Former RR man takes second at Fort bass tourney

Emmanuel Moutsatsos

Norm Lindsay cried when he heard the news.
And it was with due right that his eyes looked like two sinks spilling over with water as he stood behind the stage and listened while his brother, Dave, and father, Lee, were crowned the winners of the 11th-annual Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship here Saturday afternoon.
“This is unbelievable,” said Dave, whose team weighed in a total of 51.61 pounds to capture the tournament title and $50,000 prize, which was 1.29 pounds more than the tandem of Norm Lindsay and Bill Godin.
It marked the first in FFCBC history that members of the same family occupied both first and second place.
“That’s truly my family and without them, I don’t know,” Dave said as his eyes also began welling up. “Without them, this wouldn’t mean anything, but with them it means everything.”
It’s not like Dave hasn’t been atop the podium before.
He won the FFCBC two previous times—the inaugural one in 1995 and again in 1997—with his brother, Norm, as his partner.
With Norm having claimed the crown in 2002 with Jess Swenson, Dave’s victory in 2005 tied him with his brother for most FFCBC wins at three.
“It really hasn’t sunk in yet,” said Norm, who will split the second-place $20,000 cheque with Godin. “This has been a dream of mine for quite a while.”
“This never gets old. I just love coming here,” added Godin. “I can’t even get a refreshment because everyone is coming up to me and shaking my hand.”
Mike Luhman (Deer Park) and Mark Raveling (Spring Park) finished up just how they had started Day 3—in fourth place 1.82 pounds behind the Lindsays.
Rounding out the top five was Mike Novak (Hudson) and Bill Storbeck (Blaine), who were 2.81 pounds back.
The big fish of the this year’s tournament was a 5.30-pounder, which was caught by Steve Luhman (Deer Park) and Glen Getschell (Amery) on Day 2 that helped them snare a 15th-place finish (they also had the big bag on Day 3 with 18.95 pounds).
Arthur Ottertail and Mike Gill of Fort Frances had the big fish of Day 3 (a 4.99-pounder) but they finished well back in 122nd spot with 17.08 pounds in total.