Lucas Punkari
They were the talk of the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championships for two days, and far and away the crowd favourites as they backed into the Ice For Kids Arena late Saturday afternoon.
But despite not being able to become the first all-Fort Frances team to capture the FFCBC title since 2001, both Darren Ward and Sean Good were pleased with their seventh-place finish in the championship flight.
“We were probably about 87 places higher than I thought we were going to be in going into Day 1,” Good admitted.
“I thought we were just going to come in here, have a good time, do the best we could, and watch the whole [thing] take place from down on the arena floor with a couple of beers.
“There was absolutely no way that I thought we would be the last boat to weigh in and the one boat that everyone was cheering on the most,” he added.
“This is the pinnacle.”
After reeling in what proved to be the tournament-best one-day weight of 19.61 pounds on Thursday, the local duo held onto their lead after Day 2 thanks to a 15.84-pound haul, which gave them a two-day total of 35.45 pounds.
“Friday started out pretty good for us,” Ward recalled. “We caught a reasonable one right off that bat, and then we had an hour or two where not too much happened.
“We reverted to another prime spot and my partner was able to catch three fish in four or five minutes,” he noted.
“It was pretty exciting as it was pretty silent in the boat up until that point.”
Going into the final day of the tournament Saturday, the nerves were starting to show for both Ward and Good as they had a chance to become the first all-local team to win the FFCBC since Steve and Kent Ballan did it 10 years earlier.
“It was big pressure and I didn’t sleep a wink last night,” Good said following Saturday’s weigh-in.
“I kept looking out and seeing the trees in my yard bending over and I went, ‘This is not going to be fun for tomorrow.’
“We had to stick to our plan and we knew exactly what we were going to do out there,” Good added.
“It was no guts, no glory for us as you can’t lead this tournament for two days and just whimper out at the end,” he reasoned.
Saturday’s weather was completely different from what the anglers had encountered on the first two days of the tournament as overcast skies, high winds, and big waves greeted competitors when they launched from the Sorting Gap Marina.
“We wanted to stick to our game plan and it consisted of making a long run,” Ward explained. “If you could imagine today what it was like out there, and you can ask the media boat and everyone else that went [under] the [rail] bridge, there were four- or five-foot swells when we came out from under there.
“I miscalculated the waves by a lot and we went straight up into the air,” he recalled. “And as we went about 100 yards, there was a 21-foot long bass boat behind us that was straight up in the air, which was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen.
“It was dangerous water, but that’s just the things that we do to catch these fish,” Ward stressed.
“It was getting close to being coast guard search-and-rescue water out there,” added Good.
Keeping in tune with what they had said following Day 1 on Thursday, Ward and Good kept their cards close to their chests with regards to their strategy during the tournament, although they did divulge a little bit of what they did throughout the weekend.
“A good fisherman’s strategy is to keep it quiet about where you were,” Ward noted. “We can say, though, that we were working in shallow water and I don’t think that’s a big surprise to anybody.”
“The majority of our hits were all on top water, I’ll give you that much,” Good said.
“But that was pretty broad right across the board, though.”
Following a tough day on the water, all that was left for the local pair to do was to come into the Ice For Kids Arena, where a raucous crowd was awaiting their arrival.
“All I can is wow, and I’ll even say it backwards. Wow,” Good enthused about the crowd response.
“I played hockey in this rink for the Muskies and I played junior hockey in Thunder Bay, but there is nothing like pulling in front of this crowd with the people getting ready to cheer you on,” added Ward.
“I’m sorry that we ended up dropping the ball a little bit but you know what, those things happen sometimes when you go out fishing,” he reasoned.
After whipping the crowd into a frenzy, Ward and Good unveiled the four fish that they caught, which weighed in at 10.26 pounds and dropped them to seventh in the final standings.
“From our point of view, it was all about the crowd today. It wasn’t about us,” Good stressed.
“We knew what was going to happen with us, but it was all about that crowd and getting them going because this is what they want to see.”
With their surprise showing at the FFCBC now in the books, both anglers are setting their sights on upcoming tournaments, although when that will be for Good is anyone’s guess.
“I can’t really make a commitment to any of these tournaments coming up because I’m an iron worker and I never know where the next job is going to be,” he explained.
“I wasn’t even sure I was going to be in this tournament but my employer was nice enough to let me have the week off for this.
“It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment, last-minute kind of deal for me, but I’ll be back for sure next year,” he pledged.
“I’ll be fishing with Gord Watson in the International Falls tournament, for sure,” noted Ward.
“I’m hoping to maybe go down to Shoal Lake, as well, but my holiday time is limited and spending time with the family is important,” he added.
While Ward and Good were getting congratulations from fans and anglers alike, Ward was quick to give accolades to one his fellow competitors, lauding the second division-winning performance of Tony Holenko and his partner, Larry Foss.
“The key to a lot of my fishing is the people that you fish with, and this guy right here is someone that I spend the weekends fishing with from ice-out to ice-in,” Ward said of Holenko.
“He finished 11th this year and I finished seventh, and we both strive to be right at the top.
“My opportunity fell this year, and his is coming up, but we are both going to be back next year,” Ward vowed.
