re doing is unbelievable. I feel very fortunate to get to hold that record for a little while, and both Troy and I aren’t surprised that those two took it down. It was just a matter of time.”
Waterer and Demers also took home the prize for a fish larger than five lbs this year.
In other tournament winnings, Dave Lindsay and Ashley Lindsay were the Top Finishing Team with a Female angler, Parker Lindsay and Rob Lindsay were the Top Finishing Team with a Teenaged angler, Bryan Gustafson and Mike Luhman were the Top Finishing Team with a Lund and with a Mercury, while Scott and Cam Gobeil were the Top Finishing Team with a Lund outside of the money, and Davis Ross and Carter Tresoor were the Top Finishing Team with a Mercury outside of the money.
The Top Ten results for the 2026 Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship are as follows:
1st place – Team #1: Ian Waterer and Motei Demers, 63.17 lbs
2nd place – Team #74: Owen Stebnitsky and Bart Stebnitsky, 58.26 lbs
3rd place – Team # 4: Bryan Gustafson and Like Luhman, 57.20 lbs
4th place – Team #96: Parker Lindsay and Rob Lindsay, 55.60 lbs
5th place – Team #12: Andy Carlson and Matt Goldamer, 55.59 lbs
6th place – Team #112: Brant Rusin and Sam Rusin, 54.35 lbs
7th place – Team #119: Mason Meyer and Gavin Loveless, 53.56 lbs
8th place (tied) – Team #25: Dave Lindsay and Ashley Lindsay, 53.31 lbs
8th place (tied) – Team #83: Joe Anthony and Dale Anthony, 53.31 lbs
10th place – Team #16: Eli Anderson and Chris Horde, 53.08 lbs
For the complete list of results for the 2026 Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship, visit their website at canadianbass.com/live-results/, or visit the FFCBC Facebook page.
