Duo scores ‘giant’ win at Bassin’ for Bucks

There are many strategies to winning a derby, but one of the most surefire ways is to not let anyone else catch the biggest fish.
That’s exactly the route the Sioux Narrows duo of Joe “The Friendly Giant” Pritchett and partner Hiram Archibald took as they netted the top single catch all three days to capture the seventh-annual Bassin’ for Bucks tournament on Lake of the Woods there last weekend.
Pritchett and Archibald were on their game from the moment they left the dock Friday morning. They reeled in the big largemouth of the day at 4.22 pounds, then followed that up with winning catches of 5.78 (big fish of the tournament) Saturday and 4.55 on Sunday.
On top of that, they had the tournament’s best one-day total with their 21.50-pound haul Saturday.
It all added up to a three-day total of 55.66 pounds to give the 6’9” Pritchett and his partner a comfortable win over Kenora’s Jim Gustafson and his pre-teen son, Ben, who came in second in the 105-team field with a combined catch of 48.84 pounds.
MIchael Causyn from Kenora and Tim Strempler of Winnipeg rebounded from a difficult first day (12.93) to snare third position with a total of 47.27 pounds.
They also had the biggest smallmouth of the day Sunday (4.42 pounds).
The Fort Frances pair of Guy Johnston and Doug Wright achieved the top local result with their fourth-place finish—thanks to a total catch of 46.90 pounds.
Johnston and Wright had been in second spot after Saturday, less than two pounds behind Pritchett and Archibald. But a hard-luck Sunday saw them bring in only 10.93 pounds—costing them a top-three finish.
Payouts for the top four teams were unavailable by press time.
Meanwhile, Terry Wilson of Fort Frances and his brother, Keith, from Atikokan didn’t suffer the same inconsistency—stringing together three solid days of angling to latch onto fifth place overall with a total of 46.77 pounds.
“We had expectations to be in the top 10 for sure, but we didn’t think we’d be that close,” said Terry Wilson, who was in his fifth year at the tourney while his sibling competed for the sixth time.
“The fishing was great, but you really had to hunt for them,” he added. “We only had four hours pre-fishing on Thursday and that was it.”
The Wilsons took home a total of $2,200 for their weekend’s work, including a $400 payout for having the biggest smallmouth Saturday (4.42 pounds).
The local anglers already are planning to attend next year’s tournament, and also have their eye on competing in Dale LaBelle’s Rainy Lake Classic at the end of this month.
Jeff Gustafson from Kenora and Mike Reid of Sioux Narrows ended up in sixth place overall (45.64 pounds) while Perry and Carson Dubchak from Kenora took seventh (44.28).
The Dubchaks reeled in the largest smallmouth of the day Friday (4.40 pounds).
Greg Zdep from Kenora and Len Carlson of Keewatin wound up in eighth place (43.50), followed by Scott Cook and Jerry Millar from Winnipeg (42.93).
Kevin Leung from Winnipeg and Colin Ivory of East St. Paul, Man. were 10th (42.43) while Murray Alexander and Colin Dent, both from Fort Frances, just missed out on the top 10 (41.47).