Lucas Punkari
Heading into last year’s “Bassin’ for Bucks” tournament in Sioux Narrows, Fort Frances native Bryan Gustafson and Darrin Bohonis of Winnipeg didn’t even know they were going to be teaming up in the event until two weeks beforehand.
But when all was said and done, the pair captured the 2011 tournament title with a three-day total weight of 55.91 pounds and now are looking forward to going for a second-straight crown at the 16th edition of the event this coming weekend.
“It was an awesome weekend,” Gustafson recalled.
“One of the things I remember was how frequently we had to adapt and move on to the “next pattern” to stay on top of the fish,” he noted.
“For me, what stands out was how much fun we had,” Bohonis said.
“Along with the fact that Bryan and I fish well together, and our fishing styles really complement each other, we managed to get on to one of the best big fish bites that we’ve had in a local event,” he added.
“Once we established a bit of a pattern, we tried to replicate it over a number of locations and this gave us the option to search out another pack of fish should one school run dry.”
Gustafson and Bohonis caught a tournament-best weight of 21.27 pounds on Day 1 last year, with runners-up Jeff Gustafson and Mike Reid proving to be the only team that could get a bag of 20 pounds or more the entire weekend.
“A 20-pound bag is hard to come by in any tournament up here,” Bryan Gustafson said. “But if there’s any place to do it, it’s in Sioux Narrows in the fall.”
“It’s hard to say how the bite will be this year since it can change from one year to the next,” noted Bohonis.
“What I do know is that there are a lot of big fish out there, both smallmouth bass and largemouth bass alike.
“Those who find the fish and get on a pattern have a good chance at cracking the 20-pound mark,” he predicted.
While both anglers are keeping their own secrets and strategies close to the vest heading into Friday morning, Gustafson feels the key to winning will be how a competitor is able to work through the challenges that many face in tournament fishing.
“To have a good showing at ‘Bassin’ for Bucks,’ you either have to find the ultimate pattern or be able to be versatile and frequently adapt,” Gustafson stressed.
“Any tournament where you have both largemouth and smallmouth bass can be tricky, and you really got to know when to hold ’em and when to fold ’em, and move on to your next pattern.
“The guys who are really going to pull away will either be the guys who find some deep smallmouths or the largemouth specialists, or maybe someone who can juggle both,” he added.
While both Bohonis and Gustafson are hoping to repeat as champs, the pair just are hoping to find themselves in the title mix entering Sunday.
“It would be a great achievement to have back-to-back wins, but all we can do is to put in the time in pre-fishing and hope to get on another decent bite,” Bohonis said.
“To repeat will be nice,” agreed Gustafson. “But at the end of the day, you just want to know that you put yourself in contention to win and made good decisions and executed on game day.
“And from there, whatever is meant to happen will happen,” he reasoned.
The tournament weigh-ins will take place at the Lazy Loon in Sioux Narrows starting at 3:30 p.m. all three days.
