Fishing for fun

It is almost a year since I participated as an angler in the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship. I hope that I could say that I am a better fisher person for the experience, but I cannot truthfully say that.
My partner last year John Maffei has had years of experience tournament fishing across the province and without his expertise and judgment, I doubt that I would have had any success. John is an unflappable angler and had more patience with me than one could imagine.
I was the nervous Nellie, and it remains a miracle that I didn’t break any rods or reels in the six days that we fished together. I was worried about messing up by losing a fish while netting. John after watching me back up the trailer for the first time gave me a crash course on backing up with a trailer.
Turning the trailer one direction or another still doesn’t come naturally and all my actions still seem jerky. Most anglers make backing a trailer seem just too easy.
Anglers will tell you that when you begin pre-fishing or practicing, you often will start out with a dozen rod and lure combinations and within the first two days, you will have tried another half dozen combinations.
By the first day of fishing, you have probably narrowed the number of set ups down to four or five and the most promising combinations will be doubled up. By the last day of competitive fishing you probably only are depending on two rods. And most likely both are set up the same way.
Joe Thrum and Jim Mynah have told me that if you still have those dozen combinations to fish with you are in trouble.
John had us narrowed to three set-ups within the first two days. Two were an inline spinner baits - - one with a silver blade, the other with a gold blade. The gold blade outperformed the silver. We had to make a run to a tackle store on the Tuesday before the tournament to pick up more of those gold spinner baits. The “Northerns” really liked that lip candy.
It was an adventure. When I worried about time getting back to the dock, John calmed me down. When I was apprehensive about catching the minimum five fish a day, John reminded me that he had a secret hole that could always be depended on for five two pound fish. We never needed to go there.
And when the third day came, and all of our serious holes seemed exhausted, he said “ Jimmie today we are going fishing for fun and are not going to fish anything either of us has ever tried before.” It was fun day fishing, and a day we caught five walleye that probably would have weighed over 35 lbs. And we caught enough bass to feel respectful walking across the stage.
Last year Phil Bangert gave me some advice to thank all my sponsors on the first day because you might not get a second chance. I followed his advice. John Maffei told me tell everyone on the first day what we were using. He said; “Nobody will believe you on the first day, so tell them.” I did.
I said a year ago, “Let the adventure begin”. With only two weeks to go for the tournament to begin, I am again feeling a little nervous. The lake has changed considerably for this tournament year. The water is considerably warmer, and with the latest rainfall will be at the same level as a year ago.
Last year the bass were just coming off or finishing the spawn. This year they left the nests the first weekend in June. Their patterns this year will be different.
The mayflies hatched last year on the weekend before the tournament. This year we have already had one large hatch about three weeks ago.
There are mixed feeling this year from anglers. Some anglers are predicting that they will be close to shallows targeting crayfish and minnows for food. Other anglers are expecting the “smallies” to be in deeper water targeting deep-water baitfish.
And I am still in for the time of my life. The adventure is continuing and I look forward to waving to you when we cross the stage. See you at the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship.
–Jim Cumming,
Publisher