Great weekend on Rainy

The 13th-annual International Falls Bass Championship took place over the weekend on Rainy Lake and the Rainy River.
My good friend, Scott Dingwall, and I have fished the tournament together since its inception in 2005 and have had some great tournaments over the years, including a few first-place finishes.
But this past weekend, we had our most memorable tournament to date.
In the past, the tournament had a unique format in that teams fished one day on the American side of Rainy Lake and one day on the Rainy River. This year, the format changed in that teams could fish each day of the two-day event wherever they wanted-on the lake or the river.
Teams were confined to fish the south arm of the lake, with the boundary being that they could not go under any bridges, which kept anglers out of the north arm of the lake, as well as Redgut Bay.
Traditionally, the fishing always has been good on the river although the weights usually are not as high as they are on the lake. Or at least the potential for a big limit is not as good on the river as it is on the lake.
For Scott and me, the decision was easy to choose to fish the lake both days. We’ve had some great days on the lake over the years and there is potential out there to catch a 20-pound limit, which is the high end of what teams can expect to catch.
Things worked out really well for us as we brought in 21.70 pounds on Day 1, then followed that up with 21.30 on Day 2 en route to winning the tournament for the fourth time.
In 18 years of fishing tournaments on Rainy Lake, these were the two biggest catches either of us had ever brought in from the lake, so it was pretty amazing. We were fortunate to find some quality fish in our couple days of pre-fishing and we were able to catch them during the tournament.
It does not always work out that way so obviously we were pretty happy that things went our way.
Traditionally we like to fish shallow for bass on Rainy. And the nicer the weather, the better the fishing typically is.
Last week, we were faced with the first stretch of cool nights and the weather was not all that nice, so we knew that fishing shallow with topwaters and tube jigs like we normally do would be challenging.
Instead, we looked for bass in deeper water and managed to find an area with several humps and points that were holding fish.
Then during the tournament, it was just a matter of figuring out what the fish wanted. We caught several casting suspending jerkbaits while the others came by dragging tube jigs around in 14-20 feet of water.
Second place went to the International Falls’ team of Jake Ruelle and Charlie Leduc, who had a two-day total of 38.02 pounds, while another Falls’ team, Jon Balaski and Eric Olson, took third with 35.48.
Canadian teams rounded out the top five, with Bill Godin and Dave Lindsay taking fourth place while Jason Cain and Dan Tucker of Fort Frances claimed fifth.
They put on a great event in International Falls every year and it’s a lot of fun to be a part of. From the boat parade through town the night before the tournament starts that attracts thousands of people right through to the party under the tent on Saturday night, it’s a top-notch event.
They only take 60 teams each year in this tournament so if you’re interested in signing up for next year, be sure to get on it soon.