Jim Moynagh returned to the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship and did what he typically does at the tournament—win.
He and partner Joe Thrun grabbed first place on Day 1 last Thursday and stayed there en route to their third title at the FFCBC in the first year Moynagh fished the tournament since 2002.
As emcee Paul Morrison warned when the team weighed in with 20.92 pounds on Thursday: “He’s baaack.”
Their three-day total of 58.36 pounds was almost two pounds more than the second-place team and just short of the 58.62 pound tournament record set—fittingly enough—by the two Minnesotans back in 1998.
Moynagh seemed humble afterwards.
“We didn’t lock it up on the water,” he said. “I didn’t sit in line knowing I had 20 pounds and we couldn’t be beat. . . .
“You know, waiting in line, I was just squirming like a worm on a hook ’cause I didn’t know,” he laughed.
Thrun said their 18.85-pound haul on Day 2 Friday was worse on the lake before landing a few solid bass than their final day, which yielded a 18.59-pound total.
“The end results were good but I tell you, the second day . . . it was pretty quiet in the boat,” Thrun noted. “The last hour on the Day 2 really made a difference ’cause it was ugly before that.”
Both anglers said their Thursday total was the key to winning the championship, with Thrun calling it “probably our best day ever of all tournament and practice put together.”
“It was truly amazing,” he remarked.
It would be easy to paint Moynagh as the villain in the story—if he didn’t come off as both likable and a little vulnerable.
“I haven’t won any kind of tournament in five or six years,” he laughed.
When asked where this tournament win ranks compared to his past wins, it took Moynagh a minute to verbalize his thoughts.
“Every time you win it’s just such a special thing,” he mused. “This one breaks a slump.
“Not a slump,” he corrected himself, “but I haven’t won, so this tournament, this win, ends all that. You know what I mean?
“It ends all that not winning, which is pretty cool, because it tells me I can still win.”
Moynagh admitted his history at the FFCBC, which now includes six top-three finishes out of his seven years on Rainy Lake, put some pressure on him to excel out of respect for his place in tournament lore.
“I’m very proud of our finishes here. I. . . .” He paused, at a loss for words. “The best track record of my finishes is on this lake. I didn’t want to blemish it.”
He conceded he was apprehensive about coming back after such a long layoff and putting up another 56th place finish like in 2001.
“I wanted to make some noise and let the fish know I’m back. And the fish like me here, they really do,” he said.
Ted Olson of Littlefork and Bob Hell of Duluth came in second with some of the most consistent numbers in the tournament.
Hell said they felt the same about coming second to Moynagh’s team as they did ending up in third in 2003 behind James and Bill Lindner. “It’s nothing to be bashed about, to be beaten by those guys,” he remarked.
Olson noted while the FFCBC is made up of pro anglers, Moynagh’s profession is angling. “That’s what he does, he fishes for a living. I gotta go back to work on Monday,” he said.
Moynagh’s FFCBC wins and his career on the FLW tour—complete with a British Petroleum-styled boat and uniform, and his own tour trading card—make him seem like a big fish in a small pond, or, more appropriately, a big shark in the vast and wide Rainy Lake.
Moynagh came to Fort Frances to win, but he never thought victory was beyond doubt.
“The one thing with my layoff and being away, you hear this chitter-chatter about how different the lake is with the smelt dying off,” he said. “You have some doubts—the stuff we used to do, is it still going to work or not?
“A lot of our old stuff paid off, and some new stuff.”
A lot of that “stuff” had to stay fluid. Thrun said his team’s big edge was his and Moynagh’s ability to adapt on the water.
Moynagh agreed. “When you experience a weather change on this lake, the fish are going to react to this change,” he explained.
He was quick to add another edge. “One thing, we caught some of our fish on a Salmo popper,” he said, pointing at a logo near the bottom of his shirt.
Perhaps it’s those kind of endorsements, the bright green-and-yellow boat, the five-year hiatus, and the FLW trading cards that make Moynagh seem a little distanced from the rest of the tournament.
But those cards that made him seem to be on such another level (the ones he gave out by hand to kids under the tent in his ride in the top 10 parade on Saturday) state on the back that Rainy Lake is his favourite of any on the planet—something Moynagh made a point to make clear and public on stage.
Welcome home, Jim.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
