The bass tournament season in Sunset Country wrapped up this past weekend with the fourth-annual Frank McClymont Memorial Tournament, which took place Saturday in Kenora.
Frank McClymont fished bass tournaments in Northwestern Ontario since they started back in the late 1980s and was a positive influence on many of us who eventually got involved with tournament fishing over the years.
He was friends with everybody in the fishing community before he was taken quickly from us back in 2012 after a tough fight with cancer.
One of Frank’s regular fishing partners, Rick Savage, along with Bruce Berringer, decided a few years ago to put on a one-day fall bass tournament in his honour and it has grown in popularity each year.
Some 39 teams participated this year.
Local hammers Jay Samsal and Scott Dingwall had won the tournament three years in a row, catching more than 20 pounds each time, so they definitely were the favourites heading in.
While the weather over the weekend wasn’t great, the cold weather seemed to help kick the fish into gear and start biting. We all enjoy those fall days with the nice weather but at this point in the season, the cold days usually always produce better fishing.
Jamie Bruce of Kenora and Brian McNanney of Sioux Narrows brought the only 20-pound catch to the scales Saturday, winning the tournament with a 20.35 total.
The top eight teams won prize money and all brought in 18-pound-plus limits. Those are some great catches from Lake of the Woods.
The big largemouth of the day was a 4.95-pound fish caught by Joe Morrison and Tim Skead while Joe Pritchett and Hiram Archibald caught a 4.83-pounder that won the big smallmouth of the day award.
For many of us who enjoy fishing in these competitive tournaments, this time of year always is somewhat disappointing because it’s going to be several months before a new season starts again.
As much as I live for competing in these events, this point in the year for me is a welcome break. Because of my pursuit of fishing the FLW Tour, my season started back in January down at Lake Okeechobee in Florida.
Since then, it’s been a whirlwind of travel and while I have had my most successful year yet competing in the U.S., there has been a lot of sacrifice, as well.
I’m going to enjoy my time at home over the next couple of months, doing some fun fishing, a little bit of hunting, and working on preparing for next year.
My plan is to fish the FLW Tour again in 2017, but it is very expensive to sign up, not to mention all of the travel expenses associated with fishing seven tournaments all over the U.S.
As such, I need significant sponsor help to compete so now is the time that I work on lining all of that up. Fortunately, everything looks good for next year at this point so I’m optimistic everything is going to work out fine.
A huge thank you goes out to all of the volunteers who make our fishing tournament scene across Northwestern Ontario as great as it is, probably the best in North American as far as quality team tournaments go.
Nowhere else can anglers fish against large fields of boats like we have, on great bodies of water, and have the opportunity to win significant prize money. These events are great for all of our communities and they generate a lot of positive media for our area, in general.
A lot of people volunteer major time and effort to make all of our tournaments happen so on behalf of all of the anglers, we really do appreciate it!
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
