Good news from bass tournaments

Once a month over the past winter, the tournament committees for Sunset Country’s two big bass events—the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship (FFCBC) and the Shaw Kenora Bass International (SKBI)—have been busy holding meetings in order to plan for 2011.
Both of these tournament committees are made up of several people that all play a big part in making these events happen.
These tournaments are the biggest events each community hosts over the course of the summer and a huge amount of work goes into making them happen.
Aside from the work of the volunteer directors who donate a lot of their time, community support is important to make these events function as they do.
That community support is really starting to show in Kenora as the SKBI is boasting a 100 percent payout of angler entry fees this year—something that is very uncommon with most fishing tournaments–thanks to some awesome sponsor support.
This means anglers are fishing for great payouts.
Speaking of payouts at the SKBI, there are some changes coming in 2011. In response to angler feedback for more daily prizes, there has been a change from five daily prizes in 2010 to 10 daily prizes in 2011.
So anglers really have something to fish for each day of the tournament—even they have one bad day and fall out of contention for the big prize.
The top prize for the 2011 tournament remains at $25,000, and the prizes reach down to the pay the top 30 at the end of the tournament.
Again, it must be noted this event would not happen without tremendous community support. The long-standing “Kids’ KBI” has been successful for more than 20 years and has introduced a few hundred kids per year to bass fishing free of charge.
All the youngsters who take part in the “Kids’ KBI” go home with a great prize and everybody has a blast. This is possible to the great support from people at Woodlake Marine, Landry’s Real Estate, A&W, Century 21 Real Estate, and Lowerys.
For 2011, Wal-Mart in Kenora has stepped up big time with cash and prize support for the “Kids KBI” as well as the SKBI, so a big thanks to them.
Registration for the 2011 event will take place in late July.
In Fort Frances, a new prize structure has been put into place for the 2011 FFCBC. The top 10 teams after Day 2 will carry their weight into Day 3 while the rest of the field will start with zero on the third day and will finish based on their Day 3 catch.
This format was introduced in response to feedback from local anglers who wanted more opportunities to win money—even if they had one bad day.
In speaking with tournament director Gord Watson, he really wants to encourage local anglers to sign up for what he thinks will be a fantastic event in 2011.
There are several new people on the FFCBC committee for 2011 and they definitely deserve a chance this year. No disrespect to many of the people who previously have sat on this board, but there is new blood in there this year and I really feel like they are going to put on a great event.
The FFCBC recently announced that Lund Boat Co. and Mercury Motors are back in the mix as major sponsors for the event in 201, along with Badiuk Equipment.
If you are shopping for a new boat or motor, please keep this in mind. They are the only boat and motor brand that really steps up to support all of our events in Sunset Country.
The Lund 2010 Predator model boat that I run truly is a fishing machine and, in my opinion, is the best boat for the waters we have in this region.
The FFCBC received a high-profile entry recently when Atlanta Thrashers’ defenceman and 2010 Stanley Cup champion Dustin Byfuglien signed up with International Falls resident Josh Meyers.
Meanwhile, Philadelphia Flyers’ forward Mike Richards is back to fish the SKBI again this year, and has high expectations after finishing in the money last year with partner Dean Smith.
For more information on either event, check out canadianbass.com for the FFCBC and kbifishing.com for the SKBI.