2017 Summer Bass Tournaments

After a tough season south of the border, things got back on track around home this summer with some good events.  We have some of the best open, team bass tournaments in North America here in the Lake of the Woods/Rainy Lake areas.  They are well attended community run events with great payouts and awesome fishing.  

In early July my buddy Karl Engstrom and I took second at the Shoal Lake Bass Classic, a long running event on Shoal Lake that has been going on since the early 90's.  I love fishing on this lake and while I usually like to fish for largemouths on this lake, most of the fish we weighed in were smallmouths caught on topwater baits like the Jackall SK Pop Grande.   

Later in July I fished the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship with my good frind John Peterson.  We had a good tournament and ended up finishing 5th.  We caught our fish on a variety of baits in this one - Impulse Tubes, topwaters and spinnerbaits.  This is one of the premier bass tournaments in Canada and takes place every year on Rainy Lake.  

In August I fished the Kenora Bass International on Lake of the Woods with my Dad.  This was my first tournament back in 1993 when I was 10 years old.  I fished with my Dad for the first few years then didn't fish with him for nearly 20 years so it was fun to get back in the boat with him - we had a great tournament and finished fourth.  

Later in August Scott Dingwall won the International Falls Bass Championship on Rainy Lake.  We had two amazing days of fishing - a couple of my best ever on Rainy!  We caught our fish in open water on topwaters, suspending jerkbaits and tubes.  

After a third place finish at Bassin' For Bucks with my long time partner, Mike Reid, my girlfriend Shelby Larson and I took third at the Crow Lake Classic on Crow Lake.  It was her first tournament and we had a great time despite some challenging weather!  We're going back next year for sure!  

Third place in Shelbs first tournament!  

Later in September my pal Denny Favreau and I won the Shoal Lake Last Tournament - our fourth time winning this one since we started fishing way back in 2001!  We had a mixed bag of largemouths and smallmouths, weighing over 18 pounds each day.  It was a fun weekend.  We caught fish on a bunch of different baits in this derby...spending our time fishing both shallow and deep.  

Ended the season fishing the Whitefish Bay Fall Classic with Mike Richards.  We had an awesome first day but a rough day two and finished just out of the money.  Still a fun weekend on Lake of the Woods, as always!  

I encourage anybody who is looking to fish a fun bass tournament to visit Northwest Ontario and fish in one of the great events that we have.  Feel free to fire away if you have any questions about any of our tournaments!