“Anyone in the top 20 can win this tournament tomorrow,” Dave Lindsay said during Saturday afternoon’s weigh-in at the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship.
“I hate to be in first place for the first two days of fishing.”
On Sunday, the Lindsay brothers were far down on the third dock next to Al and Jimmy Lindner, with Dan Lindner, the “In-Fisherman” TV cameraman, hooking up both Dave and Norm for filming first thing that morning.
For two days in the stillness of the north arm, the Lindsays had considerable luck throwing surface poppers at the bass. As back-up, they also had jigs and Rapala Husky Jerks.
As they had on Saturday, the Lindsays fired off from Pither’s Point dock trailed by the rest of the pack, and headed for their first stop in the north arm. Dan Lindner already was parked in position with camera ready to capture their pulling into their spot.
Dropping the bow-mounted trolling motor, the pair picked up their rods and began their dual casting action.
“The brothers had their five fish by 9:30,” noted Dr. Michael Cawsyns, who fished the FFCBC the first two years and was piloting the “In-Fisherman” boat. “And then the bite shut down.”
But the champs were having the time of their life. “It was a real pleasure” noted Norm Lindsay. “I’d do the whole filming thing again at a drop of a hat.”
“That was fun,” his brother, Dave, agreed.
But from the time the “In-Fisherman” crew left the pair, they didn’t boat another fish. It was as if the filming was good luck. And even when the boat returned two hours later, they still hadn’t added to their weight.
“Luck was with us today,” Dave Lindsay admitted. “We were coming down the lake, heading for home and trying a couple of spots, when Norm caught a bass.
It was a good size. But the line got wrapped around the bailer and couldn’t be freed without breaking the line,” he added. “I didn’t think we were going to get the fish in.”
But the experience of 20 years of guiding paid off. Norm used one hand to pull the line while using the rod to maintain tension that kept the fish in control. When it was close enough to be netted, Dave wasted no time in pulling it into the boat.
“The line should have broken and we should have lost the fish,” they said. But their luck had held out.
The baits the brothers used Friday and Saturday didn’t have the same magical effect on the fish Sunday. So they switched to finesse baits–Rapala Husky Jerks and Blue Fox Buzz baits.
This was the second first-place showing for the Lindsays this year, having already won the Shoal Lake tournament. And now they’re setting their sights on the Kenora Bass International next month.
They also plan to fish the Sioux Narrows tournament.
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