Joey Payeur
Bryan Gustafson and Brian White were the models of consistency and it paid off handsomely this past weekend.
Gustafson and White carried off a total of $6,000 in prize money after the Fort Frances team repeated as the champions of the 16th-annual “Castin’ for Cash” bass fishing tournament at Lake Despair Lodge.
The winning tandem had the big fish (3.97 pounds) and top catch (16.33) of Day 1 on Friday, then mirrored both achievements on Day 2 on Saturday (4.14, 16.43) to finish with a total of 32.76.
It was less than Gustafson and White’s record-breaking total last year (34.57), but still put them clear of the 63-team field by more than two pounds.
“It was a grind,” conceded Gustafson, who along with White received $5,000 for first place plus two $500 bonuses for landing the largest fish each day.
“Honestly, we got lucky and just ran into them out there,” he added.
The heavy rains of recent weeks had Lake Despair, Jackfish Lake and Footprint Lake nearly bursting at their banks, with water levels much higher than average.
That caused no end of trouble for several teams in the field, as four teams were shut out on Day 1 and nine teams didn’t even bother to weigh in on Day 2.
Gustafson, however, wasn’t among the chorus of dissenters in that regard.
“I love fishing in high water,” he claimed.
“It switches it up . . . Everyone gets used to something and then it gets flipped around.”
White agreed with Gustafson that winning the tournament the second time was tougher than the first.
“Luck was on our side and we’ll ride that when we can,” stated White, who was responsible for reeling in Saturday’s whopper that turned out to be the only fish of four pounds or more caught the entire tournament.
“We knew it was possible to win it again, but we needed things to go our way.
“You get the big fish and it goes a long way in these things,” added Gustafson, who nabbed Friday’s lunker and then traded a friendly pseudo-punch with rival Jeff Gustafson during his interview as the man known as “Gussy” wandered by.
It was Jeff and wife, August, who finished second to the Bryan/Brian combination last year at the tournament, with “Gussy” and partner Shawn McAughey of Kenora falling back to seventh this year after a tough Day 1 by Jeff’s standards (10.96) outweighed a strong Day 2 (15.73) to leave the Kenora duo with a total of 26.69.
The two Gustafsons will be at it again in just under three weeks at the Fort Frances Cana–dian Bass Championship when Bryan teams with Brian McNanney (Sioux Narrows) while Jeff hooks up with Bemidji’s John Peterson.
The memory of losing the FFCBC championship to the Gustafson/Peterson team in 2014 by less than a quarter of a pound while fishing with partner Brandon McMillan (Clewiston, Fla.) still sticks with Bryan.
But he cautioned not to read too much into he and White’s victory this past weekend when it comes to predicting future success later this month.
“The water is a lot lower on Rainy Lake and it’s a bit different ball game,” said Bryan.
“What we did this weekend doesn’t give me much insight into what’s going to happen there.”
For a brief spell, it looked as though this weekend’s title might find its way to Devlin, as the husband-and-wife team of Doug and Solly McBride grabbed the hot seat with three teams remaining with Saturday’s second-biggest bag (16.33) that moved them from fourth after Day 1 to the top of the charts.
While they had to shake hands in defeat in the end, the McBrides still held onto second place with a total of 30.41.
That was enough to get family bragging rights, as son, Zack McBride, and teammate, Mike Wilson, from Fort Frances couldn’t hang onto the runner-up spot they held after Day 1, slipping to third after their 14.94 on Saturday left them with 30.14.
The Emo father-son tandem of Dallas and Cam Mosbeck jumped from eighth after Day 1 to fourth overall after snaring a 3.99-pounder on Saturday that helped them to a two-day total of 28.83.
Rounding out the top five was the Fort’s Braedon Keast and Devlin’s Jeff Bragg, who were third after Day 1 and finished with 27.90.
Devlin’s Dale LaBelle and grandson Jeremy Shypit struck for 15.88 on Saturday to vault from 21st to sixth in the final standings (26.96) ahead of “Gussy” and McAughey and eighth-place finishers Jon and Emerson Evans of the Fort (26.31).
Coming ninth was Emo’s James and Colin Kaemingh (25.89), while the Fort’s Ron Bridgeman teamed with Atikokan’s Dave Williams to land 10th spot (25.71).
It was a rough weekend for some notable local names.
Emo’s Nathan Brigham and Brett Meyers, who won it all in 2014, had to settle for 30th after a subpar 5.91 on Day 1 was too much to overcome as they ended up with 16.14.
Meanwhile, defending Emo Walleye Classic champions Kelvin Caul (Devlin) and Ted Heyens (Stratton) only scraped out a meager 1.86 on Day 1 and wound up 45th (9.73).
The 63 teams entered was just one less than took part last year.
