For the 30th year, the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship is set to blast off on Rainy Lake. Over the years, this has been one of the premier team bass tournaments in North America, attracting anglers from far and wide. At its peak, in the early 2000’s, there was a long waiting list each year of anglers wanting to fish and a lot of pressure on teams competing, to finish in the top 90 to return the following year.
The draw over the years is simple: Rainy Lake is an awesome body of water, home to excellent smallmouth bass fishing. I have fished tournaments all over Canada and the U.S. and have never seen a community support an event the way that Fort Frances supports this tournament. I can remember hearing back in the early years that it was the highest consumption of beer for Labatt’s over a weekend event, next to the Calgary Stampede!
I missed the first few years, but starting fishing in 2000 when I was 17 years old. The week in Fort Frances quickly became one of the highlights of the summer for me and I haven’t missed the tournament since. Most of the other tournaments around the region I have to miss from time to time because of my U.S. schedule but I feel really lucky that I’ve never had to miss the Fort tournament.
I have made a lot of great friends over the years at the tournament including many of the anglers, sponsors and volunteers. It brings a lot of people together. I’ve also attended some good parties under the tent. It really is a special event.
Since 2007, I have fished the tournament with John Peterson, from Bemidji, Minnesota. We have some memorable days on the lake over the years, winning the tournament back-to-back in 2013 and 2014. Those were special tournaments with different conditions but we managed to put together some big catches.
We’ve had plenty of tough days as well, which you will experience on Rainy if you fish it often enough. As good of a smallmouth fishery as it is, one of the best in my opinion, tough days are always sprinkled in. We all hope those days don’t happen when the tournament is taking place, but sometimes it does.
Part of the appeal to Rainy Lake is that it is big and it’s not very busy. Compared to Lake of the Woods, especially around Kenora, it is a lot quieter, which I enjoy. There are so many different sections or basins that anglers can fish. If you want to fish shallow water, you can always find smallmouths in shallow water. If you want to fish deep, you can do that.
There have been a lot of dominant, consistent teams over the years. Mark Raveling and Mike Luhman have probably enjoyed the most tent rides on the final day. Jay Samsal and Troy Norman are up there but the most dominant team in the history of the tournament is the Minnesota duo of Jim Moynagh and Joe Thrun. In the late 90’s and through the 2000’s, when the tournament had the largest fields, they won the event five times to go with several top three finishes. It seemed like they were unstoppable for several years there. They haven’t fished the tournament for a number of years but hopefully they will return at some point.
There is a lot more local participation today than there was in the early years, which is great. Competitive teams too. I think part of the reason that we see less American teams or teams visiting from farther distances is because the local anglers are too good. To finish in the money, you need to catch some fish. You won’t get lucky for three days, so the anglers that spend time on the lake tend to really move to the top by the end of the three-day event.
Hopefully we’ll get another 30 years of the FFCBC! I promise that I’ll be at Rainy Lake the third week of July as long as I’m able to come, I truly look forward to it every year. A huge thank you to all of the volunteers over the years who make this event what it is, World Class! It’s a big deal for the community and it’s a great celebration of the smallmouth bass fishing on Rainy Lake.
