Weather made for tough bite on Day 1

There were some long faces arriving back at the dock yesterday afternoon. In fact, many of this year’s field in the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship were just happy to be off the water with a limit of fish.
Rainy Lake took revenge on the first day of angling with gusty high winds out of the east and a large thunderstorm in the south arm of the lake.
Trolling batteries failed, a jack plate snapped, trolling motors broke, and many of the anglers took a physical pounding as their boats beat heavy seas heading north for the first day.
The leading team after Day 1 was John Janousek and Chad Johnson with a five-fish bag tipping the scale at 18.98 pounds. In close second was the father-son team of Alex and Darrell Keszler (18.47 pounds), followed by Mike Luhman and Mark Raveling (18.27).
The weights were down considerably from the opening day last year when 13 teams weighed in more than 18 pounds of bass.
Just three teams matched that feat this year.
The compensation for the anglers was that anyone with 14 pounds of fish on the first day still was in the running for the cash when the FFCBC wraps up tomorrow (Saturday).
Fishing was like that. Most anglers were scratching their heads trying to figure out what has happened to the Rainy Lake smallmouth. With the strong east winds, many found it impossible to fish where they wanted.
Heading north yesterday morning, Jay Samsal and Troy Norman hit a wave at a weird angle just north of the Causeway—snapping the jack plate holding their Yamaha.
The Dryden duo then struggled through the morning and early afternoon catching their limit of fish before limping back to the dock under minimal power.
They were in 42nd place with 13.28 pounds after Day 1.
Rod Kitchingman, from Winnipeg, felt helpless when the steering cable snapped on his bow motor. He had replaced his old unit with a new one this summer.
He spent the day trolling with his main motor.
Luc Levesque and partner, Mike Gerstner, from Fort Frances travelled 40 miles east on Rainy Lake and then beat themselves up coming back in the afternoon—suffering through a thunderstorm that last for an hour-and-a-half.
The word among the fishermen yesterday evening, as they compared notes, was that the bass were shallow, but that fishing shallow they were more likely to catch a big walleye than a bass.
Through equipment failures, some did their best using their big motors and trolling jerks and crankbaits in eight-10 feet of water. When batteries failed, wind drifting produced some fish.
The only pattern they found comparing notes was that there was no pattern.
Weather channels were being checked. Maps were being re-examined. Lines were re-rigged. And new strategies were being planned.
As Joe Prichett noted last night, yesterday’s weather had scared the bass and they covered their eyes with their tails.