BPS Lake Simcoe Open was a resounding success!

By Wil Wegman
Oct. 30, 2007

The Aurora Bassmasters are happy to announce that the 2007 Bass Pro Shops (BPS) Lake Simcoe Open on Oct 27/07 was a resounding success thanks to all the organizers and small army of volunteers. Sibbald Point Provincial Park in Sutton proved to be an excellent venue and despite downright nasty fishing conditions … the wind and rain did not keep 13 of the 59* teams from catching over 20 pounds for their five heaviest bass.(* one team dropped out last minute)

A lively weigh in crowd enjoyed a first class show with Facts of Fishing TV host and MC Dave Mercer who entertained the audience right after he weighed in his own respectable 21.9 pound bag of bass. “On most other lakes that weight could guarantee you a win,” Mercer told the crowd … “But on Lake Simcoe and especially in the fall, that won’t even give you a top ten”, he said half jokingly. He ended up being right though as that weight provided him and partner with ‘just’ a 12th place finish.

Leading the bass tournament right up until the bitter end with an impressive 28.6 pounds was Peter Savoia and Gaspare Constible. Mercer reported excitedly that there was only one more team to weigh in. They were two-time past winners of this event and always a team to watch out for. Could they topple 28.6 pounds to win or even break the magic 30 pound barrier?

One by one, Bob Formosa and Jayson Saliba pulled their five bass out of the livewell. Each gargantuan smallmouth appeared to get bigger and bigger and the crowd roared their approval. Their last bass was pulled out of the well with the theatrical flare it deserved and the 6.94 pound beauty sent the cold, wet crowd into a state of heightened expectation that something big was about to happen. Would that elusive 30 pound barrier actually be broken right before their eyes? Could these late season smallmouth specialists set a new all-time Canadian Bass Tournament record with all the hype and hoopla and extra cash that would go with it?

The bass were put into the Shimano in-water weigh-in system. The crowd hushed as Mercer yelled out “Ladies and gentlemen, they may not have set a new Canadian record but Bob Formosa and Jayson Saliba have just weighed in 29.22 pounds and are the new 2007 Bass Pro Shops Lake Simcoe Open Champions!”

Saliba from Windsor and Formosa from Mississauga noted that “To win an event against such a high caliber of anglers and receive recognition amongst your peers is a great feeling. It really is the biggest win of our lives.” The duo took home over $8,500 in cash for first place. The $2,500 from Bass Pro Shops that would have been awarded if the 30 lb mark was broken will now double for 2008.

The heaviest single bass was caught by the team of Mark Kulik and Dave Kennedy who had a 7.02 pound giant. With the addition of Yamabucks it earned the team $2,400. If that bass broke the Ontario record, (9.84lbs) it would have awarded them a new Toyota Tundra Truck and Tracker Tundra boat valued at over $100,000.

During the weigh in while the crowd enjoyed free Johnsonville Brats, a team of biologists and volunteers worked on a bass tagging research project behind the scenes. Over 120 bass were tagged, data collected and then released. These bass will also be part of physiology research led by Dr Bruce Tufts of Queens University.

Will ;Ive often wondered how some of these really late season tourneys could affect bass. You would think some of these fish would expend a lot of there crucial energy trying to get back to there wintering areas. Energy that possibly would help them get through the winter months.; especially if they were moved a long way from those areas. Do you know of any studies relating to this.

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During the weigh in while the crowd enjoyed free Johnsonville Brats, a team of biologists and volunteers worked on a bass tagging research project behind the scenes. Over 120 bass were tagged, data collected and then released. These bass will also be part of physiology research led by Dr Bruce Tufts of Queens University.

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I guess the study at this event with give this data.

Mike

Great question Carl ... not a lot of research has been done on the effects of late season tournaments - were bass from one area - perhaps an overwintering one, are released in another. Questions such as you bring up and others - like do the bass try to return to exact same overwintering area or do they settle for other suitable over wintering area that year near release site ... all good questions and again, not a lot of good conclusive evidence either way (that I know of at least.)

Mike mentions that perhaps our recent BPS Lake Simcoe event might enlighten us a bit - and he's right. This project began last year - when we tagged smallmouth during the same tournament (then called Crackle Cup, held 1st sat in Nov) and released them in Lefroy. Two weeks later- mid Nov .. we had our first re-cap, a 5 pounder in great shape.

