Lucas Punkari
When the anglers competing in the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championships take to the stage for the weigh-ins at the Memorial Sports Centre starting tomorrow, there will be a number of youngsters in the crowd who will be watching and dreaming of some day being in the same position.
Some 20 potential future competitors in the FFCBC got a first-hand experience of what it was like to fish with some of the top anglers in the tournament when they participated in the annual Safeway “KidPro” event on Sunday.
And once the boats returned to the Sorting Gap Marina following a hot day on the water, the reactions on the youngsters’ faces said it all.
“Oh man, it was just amazing,” enthused 11-year-old Kobi Ward, who teamed up with multiple FFCBC champ Joe Thrun.
“It was really good to go out there and fish, especially with someone like Joe,” Ward added.
“I had a lot of fun, as well, and it was really nice to fish with Mike [Adams],” echoed 13-year-old Kale Bruyere-Huntley, who finished in a tie for first place with Ward with a three-fish total of 11.11 pounds.
For the “pro” anglers who take part in the event, Sunday was a reminder of when they were about that same age.
“I remember back around 13 years ago when I took part in this event, and we actually did pretty good and I still have the trophy from that day,” recalled Bryan Gustafson, who teamed up with 11-year-old Hunter Koles.
“Back then, I just thought it was just really cool to go bass fishing and today I still think it’s awesome,” he noted.
“This year is really cool because Hunter lives right beside my cabin, so I know him a little bit, and it’s really nice to go out and spend the day out on the lake with him,” Gustafson added.
Although fishing was a bit of a slow go at times for Gustafson and Koles, they still were able to reel in 8.16 pounds worth of bass. But more importantly, Koles had a fun day out on Rainy Lake.
“It was a good day out there, and it was a lot of fun to catch the fish,” said Koles, who has been fishing for seven years.
“I think someday when I’m older I’ll take part in the tournament here,” he added.
“Hey, aren’t you getting a bass boat this year?” Gustafson asked.
“Yep,” Koles smiled.
There was a case, though, where the “pros” were getting a few lessons from the amateurs as Byron Stewart out-fished his partners, Rollie Roy and Ryan Hastie.
“We might have to bring him onboard for the tournament,” Hastie smiled.
“But his parents would have to sign the waiver form first, and seeing that Rollie is the team captain, that would end up being his final decision,” Hastie noted.
For most of the “pros,” though, the day was spent offering a few tips and secrets on how to catch bass on Rainy Lake, which is what Rick Cooper did with his partner, Lindsay Dixon.
“She had done a lot of walleye fishing before, but not a lot of bass fishing, so I was giving her some insight into a different type of fishing,” Cooper explained.
“Lindsay has never caught a bass before, so she was pretty pumped up when she caught her first bass,” he added.
Besides passing on the experience of fishing to the younger anglers, those who take part in the “KidPro” hope the love of the sport can continue to grow so that one day those they teamed up with on Sunday eventually will be their competition in the FFCBC.
“Rollie and I both did it when we were younger, and that got us enthused into bass fishing and got us wanting to take part in this tournament,” Hastie explained.
“Hopefully, as these kids grow up, that when they turn 18, they can come out and add a few teams to the list because the last time I looked, we were about 20 teams short [of a full field],” he stressed.
