Fish OnLine Canada - Fishing Network

During the week of August 18-22nd, I was busy preparing for the 2008 annual Hank Gibson Ontario BASS Federation Nation (OBFN) Provincial Qualifier that would be held in Orillia August 23rd and 24th. The last time the Qualifier was there, was five years ago - just after the infamous power blackout that left much of Ontario and the Northeast without power.

At the time, the premier of Ontario - Ernie Eves, insisted most government buildings should be closed to not utilize precious electricity.This meant all non-essential workers were off until further notice. I’ll never forget how happy I was when I was declared non essential; I jumped for joy and said “Yee- ha, I’m goin’ fishin’ ... thank you Ernie”!

So in 2003 I ended up pre fishing from sun up to sun down the entire week prior to that event. All that practice was rewarded with a 2nd place finish that earned a position for me for the 2nd time on Team Ontario. Our 12 person team went on to fish the BASS Federation Nation Divisional Championship in South Dakota - a 25 hour drive away.

This year I was even more eager to qualify for Team Ontario on my home waters because the 2009 Eastern Divisional BASS Federation Nation Championship would be on Lake Simcoe. Here the top 12 anglers from seven US States and Ontario will converge in July for the big event. I knew that I would need to spend plenty of time prefishing if I had any hopes of qualifying. Just like five years ago however, I would have to figure out where those bass were during a very unpredictable time of year. With all of Couchiching and the 745 square kilometres of Lake Simcoe, plus all adjoining rivers open to the 150 anglers competing, I was fully aware how difficult it would be to decipher these capricious waters.

Each practice day was spent looking for new areas that could hold big bass as well as checking out old spots to see if they were still productive. Just as important was to figure out several different patterns - based on various weather and wind conditions. Deep and shallow water was fished, rock piles, weed beds, sand flats, docks, humps, points, islands, shoals, docks, and anything else that might hold fish. Of course figuring out what lures work best and when and where to use each is always another critical part of the pre-fishing puzzle.

Largemouth or Smallmouth?

Late August is a time of year when Lake Simcoe’s smallmouths are typically in a state of transition. They are on the move, from their shallow water early summer haunts to their early fall locations - a move that can take weeks to complete. So, unlike Simcoe tournaments at the start or end of the season when almost all of the winning bass are smallmouth, this one could see some big bags of largemouth.

To illustrate how tough the smallmouth fishing can be at this time of year, back in 2003 when renowned Canadian tournament angler Dave Chong won the Qualifier he weighed-in five big smalmouth the first day but only one on the second. Conversely, my game plan back then was to focus mostly on the more predictable all be-it smaller largies by making the long run in my bass boat all the way from Orillia down to Keswick’s Cooks Bay where largemouth bass reign supreme. I was hoping this strategy could be duplicated in 2009 but also used valuable pre-fishing time to search for those big smallies that could easily win the tournament.

After giving both species a fair shake during my pre fishing the week before the event I was convinced that in order to qualify for Team Ontario a fourth time, I would have to put all my eggs in one basket and focus on largemouth bass instead of the more plentiful and generally bigger smallmouth. As much as I wanted to, I just couldn’t pattern those darned smallies!

To make this even more of a precarious game plan, in order to get the largies, I would once again have to travel from Orillia to Cooks Bay both days just like I did in 2003. If I had even one day of bad weather that would keep me near Orillia - I felt I was doomed.

Wil Wegman in prefish had several areas with good numbers of solid 3 pounders like this that fell in love with his Rapala DT 16 Photo by Tyler Wegman

My worst fears were realized early on day one of the big event.  In boat number 7, I was in the first flight; blasting off at 6:30 am. I went out of Couchiching, through the Atherly Narrows and on into Simcoe. It was then that we saw our first bass boat turn back.  “Can the winds be that bad?” my non boater - Ken Hamilton of the Mississauga Bassmasters asked? Well they were and several times I thought of turning back, and several other boats did just that because of the strong south winds … but slowly and carefully I watched the map on my Lowrance Sonar/GPS Unit and picked a safe route along the west shore that saw me get to Cooks Bay in just under two hours. I pulled four largemouth bass from my first spot with my Rapala fire tiger colored DT 16, caught two beauty 4 ½ pounders with the same lure from another spot and before I knew it had 17 pounds of bass in the wells without even hitting all of my best spots.  It was a great first day- despite the brutal wind and I was 6th out of 150 anglers.

Wil Wegman holding two of his Lake Simcoe largemouth from Day One

Day two was the exact opposite in more ways than one.  The 40 minute run down the calm lake to the Bay was a sheer pleasure. Right away I managed two quick largies on my same hot deep diving crankbait but then began to struggle. “Time to hit my best spot”, I said to my non boater DJ White from Keswick and the South Simcoe Bassmasters.

I pull up to it excitedly - a gorgeous deep weed edge combined with an inside turn that was just stacked with big bass in pre fish. I found it with my son Tyler and knew it held big numbers of 3-5 pounders when the four pounder on the end of my Rapala DT 16 was being followed by over a half dozen clones eager to try and grab that seductive lure out of its mouth.

The day before while fishing with Ken, I nailed my two biggest bass there, even though the high winds wouldn’t let me fish it effectively. I could hardly wait to be able to really give it a good work out on day two. As I headed for the spot, I thought my eyes were deceiving me when low and behold another tournament competitor was right there on my GPS’d spot catching fish! “This place is far too small for more than one boat, so let’s move on to my second best area” I said dejectedly to DJ.

As I arrive there, I can hardly believe my eyes when yet again another accomplished tournament angler is sitting right there hauling in bass.  Later on I found out both of these qualified for Team Ontario. I move on, a little depressed to the next spot. My non boater DJ skilfully uses a big tube jig to catch a gorgeous limit of largemouth that would tip the scales at over 18 pounds but I can’t get bit. I catch but one other two pound keeper in the Bay for myself before it’s time to head up north again.

Back near the weigh-in at the beautiful Orillia waterfront, I get one more small bass but know my 4 bass and 8 pounds aren’t going to do much for me.  I placed 18th overall with 25.70 and it takes 27.52 to qualify.  I was one bass away from qualifying for Team Ontario … ah the joys of tournament fishing!

2008 OBFN Hank Gibson Provincial Qualifier

*Top 12 qualify for 2009 Team Ontario and 13th is alternate

Despite the setback, I still love the sport of competitive angling and was already looking forward to the 2008 Eastern Divisional Federation Nation Championship event as part of Team Ontario in mid September. In 2007 I was fortunate enough to qualify for the 2008 Eastern Division BASS Federation Nation (BFN) Championship Tournament. As part of Team Ontario, 12 of us would compete against seven other states and their 12 man teams on Lake Winnipesauke in New Hampshire. The individual angler from each team with the highest weight over the three day tournament would move on from there to compete in 2008 BFN National Championships slated for Kansas in November 2008.

Wil Wegman