Winnipeg pair grabs first-day lead

If you’ve seen one fish, you’ve seen them all.
That was the thinking of Winnipeg anglers Scott Cook and Jerry Millar for most of yesterday’s opening day of action in the ninthannual Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship—until Cook hit the jackpot.
“We were getting cookie-cutters all day long, but then Scotty got a hold of that big hog and it really helped,” Millar said about his partner’s capture of a 4.92-pounder that ended up tied as the biggest fish of the day and propelled the pair into first place overall with a total combined catch of 19.40 pounds.
Cook was as surprised as his partner when he reeled in the midday monster.
“It was 3.5-pounders across the board but when I hooked it, I knew it was a good one,” he recalled.
“When we got it in the boat and saw how wide the body was, we thought it was five pounds, for sure.
“We were shooting for 16.5 pounds for the day. Anything extra was a bonus. We just wanted to get our five fish,” he added. “Now, I think we can probably get top three.”^James and Bill Lindner, from Brainerd and Baxter, Mn., respectively, appear to be good bets to improve on their 20th-place finish from last year as they rode a solid day of angling yesterday to capture second place out of the 136 teams after Day One.
The pair reeled in a combined catch of 19.02 pounds—making them the only other team to break the 19-pound barrier.
Mike Luhman (Deer Park, Wis.) and Mark Raveling (Spring Park, Mn.), last year’s runners-up, are in familiar territory again—weighing in 18.62 pounds to sit in third place.
Joe Thrun (Annandale, Mn.) and Dean Capra (Blaine, Mn.) hold fourth spot with 18.48.
Rod “Rocket” Kitchingman (Winnipeg) and partner Bryan Lapointe (Lake Elmo, Mn.) launched themselves into fifth place with a total catch of 18.28, followed by the Winnipeg team of John Guzej and Ted Stewner (18.08).
Ted Olson and Bob Hell of Littlefork, Mn. reeled up a total of 18.04 pounds to slip into seventh place—well ahead of Greg Savino of Vadnais Heights, Mn. and Frankie Savino of Hudson, Wis.
(17.70).
After winning the Shoal Lake Bass Classic near Kenora three weeks ago, the Sioux Narrows team of Dave Lindsay and Colin Gluting carried their momentum into yesterday to grab ninth place overall with a 17.54-pound total.
Sitting in 10th position, and coholders of the big fish of the day, is the duo of Larry Bollig from Ham Lake, Mn. and Jim Merthan of Woodbury, Mn. (17.42).
The top local team after Day One yesterday was the Fort Frances pairing of Michael Gerstner and Tom Pearson, who hold down 22nd place with a total of 16.12 pounds.
Rob Plumridge of Fort Frances and his partner, Phil Bangert from Camdenton, Mo., were the biggest movers on the day. They were the sixth-last team to leave the dock yesterday morning but still managed a 24th-place result with a catch of 15.96 pounds.
Champs in trouble It was not a day to remember for defending FFCBC champs Norm Lindsay and Jess Swenson of Sioux Narrows. The duo saw the chances of a repeat washed away with a first-day catch of only 9.78 pounds that left them mired in 110th place.
“We caught a 10-pound walleye right off the bat, and probably six to 10 walleye and pike after that, but we never caught one bass in the spot we pre-fished,” lamented Lindsay, who holds an unprecedented three FFCBC titles.
“You’ve got to adapt. That’s what makes this sport so enjoyable.
We couldn’t get anything today,” he noted. “Tomorrow, we could go out and do nothing wrong.”^The bass gods were not with Bruce “Seagull” Ness and Brad Carlson of International Falls, who were winging their way to a top- 20 placing with a couple of sizable early catches when their live well malfunctioned around 9 a.m.
and left them scrambling to get back in the hunt.
“I tried to replace the fuse and when it blew again, I knew it was a short,” said Ness. “At that point, you panic. Your first thought is to keep the bass alive.”^The pair motored back to the dock, where Carlson got a lift back across the border to pick up his own boat to use as a back-up. But it wasn’t needed thanks to a quick fix by a Pinewood Sports and Marine mechanic, who had dashed down to the Sorting Gap Marina to solve the problem and get them back on the lake.
The day wasn’t a total write-off, as Ness and Carlson carted in four fish for a total of 13.20 pounds to sit in 66th position overall.
“We could have had five, but we threw the fifth one back twice because we thought we’d come across a bigger one,” Ness remarked. “But nothing was happening at three of our afternoon bite spots.
“But I don’t see any reason why we can’t get five good fish tomorrow [Friday].”^Scott Walsh (Ely, Mn.) and Heath Iacarella (Coon Rapids, Mn.) also would rather put yesterday behind them.
The pair, who finished 18th overall last year, didn’t make it back to the docks before the 3:30 p.m. deadline imposed on the first flight of anglers and were disqualified for the day.
Bud Edwards, the FFCBC’s director of media relation, said he was pleased with the positive mood under the big tent at the Sorting Gap Marina during yesterday’s weigh-in.
“ I thought the weigh-in went really well,” he said. “I heard more anglers talking about how they enjoyed it than ever before.”^Today’s weigh-in session begins at 3:30 p.m., while tomorrow’s decisive one getting underway at 2:30 p.m. The awards presentation and “Reel Raffle” draw will follow at 6:45 p.m.