The original bass tournament in Northwestern Ontario is set to kick off on Thursday when a full field of 150 teams will blast off for the Kenora Bass International. Started in 1988, the KBI is probably one of the longest standing open tournaments in North America. For the first time in many years, the field is full. This great for the event and the city of Kenora, which could surely use the economic bump from the tournament taking place and all of the visitors it brings in.
The 2023 event featured the best overall weights in the history of the tournament, with Adam Bachynski and Andrew Beernaert taking the title with a three-day total of 58.67 to win for a second time. To make the top ten, it took an average of 18 pounds per day, which would be enough to win most yearKBI set to blast off on Lake of the Woods
s in the past. Bass fishing is good right now on Lake of the Woods.
Going into its 36th year, the KBI has seen many winning trends over the years. In the earlier years, the tournament was won with smallmouths, mostly by anglers fishing close to Kenora. By the late 90’s through the early 2010’s, you needed to have bigger largemouth bass in your limits to win most years, then for the past ten years or so, most of the winning catches have been coming from smallmouths being caught in the south part of the lake.
Many bass anglers look forward to the KBI every year because it is a well-run event and I think for most, especially the anglers who visit us from other areas, it’s just a good reason to spend some time on Lake of the Woods. There is so much water to explore out there, it’s an adventure every day.
August is such a good part of the season for bass fishing because you can find smallmouths in shallow and deeper water. You can find them around weeds where they eat crayfish as well as in open water where they might be chasing baitfish around. Then there is the largemouth factor. While their numbers have dwindled significantly over the years around the lake, there are still some big five and six pound fish out there that can really make a difference. It will be fun to see what unfolds.
The KBI starts on Thursday and runs through Saturday down at the Harbourfront in Kenora.
For me, the KBI is where I got my start in competitive fishing when I was ten years old. As a kid, it was always the highlight of the summer for me and some of my best fishing memories have come from competing in the tournament.
Unfortunately, I’m going to miss the tournament this year because I am out in New York for the final two Bassmaster Elite Series events of the season taking place this week at Lake Champlain and next week at the St. Lawrence River. It’s been a bit of an up and down season for me and I’m sitting just outside the cut line to qualify for next year’s Bassmaster Classic, so the pressure is on for me to have a couple of good events.
We are visiting two of my favourite places to fish, both with top-notch smallmouth fishing, so my expectations are to do well out there. I’m looking forward to getting the tournament started on Thursday as well.
Good luck to everybody fishing on Lake of the Woods this week!
