Good fishing in sunset country

Today I got to share the boat with a couple of my hockey buddies, Ian White and Mike Richards.  We had a good day and caught and caught a bunch of fish.  We had a little friendly competition with the smallmouths and Whitey was the champ. 

We took this picture with the timer on my camera and I guess I was just holding mine out the farthest.  Whitey had the big ones!   

We were literally catching them as fast as we could get out baits in the water at one point...the result. 

We caught them on Rapala X-Raps and Northland Mimic Minnow Jigs tipped with a variety of soft plastic jerkshads.  We used light 1/8 oz. jigs for casting and heavier 1/4 oz. jigs for catching fish below the boat that we marked on the Humminbird.  Those jigs are so lifelike, they are deadly on smallmouths! 

Good weather - Good fishing

The past week and a half since the KBI I have been on the water quite a bit guiding...mostly for walleyes.  Despite a few days of bad weather that have kept us off the water, it's been nice out and fishing has been good. 

Jay Samsal holds up a couple of nice largemouth bass we caught last week after the KBI.  These fish evaded both of us during the tournament. 

Dirk Hyde, President of Lund Boat Company holds up a nice walleye and a smallmouth that he caught last week when we shared the boat one day on Lake of the Woods. 

One of many nice walleyes caught on a guide trip last week

 Dirk Hyde "boat-flips" a walleye as Jason Gauthier and Ryan Sproule from Lund Boat Company look on from their boat.   

The SKBI Report

The 23rd annual Shaw Kenora Bass International took place this past weekend on Lake of the Woods.  The tournament was won by the team of Dennis Mandamin and Jason Carpenter.  Their three-day total of 50.20 pounds earned them the win. 

Savy and I took 4th this year and were happy with our finish.  We caught a mixed bag of smallmouth and largemouth bass this weekend on a variety of baits....specifically a 1/2 oz Northland "Pro Series" Reed Runner Spinnerbait (Gold Shiner), a new #11 Rapala MaxRap (Flake Purple Ghost) as well as a variety of jigs tipped with small finesse plastics. 

The Humminbird GPS and sonar units on my Lund were instrumental in our success this weekend.  We never got a really solid pattern figured out so it was all about running as many spots as we could to find biting fish.  The GPS on these units is so accurate and easy to use, it made a big difference for us! 

Enjoy the photos below courtesy of Darrin Bohonis and Bryan Gustafson 

Brian McNanney and Matt Rydberg wait on the"hotseat" as other teams try to knock them off.  They would eventually finish 2nd. 

Our day three total of 15.26 pounds left us a little bit short.  We still enjoyed the boat parade!  It is the highlight of the tournament!

Team Canada poses with the Frank Townsend Trophy for winning the Can/Am Challenge.  After 23 tournaments, Team USA still leads 13-10, but Canada has won the past 3 years in a row. 

Savy and I pose with our 4th place trophies.  We'll be back next year looking to win! 

1	107	15.26	18.58	16.36	50.20	DENNIS MANDAMIN	WHITEFISH BAY	JASON CARPENTER	WHITEDOG
2	1	16.45	15.34	16.94	48.73	BRIAN MCNANNEY	SIOUX NARROWS	MATTHEW RYDBERG	SIOUX NARROWS
3	31	19.55	15.72	13.17	48.44	BEHN CARLSON	KENORA	JON PEARSON	KEEWATIN
4	2	16.80	16.18	15.26	48.24	JEFF GUSTAFSON	KENORA	CHRIS SAVAGE	KENORA
5	29	16.60	15.07	14.26	45.93	JESS SWENSON	SIOUX NARROWS	MICHAEL REID	SIOUX NARROWS
6	66	16.85	15.17	13.14	45.16	TONY GRIFFITHS	SIOUX NARROWS	BRUCE GRIFFITHS	KENORA
7	10	15.81	14.82	14.20	44.83	OLIVER GIBBONS	SLEEMAN	JASON GIBBONS	SLEEMAN
8	4	17.46	15.48	11.64	44.58	BART STEBNITSKY	KENORA	DARREN MARCINE	KENORA
9	40	16.79	13.03	14.13	43.95	KURT DAFCIK	KENORA	STEVE HARGER	MATHEWS
10	5	12.12	16.13	15.38	43.63	ALEX KESZLER	WINNPEG	WAYNE WAGNER	ST. ANDREWS

Thanks to all the directors and volunteers who made this such an awesome event again this year!  

Canadian bass championship report

The Canadian Bass Championship took place this past weekend on Rainy Lake, out of Fort Frances, Ontario.  The fishing was pretty good on the weekend and many anglers brought in some great catches.  See some photos and the top ten standings below. 

Al and Troy Lindner brought in some big largemouths on day three of the tournament to anchor their 19.80 pound catch, one of the largest of the event.  This was interesting because there have only ever been a couple of small largemouths weighed in during the previous 15 year history of the tournament. 

John Peterson and I holding our day-three catch that weighed 20.54 pounds, the second largest limit of the event.  We were very pleased with our 3rd place finish for the second year in a row. 

1	4	19.63	18.68	18.14	56.45	Dorian Lindholm	Bill Wilcox
2	61	19.11	17.91	16.24	53.26	Mark Raveling	Mike Luhman
3	3	16.05	15.65	20.54	52.24	Jeff Gustafson	John Peterson
4	79	17.61	15.18	18.21	51.00	Frank McClymont	Albert Trudeau
5	18	15.84	15.90	18.34	50.08	Richard Rud	Jon Austin
6	11	16.12	15.20	18.52	49.84	Jim Sandelovich	Karl Howells
7	31	14.88	14.81	19.80	49.49	Al Lindner	Troy Lindner
8	27	18.62	14.70	16.11	49.43	David Skallet	Jim Merthan
9	52	16.91	15.96	15.65	48.52	Jason Pavleck	Bill Walls
10	24	17.02	15.83	15.57	48.42	Kraig Dafcik	Kelvin Caul

Blake's Big Pike

My buddy Blake Lundin sent me these photo's of a large pike he caught this week on Lake of the Woods while he was walleye fishing...He said he caught it on a jig and minnow...it is a beauty!

 I am in Fort Frances fishing the Canadian Bass Championship this weekend on Rainy Lake.  Look for the results at www.canadianbass.com