While the Kenora Bass International was going on at Lake of the Woods, I have been out in New York for the last two Bassmaster Elite Series tournaments of the season at Lake Champlain and the St. Lawrence River. The first event at Champlain just wrapped up over the weekend and it did not go how I was hoping it would for me.
After a great practice at one of my favourite lakes, where the fishing was pretty easy, I had a good start, bringing in a limit close to 20 pounds on day one to sit in 25th place. Champlain is an incredible lake, with huge numbers of bass. Throughout the practice, I had good days, catching plenty of nice fish.
My plan was to target pelagic smallmouths, chasing schools of bait around in open water. For the most part, I would fish around offshore structure, but the fish were in small groups, suspended throughout the water column. I would keep my eyes on my electronics and when I would see these groups of bass, I could cast a Smeltinator jig and a soft plastic minnow at them and for the most part they would race up and bite. I felt like it was a great plan.
The first day it took me a little while to find some of these groups but when I did, I caught a number of nice fish and got the job done. Things were a little bit different on day two, with stronger winds blowing into the area that I was fishing. The only bad thing about Champlain, is it is a massive body of water, without many islands, so there is no hiding if the wind blows. Evidently, it moved some of my fish around because as I tried and tried, I just could not relocate the schools of fish. I caught a few smaller ones here and there and then finally found a couple of schools with about an hour to go but it was too little, too late.
My day two limit weighed only 16 pounds and I dropped to 54th place, missing the top 50 cut by four ounces. It is the third time this year that I’ve just missed the cut by a few ounces, and the $10,000 winnings that go with making it. Even worse, in my battle to try and qualify for the Bassmaster Classic, I lost a bunch of points on day two and now find myself behind the eight ball a bit heading into the last event this week at the St. Lawrence River.
The top 40 in points make the Classic and I’m in 45th spot so I have to move up a few places. I think if I can make the top 25, which I have done here in the past, I’ll have a good shot at it. It’s a stressful part of this dream job that I have. It’s fun to fish all of these great places that we go and at the end of the day, I’m fishing, but making the Classic is a big deal, it’s the most important goal that I have every year. Wish me luck.
Back to the KBI, a big congratulations to my friends Jamie Bruce and Bryan Gustafson, who won the tournament for the second time. The had three great days of fishing in some tough conditions on Lake of the Woods and got the job done, winning $22,000. Second place went to Manitoba anglers Jamie Hubatka and Matt Haarsma, while Kenora anglers James Hendy and Derek Wagenaar were third. I have missed the KBI because of my U.S. tournament schedule the past several years but hopefully next year it’ll work out and I’ll get to be there, it’s always one of my favourite weekends of the year.
