OWA Gals & Pals BIG Bass Tournament
A last second change in tow vehicles, a dead battery, and a nearly empty tank of gas threatened to throw a wrench in our plans for the 1st Annual Ontario Women Anglers (OWA) Gals & Pals BIG Bass Tournament, but we made it work and had an absolute blast!
The tournament started at 8am and teams could fish on any waterbody in Ontario. Each team could submit just one picture of their biggest fish after the tournament was done at 4pm. Simple enough!
We decided to stay a little close to home and take Luma, our little tinny. Unfortunately, we had never tried towing Luma with the truck and after Darrell got her hitched up, he found that the safety chains and the plug didn’t reach from the boat to the truck! We quickly switched vehicles and went on our way.
You couldn’t ask for nicer weather for a day of fishing. Blue skies and coolish temps, but warm enough for me to wear shorts and a sweatshirt. The wind was both a problem and a help throughout the day as it was gusty at times and not at others. We ended up needing the gusts.
This isn’t a lake that we fish too often, usually just once or twice a year, but it’s yielded some huge smallmouth bass in the past and we normally put together a pattern quickly. Not this time. We headed for the usual starting points and just couldn’t get a bite. Since the sun was still behind the trees we figured it might take some time for the water to warm up and get the fish going. In the meantime I played with the GoPro that had arrived this week. There’s so much that it can do, but for someone who primarily takes pictures, it’ll take some getting used to.
It wasn’t long into the morning when we realized the electric motor wasn’t doing well. The battery was dying quickly! It had been on the charger right up until we left and was fully charged, but it’s clearly time to replace it. This is where the wind either helped or was a hindrance. If we were trying to move against the wind it was a pain. But when we got ourselves into the right position, we could use the wind to drift us across the lake.
What about the gas motor? Well, we hadn’t filled up the gas tank because we figured this would be the final outing for this boat this year, and we usually just use the electric on this lake anyway. Oops! Fortunately, the gas tank had enough that we could drive around the lake to certain spots, kill the motor and drift down the lake, and then motor back up.
Our bites started slow with a few tiny largemouth bass. We’ve never caught largies in there before so that was odd. The vegetation was in rough shape in our favourite spots and even the perch and rock bass weren’t eager to play. We’d catch a few but nothing like normal. We cycled through baits and finally reached our honey hole, only to come up empty there as well!
I had planned to call it a day early. The tournament ran to 4 but we were both tired and I felt like I’d enjoy spending some extra time with the dogs. Darrell is made of tougher stuff and told me we should give it a little longer.
Since none of our few bites were coming on active baits, Darrell switched up to a swimbait and drifted it through the weeds. He started getting bites. One smallmouth bass. Then another. The action wasn’t quick, but at least there was action!
As the gulls circled overhead, we repeatedly drifted through a section of the lake with 3-inch swimbaits. We rarely gave the lures any action, but they seemed to trigger bites just fine. Darrell’s bass bites were starting to get bigger. He lost a huge fish before getting it to the boat. That one stung for him.
The highlight of the day for me was when we thought he had a little smallie and instead he pulled in a slab of a sunfish. That fish measured 9-inches, far eclipsing anything we’d found in there before, and she was all sorts of mad. We took a picture and got her back in the water.
I finally managed to catch a nice smallmouth as our day was winding down. She measured in at 16-inches, the same size as Darrell’s biggest fish, but she wanted nothing to do with the picture and ended up back in the water pretty quickly.
Throughout the day I would open up Facebook on my phone and check out the pictures other teams were posting. It looked like everyone was having great time! We really enjoyed having another day on the water, catching some fish, experimenting with techniques we don’t normally use, and taking time to plan another camping trip. All while competing in a fun tourney.
Congratulations to Sara Watson and Cam Brownson for winning with a 20″ fish!
Thanks so much to Yvonne Brown of Ontario Women Anglers for organizing this event. We’re looking forward to next year!
argosgirl
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