With the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship having wrapped up Saturday evening, tournament organizers already started planning for 2008 that night by announcing Tom Fry as the new chairman.
He takes over the position from Jim Cumming, who served as chair for the past two years.
Fry’s new position, which comes after five years as a director and three as an assistant director, was announced during the cheque presentations Saturday night under the big tent at the Sorting Gap Marina.
Fry admitted he had thought about assuming the chairmanship a few years ago, “but other people stepped up so I wasn’t forced into the decision.”
This year, Fry was approached about the chairmanship and accepted. He added he had nothing but praise for Cumming’s work in the position.
“I thought Jim did a wonderful job through the last two years and he’s shown it through his personal involvement with the tournament and his business involvement,” Fry said.
“You can’t get much better than that,” he added.
Cumming, in turn, was quick to endorse Fry.
“He’s very thoughtful, a very good team-builder, and having stepped away from [sitting on the tournament committee] for a couple of years, I think he’ll be able to come back and add some imagination and some fun to the tournament, and add to the energy.”
Cumming called it “a real privilege to represent the tournament in Fort Frances, and our sponsors, and it’s been a privilege to work with all those volunteers who come and help us out—and especially with the board of directors.”
He added he hasn’t decided what capacity he’ll be at the FFCBC next year, but that he’ll be “doing something,” floating the idea of coming out as an unregistered volunteer.
Tournament regular Bill Godin told Cumming he was sorry to see him go as he accepted his cheque on stage Saturday.
“We’re gonna miss you here, Jim, that’s for sure,” he remarked.
One of the pleasant surprises for organizers was the positive reviews the FFCBC got from Dr. Steven Cooke, professor of fish ecology and conservation physiology at Carleton University in Ottawa.
Director of angler registrations Doug Cain said Cooke told him the FFCBC “is the classiest tournament he’s ever been to.”
Cooke has been conducting studies on how fish react physiologically to catch-and-release tournaments like the FFCBC. While he gave directors a few points to look at for the future, he came away from the tournament impressed, Cumming said.
“I think that speaks a great deal to the hard work of the Fort Frances Sportsmen’s Club, that they have developed an awful lot of really good methodology that other tournaments can use and adapt,” he added.
Cumming said what made this year stand out were the large bags of fish anglers brought in consistently, with little drop-off come Saturday.
By weight, 5,626.78 pounds of smallmouth bass were brought in over the three-day tournament, well over last year’s 4,993 pounds.
While many anglers credited the hot weather over the three days for their bigger bags, Cumming figured it may have had a downside. “The number of people at nighttime was down, and I think the really hot weather kept people away,” he said.
Still, Cumming termed the FFCBC as “very successful” and added he was very impressed with the entertainment throughout the week.
“There are so many things that went well I couldn’t single out anything,” he remarked.
Organizers will hold their end-of-year meeting on Sunday, Sept. 30, and some details about the FFCBC that aren’t yet ready to be announced should come out in the near future.
Fort Frances Times
Local News from Across the Rainy River District