Throughout this 2007 bass season - beginning shortly after the opener, more tag returns came in from that event. From only 86 bass tagged in 06, we had about 10 (gotta check my data sheets to be sure) re-caught and tag #'s called in. All were in good shape when caught - although a couple of recreational anglers did harvest their fish. Some of these bass were even fizzed at last year's event and showed no outward trauma months later because of it. Tagged Bass came from as far away as Cooch, up near Strawberry and in Kempenfelt.

So, although our sample size in the grand scheme of things is very small, it is encouraging to know that these bass caught during late season bass tournaments are NOT dying!
It's an incredibly interesting research project for Lake Simcoe that now involves Dr Bruce Tufts and Matt DeMille of Queens University, Bass Pro Shops, the Aurora Bassmasters and the Barrie Bassmasters. Corporate support is forthcoming as well...

We'll keep you big fat bass readers up to speed ... if this kind of thing interests you that is?

Wil

Thanks for the reply Will. One of the reasons that I asked this question also goes back to a late fall tournament that you fished in 94 in Huntsville on Fairy Lake. A mid Oct tourney. From my understanding and correct me if I'm wrong; is that smallmouth winter in the same areas year after year. Greg and I won that tourney that year. The fish we caught came off a wintering area that I had fished for a number of years and always caught good numbers and size. ( 10-20 fish between 2 to 5 lbs ). in say a couple of hrs. fishing. Since that tourney; Ive caught very little if any bass off this wintering area; which at one time was very consistent . Hence my question to you. Any more info on this subject in the future would be appreciated. I love to fish late into the fall as much as anyone, but the resource should take priority. Thanks .

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Some of these bass were even fizzed at last year's event and showed no outward trauma months later because of it.

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Thanks for the reply Wil. I find the above quote pleasantly surprising but as you said this a sample size and more data is required. Still nice to hear though.

Mike

Hi Carl ... Yes, I remember that tournament. Recall catching a big lake trout during prefish on a spinnerbait of all things. One cast was a bass, the next the laker! I was fishing that lttle island as you get into Penn- or was it Fairy - anyway, this laker hit like a ton of bricks and was so ripe it was spewing eggs all over the place as I reeled her in. She made amess of my boat!

Anyway ...your question about overwintering - from what I recall, I think a great many smallmouth bass do indeed return to the same overwintering grounds every year. What I don't think we know - is what happens to those bass if they don't return to the exact same spot. Then again ... it could be that even if a bass is released from a tournament during the end of October in an area ... say 20 miles from it's traditional overwintering spot, that it's no big deal for it to swim the 20 miles back in time to"over winter". So many questions, so many answers still waiting to be answered ... do we need more bass research out there or what!
Wil
PS ... if they didn' stop pulling water during that tournament ... I think I had the fish to win it in the river! Come tournament day there was zero current; before that it was very strong. Zero current meant zerro bass there ... for me any way!

There was an interesting article on fall smallmouth fishing in the last In-Fisherman magazine, "Changing Fall Patterns For Smallmouth Bass". Long and short was that fish are staying shallow a lot longer, not moving to the traditional wintering spots until much later in the season and maybe not even wintering in those spots.

Mark

Yes . I read that article. It appears global warming could be contributing by helping year classes get through the winter. Things look good for down the road in that aspect.

Good to see the late fall tournament was a success. Maybe I'll make the trek out there next year and compete.

Also good to see an almost 30 lb bag of smallies. I came close when I caught 27 lb, 4 oz with my tournament partner Matt Benson back in April 2007 in the BC Open. I'm going to shoot for the magic 30 lb mark April 12, 2008 when Matt and I defend our title on Shawnigan Lake (Vancouver Island).

We had a couple Ontarian, Manitobans, and Albertans in this year's BC Open, so hopefully the 27 lb bag will attract more anglers next year.

If anyone wants to know more about bass in BC, you can always check out www.bcbass.ca

Been trying to find a date for this event for 2008. I know its early but Mike has to hand in his holiday schedule for 08 this week. If it has been set, can you please fill me in, I thought I read it here once but I cannot find it now.
Thanks in advance,
Sue

Sue,
It will be held on the last Sat. in Oct! As per the traditional Crackle Cup date, look forward to having you & Mike there!
Cheers,
Dave

Watched the weigh ins last year and was quite impressed on how the tourney went. Would love to give this a shot.
Thanks Dave for the response,
Happy Holidays!