October 10th, 2016
For immediate release:
On Saturday October 8th, 2016 75 teams composed of 150 anglers blasted off from the Upper Niagara River in Chippawa Ontario in search of the 5 biggest bass they could catch. Weather was a major factor in this year’s event as high winds, big waves and rain met anglers as they ventured out of the river and into Lake Erie. Changing wind directions made travel very difficult and anglers had to focus on the spots they had without running and gunning. In the late morning the clouds gave way to bluebird skies and gave teams at least some reprieve.
As the weigh in began it was obvious that the conditions and relatively tough fishing had played a role as a number of teams loaded their boats early without weighing in any fish. As the teams weighing in progressed the 2015 Champions Simon and Melanie Frost came to the scales with smiles on their faces and the scale dropped at 24.89lbs anchored by a 6.31lbs monster smallmouth. It seemed as though the husband and wife duo were destined to repeat as team after team could not surpass their weight. It wasn’t until long time partners Scott Huffman and Rob McIntosh came to the scales that we had a team come close to dethroning the Frost’s. The fish were scaled and a new leader was born with 25.07lbs of Lake Erie Smallmouth! Later in the weigh in the 2014 Champions of John and Perry Poirier came to the stage with another large bag and the scale settled at 23.52 lbs putting them in third place overall, out of that bag also came the new, and overall Big Fish with a giant 6.42lbs!
The new live leaderboard let teams see where they sat in the overall standings and was a welcome addition to the tournament. As the final standings and payouts were tallied, the awards for the kids colouring contest were handed out and put rod/reel combos, Canadian Tire Gift Cards, and more into the hands of all the participants! Dirty Pig BBQ severed up some outstanding food while the Monster Energy Drinks Truck handed out samples to all in attendance. In the background during the weigh in the live release team worked diligently to release all of the fish brought to the scales and a brand new bass tagging program was carried out. 100 Smallmouth are now dawning special tags in order to study the recapture points of fish release from the weigh in. The tags carry and identification number with an email address and phone number to call if anyone catches them again.
After the final standings had been tallied prizes were awarded by MC Eric Hill and weighmaster Jason Clay to all winning teams. Out of 75 boats a total of 26 teams received cash and/or prizes, with the total payout for the event surpassing $38,000 which is over 235% of the angler collected funds. The cash payout alone exceeded 135% of angler collected funds making this one of the highest payout percentages in Canadian based bass tournaments. Every team walked away with a grab bag filled with goodies. The sponsors of this event deserve nothing but thanks and appreciation for their generous contributions lead by the title sponsor Canadian Tire. Canadian Tire 4th Avenue St. Catharines store owner Pat McMaster attended the weigh in to support all the anglers and see who took home the top prizes.
Event Sponsors Include:
• Canadian Tire, Shimano Canada, Freedom Tackle Corp, G-Loomis Canada, Fishbum Outfitters, Athens Printing, Mountainview homes, Pure Fishing Canada, Anglers Choice, Carstar Niagara Falls, Jack Link’s, Live Target Lures, Power Pro, Dirty Pig BBQ, Set the Hook, Vigor Eyewear, Ultra Tungsten, The Rod Glove, X-Zone Lures, Niagara Outdoor Show, and C-Tow Niagara
Rewarded for their efforts – Winning Team of Scott Huffman and Rob McIntosh with 25.07lbs took home a total value of $7500.00 including $5800 cash, a $1000 Canadian Tire Bonus, and the Pure Fishing Top Team Award! In second place with 24.89 lbs Simon and Melanie Frost took home $4000 in cash which included the Carstar Returning Team award! In 3rd overall with 23.52lbs and the overall big fish at 6.42lbs John and Perry Poirier netted at total of $5,250.00 which include the Pure Fishing Big Smallmouth and Big Largemouth prizes (no team weighed in a largemouth so prizes were combined). The 4th place duo of Sy Phengchanh and John Stathakos with 23.48lbs won $3,700.00 total including the Shimano and G-Loomis Rewards program. In 5th place New York based anglers Joe Fonzi and Larry Mazur netted $1400 in cash!
With many contingency prizes to fill out the prize structure additional teams were rewarded. 5 lucky teams took home the Jack Link’s Bonus payout worth $200 each. Partick and Slaw0mir Zajdel won the Freedom Tackle Corp smallest 5 fish limit. The Pure Fishing Mystery weight which is 55% of the winning weight was awarded to Landon Weiske and Kevin Hordyk. The Power Pro Rewards draw was won by Drew Sokolowski. For teams finishing just out of the money prize packs from Anglers Choice, Dirty Pig BBQ, Live Target, Vigor Eyewear, Ultra Tungsten, X Zone Lures, and C-Tow Niagara made their day!
On behalf of the St.Catharines Bassmasters we wanted to thank all sponsors, volunteers, the Chippawa Public Dock Committee, City of Niagara Falls, the Lighthouse Church of God (for allowing parking), Shirley Fisher (for allowing parking), and most of all the anglers who participated and families who came out to support them. Looking forward to 2017! The date and registration details will be released soon!
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