-- Wayne's Story

I was an amateur angler in the CFT New Ark Open during the July 14th weekend. This Canadian Fishing Tour pro-am tournament offerred the highest prize money in Canadian bass fishing tournament history. There was a total of $350,000 in prize money. The pro angler finishing first place was awarded $100,000 while the amateur angler finishing first place was awarded $20,000.

On the morning of day 1 blast off, I couldn't wait to make my first cast in Lake Simcoe, the world's best smallmouth bass fishery. It was exciting watching all the bass boats racing to their first fishing spot. There were 120 boats entered into this tournament. I never imagined that I would be fishing in the same tournament as top pro anglers David Chong, David Kennedy and Mark Kulik.

The challenge for day 1 was sight fishing in gin clear water on rock shoals. If you could see the fish, the fish could see you. The water was so clear, the pros could estimate the weight of the smallies that cruised by. The smallies would not bite the tubes that we flipped at them or the minnows drop shot in front of them. They were spooked when they swam up to the bait, saw our shadow and our boat's shadow. There were many boats in our spot trying to catch the same smallies as we were. With the heavy fishing pressure, finesse fishing techniques and flurocarbon leaders were required as the smallies were hitting the bait lightly. We couldn't figure out what the other anglers were doing different when we used the same tubes and drop shot minnows as they were using and they were catching fish and we were not.

Late in the day, my pro set up one of his spinning rods with a tube less than three inches and he let me fish with it. Our only fish in the boat came when I felt a light hit on the small tube. I thought it was a snag just like all the other times so I gave the rod a little pull. My line still felt snagged so I set the hook and to my surprise I now had a fish fighting on the end of my line. We got the smallie in the boat after I managed to pull it from under the boat. The fish weighed in at 4 pounds, 8 ounces. I was so happy that we didn't get skunked that day.

Day 2 of the tournament had a different challenge with high winds creating whitecap waves. The boat ride out was rough as angler and bass boat were tossed up and down in the waves. My body felt a jolt each time the boat went air borne and slammed down on the water. I would not recommend this type of big water fishing tournament if you have a bad back or easily get motion sickness. One of the secrets to fishing today was to use a sea anchor to slow down the boat drift. Today's windy weather was not good for fishing in shallow water. The secret was to fish deeper water and drag tubes. The key to dragging tubes was to deadstick the tubes i.e. cast the tube out and let it sit on the bottom and do nothing. There was no need to pop or hop the tube. Just let the drift pull the tube along the bottom. It was important that the sea anchor was big enough to reduce the boat drift speed to the right level to drag the tubes. We didn't do well in the windy conditions.

The pro angler and myself caught only one bass each. He caught his bass on a Smithwick stickbait while I caught my bass on a white spinnerbait.Both of my pro anglers were friendly and helpful in answering my questions. During the day, we talked about we did for a living to fishing, of course . Most of the time, we concentrated on fishing and patiently waiting for a bite. Both pros have very expensive bass boats and had up to $3,000 in expenses for this tournament. As a common custom for the amateur, I gave the two pros money to help pay for their gas.

In conclusion, fishing as an amateur in a pro-am tournament was a great learning experience. You get to learn more in a few days of fishing with a pro than years spent learning on your own by trial and error. My fishing skills were challenged to some extreme fishing conditions. For those considering entering a pro-am bass tournament for the first time as a amateur, I would recommend you enter a one day tournament. You should be fairly experienced in bass fishing as the pro angler cannot teach you if you are using a certain techique for the first time. Ask your pro what lures you should be using. Ask him if he wants things done in a certain way e.g. netting the fish. Who knows maybe one day you can make the jump from amateur to pro with a high speed bass boat!

-- Richard 's story