Lucas Punkari
After setting a tournament weight record a year ago with a two day total of 32.46 pounds, Kenora angler Jeff Gustafson is gunning for a third title at this year’s “Castin’ for Cash” championship this weekend (July 6-7) on Lake Despair.
But when this year’s event gets underway on Friday morning, Gustafson will have a different partner in his boat than the one he had during his title wins in 2008 and 2011, as his girlfriend August Collinson will not be able to participate.
“She has a commitment with her sister in Winnipeg, so she is taking a year off,” Gustafson, who will be teaming up with Green Bay, Wisc. angler Caleb Colwell this year, explained.
“The pressure is really on me now this year, as I need to try and catch some fish without her, or I’m really going to hear about it from her,” he joked.
While there might be some pressure from his girlfriend, there won’t be much of that feeling for the most part during the course of the weekend, as the “Castin’ for Cash” event has become a highlight for many anglers in the Rainy River district since it’s inception 12 years ago.
“Lake Despair is a fun event because everybody is away from home for the weekend, and there is a lot more social time with everybody else during the evenings,” Gustafson explained.
“Bill and Nell (Godin) do a great a job of accommodating everybody and showing us all a good time, and it’s an event that I look forward to every year,” he added.
In last year’s tournament, Gustafson and Collinson jumped into first place with a total of 14.48 pounds on Day 1, with the pair assuring themselves of the title with an eye-popping haul of 18.23 pounds on Saturday, which eclipsed their winning total of 29.03 pounds back in 2008.
“We had a game plan last year that we were able to execute and come out with more weight that we expected,” Gustafson explained.
“It was just one of those things where we were getting surprised with a lot of the fish we were catching … they were a lot bigger than we thought they would be.
“As well, we didn’t lose any and that’s always important if you want to win any of the tournaments in this region,” he added.
Last year’s tournament also saw many anglers being thrown for a loop on the Saturday, as a thunderstorm and downpour of rain on Saturday morning changed things up dramatically.
However, Gustafson feels that weather changes shouldn’t affect things to much, especially when compared to other bodies of waters.
“On Lake Despair, the weather doesn’t affect us as much as it will on Rainy because it’s a much smaller body of water,” he explained.
“When the wind blows on Rainy it can literally stop you from going where you want to go, because its so big,” he noted.
Having fishes on Lake Despair for many years, Gustafson also feels that he has a strong idea of what he plans to look for when he goes there, as he planned to begin his pre-fishing today after arriving at the lodge last night.
“We have found fish like three things there over the years, which is current, rocks and weeds,” he explained.
“Usually weeds are the best place to find the biggest fish but we have caught them good in previous years in little areas with current moving through and on boulders.
If the weather stays hot through the weekend, and it’s supposed to, it sets up perfectly for some good weed fishing, and that means you have to use topwater baits, flukes and spinnerbaits.
“We fish fast moving baits out there and go with the theory that if the smallmouths want to bite they show themselves pretty quick,” he added.
With favourable weather conditions on the cards, Gustafson is expecting to see some big weights for whoever is able to come away with the title.
“Over the past couple of years there have been some 16 and 18 pound bags so we’ve seen the kind of fish that live in the lake,” he stressed.
“Someone will find a couple of four pounders and give themselves a good shot at winning this year, and there are a lot of good anglers that know these lakes well who are always competitive,” Gustafson added.
