Joey Payeur
No matter who his partner was, Brandon Kamm was landing all the big fish this year.
He ended up landing a big cheque, too—by about the length of a minnow.
The Dryden native, who now calls Fort Frances home, was honoured last Thursday with $10,000 after being named angler-of-the-year in the Lund Tournament Trail series for Northwestern Ontario and Manitoba.
Kamm, 31, fished in five of the 12 tournaments this year in the series, which is in its third year of existence.
His best four placings translated into a total of 581 points—just one better than Jay Samsal of Kenora, who had teamed up with Troy Norman of Fort Frances to win this year’s Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship.
“The neat thing is it’s a mixed species trail,” said Kamm, who finished in the top 10 in the series last year.
“Most times, a series like this is strictly walleye or bass fishing,” he noted.
“But with this, you can pick and choose what you want to do.”
Kamm began his series by teaming up with Dryden’s Cliff Sutherland to finish third at the Sioux Lookout Walleye Weekend on June 11-12 and then 11th at the Dryden Walleye Masters on June 18-19.
“Cliff started me in tournament fishing six years ago,” noted Kamm, who also was the second-highest finisher for the Canadian side in 2012 at the Can-Am Challenge in Michigan.
“He’s responsible for this year ending up happening.”
Kamm then paired with Travis Tourond of Dryden for the Kenora Walleye Open on July 2-3, but an 18th-place finish left him scrambling for better results so he could throw that one back.
“Usually, we’re not that bad there but everybody was firing on all cylinders and having a good year in that one,” he recalled.
Needing a big showing at the FFCBC later that month, Kamm and partner Aaron Wiens from Atikokan rose to the occasion to take seventh place overall.
“It was cool because we had low expectations going in because it was our first time in there,” Kamm admitted.
“We figured we were probably going to get our butts whooped but with some luck, we found ourselves riding through the tent,” he noted.
“To finish seventh in our first year was pretty awesome, especially since I’m typically a walleye fisherman [while] Aaron got to branch out to bass this year.
“I grew up with both [Norman and Samsal] and went to high school with them,” added Kamm.
“They’re buddies and after winning the FFCBC, they were more excited to talk to me about finishing seventh on my first try.”
With the series title at stake, Kamm turned to his brother, Curtis, of Dryden to take a run at the Red Lake Fall Classic on Sept. 4-5.
The siblings found the right fishing holes to come away with second place—giving Kamm just enough points to fend off Samsal.
As for how he will use his winnings, Kamm is staying practical.
“It’ll just get turned around and put back into fishing stuff, and paying for some new stuff,” he remarked.
“I ended up doing 10 tournaments in total, including the series tournaments, and I cashed a cheque in every one of them, so it was a great season,” he enthused.
Kamm developed a love for fishing from an early age.
“My parents always took me out camping and fishing,” he recalled.
“Once I was introduced to the sport of fishing, the competitiveness had me hooked.
“To do something I love and to make money from it was great, as well as to earn the respect of my fellow anglers,” he added.
As for anglers he respects, Kamm was quick to cite Jeff “Gussy” Gustafson of Kenora.
“For what he’s accomplished on the FLW [Fishing League Worldwide] Tour is impressive for a local guy,” he stressed.
Those interested in joining the Lund Tournament Trail series can do so for free online at lundtournamenttrail.com
“It’s something Lund likes to give back to the communities to say thanks and promote fishing,” Kamm noted.
