Mitch Calvert
Joe Thrun and Jim Moynagh cemented their claim as the best tandem in Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship history by winning their third-straight title, and fifth overall, on Saturday to conclude the 15th-annual event.
It wasn’t even close this time as the Minnesota duo brought in a 20.09-pound bag on Day 3 to cruise to a three-day total of 57.76 pounds—just shy of eight pounds ahead of runners-up Lauren Ras and Chuck Olson of Bemidji, Mn. (49.85).
“Our morning started out quite slow, we were pretty worried,” Thrun admitted.
“But the fish just seemed to show up, and the fish had more to do with it than we did,” he insisted.
“It’s just about being in the right area at the right time, and it paid off for us.”
The pair had much of their weight by noon on all three days.
Kenora’s Jeff Gustafson and partner John Peterson of Bemidji rounded out the top three with 49.48 pounds after finishing seventh a year ago.
Fort Frances’ Dorian Lindholm and Bill Wilcox of Burleson were the big movers Saturday, bringing in a 18.83-pound bag—including a 5.26-pound lunker—to jump into fourth place overall with 46.83 pounds.
Siblings Chad and Mike Hanson of Fort Frances had three excellent days of fishing to wind up in fifth with a 46.62-pound haul, including Friday’s big fish (4.43).
“My brother and I have been fishing since we were old enough to hold rods,” Mike said of their success.
“We were basically raised on Lake of the Woods, but my brother is a Rainy Lake guy, and last year was my first year in it, but we’re getting used to it and pretty excited for next year,” he enthused.
Another set of brothers, Wayne and Dean Howard, were one of the few teams pulled through the tent Saturday afternoon that held on to a top 10 finish.
They wound up sixth with a three-day total of 46.55 pounds.
Rounding out the top 10 were John Janousek and Chad Johnson (46.19 pounds), Darren Marcine and Sarah McDougall (45.14), Scott Ourada and John Allen (44.57), and Travis Peterson and Duane Peterson (44.57).
Just 446 fish were caught on Day 3, weighing a total of 1,122.42 pounds.
That was down sharply from the 582 fish weighing 1,583.08 pounds caught on Day 1 on Thursday.
Day 2 on Friday saw 50 fewer fish caught (532) while the total weight dropped by more than 250 pounds (1,329.86).
Meanwhile, weather played a factor with nighttime entertainment during the first two days of the tournament, FFCBC chairman Tom Fry noted this morning.
“We had a disappointing first two days,” he conceded. “I think there were a lot of weather issues with Kim Mitchell.
“But we finished off with a solid day [Saturday].
“We don’t have the bottom line because we don’t have all the expense numbers in but our revenues were down about $30,000 [from a year ago],” Fry added.
