Renegade Bass Q1 St.Lawrence River Morrisburg, June 22nd 2013

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1 Renegade Bass Q1 St.Lawrence River Morrisburg, June 22nd 2013 Wow! Awesome! Incredible! These are just a few of the words that could be used to describe the first tournament of the 2013 Renegade Bass tournament season on Saturday, June 22nd at Morrisburg, Ontario. Renegade records fell like dominoes. The tournament recorded the largest weight for a five fish limit in the eighteen year history of the series. Five teams posted weights that qualified among the Top 15 ever recorded. It took five bass averaging 3.99 pounds each just to cash a paycheque by placing in the Top 20. The St. Lawrence River east of Cornwall has always held the reputation of being big fish water; the section between Cornwall and Iroquois has just let it be known that it, too, is a fish factory. This tournament seemed destined to be special. The Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources opened the bass season earlier than normal. This decision, accompanied by a cool spring and high water conditions, introduced the possibility that anglers would still find bedding bass, the dream of many tournament anglers. On the other hand, the high water levels created a potential problem for some of the teams, particularly those from Kingston and beyond. Traditionally, a number of these teams would run all the way to Lake Ontario, sacrificing four hours of fishing time for the opportunity to capitalize on some of the huge smallmouth that abound in the big lake. About two weeks before the tournament, it was announced that the control dam at Iroquois would be closed. Since Renegade Bass rules do not permit locking through, all the anglers were now restricted to the 50 kilometre stretch between Iroquois and Cornwall. With only one week between opening day and the tournament, teams scrambled to find new locations and develop new strategies. That they were able to do so is a testament to the skills of these toplevel tournament anglers. Leading the assault on the St. Lawrence River smallies were Charles Sim and Nigel Touhey, 2010 Team-of-the-Year and runners up in Their five smallmouth bass weighed lb., a new Renegade Bass record. The catch included the largest bass of the tournament, a 6.53 lb. monster, and the second largest bass, at a mere 5.99 lb. Keep in mind that their other three bass still had to average 5 pounds each. -Nigel Touhey & Charles Sim holding their new record bag of fish.

2 Their incredible bag of fish earned them the $5000 first prize and another $1518 in Big Fish money. As they were the highest placing team registered for the Ranger Cup program, they won another $500 and because the boat was equipped with an Evinrude outboard, they received an additional $500. Had the boat been purchased at Orleans Boat World and Sport, one of our major sponsors, they would have received another $350. Charles is also registered as a Shimano Platinum Angler (having purchased at least $300 in qualifying Shimano tackle), winning him a Cumara rod and, because they won the tournament, a $250 gift certificate from Shimano to be used at Paddletales where the original tackle was purchased. Not a bad day on the water! The secret to their success was preparation and patience. The closure of the dam quashed their plan to run to Lake Ontario. Fortunately, Nigel had a week of holidays and spent five days roaming the remaining tournament waters in a quest for bedding smallmouth. He spent many hours studying charts, roaming potential spawning waters and marking spawning beds on the GPS. When Charles joined him for two days they were able to develop a winning strategy, focusing on one major bedding area, using the trolling motor to move from one pre-located bed to another. Their largest bass provides quite a story. They caught it on Friday, but returned it to the bed. On Saturday, they were pleasantly surprised to find that there was no one else there. They tried unsuccessfully for 30 minutes to get the fish to bite. After catching fish off other beds, they returned at 9:00 a.m. and 10:30 a.m., each time investing about 30 minutes to no avail. At noon, they found another team working the bed. Fearing that the fish had been caught, they moved on, but returned a while later to check. The bass was still there, but wouldn t bite. A short time later, with about 26 lb. in the livewell, they tried once more and were successful on their third cast. Knowing that they had no other fish that would help, they returned to the docks at 2:00 p.m. to await the weigh-in. It s great when a plan comes together! Charles credits the late spring, the high water and the early opener with creating the perfect storm. We might never again see tournament results like this. He also feels that the explosion in the Goby population on the St. Lawrence has resulted in much larger bass than previously existed. Charles and Nigel wish to thank all their sponsors, particularly Minn Kota, Humminbird, Shimano, Orleans Boat World, Ranger and Evinrude. Imagine coming to the scales with lb. of smallmouth bass and NOT winning the tournament. That is what happened to Jay McCormack and Mike Deforges, two of Ontario s most experienced tournament anglers, who had to settle for the second place prize of $2000. As Jay is insured through Rhodes & Williams, they also earned the $250 R & W Appreciation Award and lead in the Lowrance Teamof-the-Year race. The qualifying team that records the highest weight over the five qualifying tournaments and the Classic will receive two HDS5-Gen 2 sonar units. McCormack and Desforges are no strangers to the stage in St. Lawrence tournaments, having won at Morrisburg in 2009 and Lake St. Francis in 2012.

McCormack, from Aurora and Deforges, from Burlington were definitely planning the run to Lake Ontario, having fished numerous tournaments on the big lake.

They were thrilled when their catch tipped the scales at 24.56 lb. but were both surprised and disappointed when Sim and Touhey brought their catch to the scales to claim the victory.

3 McCormack, from Aurora and Deforges, from Burlington were definitely planning the run to Lake Ontario, having fished numerous tournaments on the big lake. Despite the closure of the dam and only two days to pre-fish the tournament waters, they headed out Saturday morning confident of catching pounds. They were thrilled when their catch tipped the scales at lb. but were both surprised and disappointed when Sim and Touhey brought their catch to the scales to claim the victory. True sportsmen, they were among the first to offer their congratulations. While Jay felt that the combination of high water and cool temperatures contributed to the high tournament weights, he didn t feel that it had a significant impact on their own success as they targeted pre-spawn, spawning and post-spawn fish during the course of the day. It was his opinion that the bedding bass were not yet guarding fry, but were just setting up. Rounding out the Top 3 on Saturday were Jean Morin and Serge Carriere with lb., another amazing bag. Their third place finish earned them $1200. Unlike Sim and Touhey or McCormack and Deforges, Morin and Carriere had no intention of running to Lake Ontario, so the closure of the dam made no difference. With serious commitments to their children s sporting activities, they had only one day to pre-fish for the tournament. They have, however, enjoyed considerable success at Morrisburg in the past, winning in 2005 and 2011, and relied somewhat on their knowledge of the river. Their plan was to go for the few fish they had located and then run and gun for the balance of the day. They caught fish in the shallows as well as drop-offs. They credit a lot of their success to the fact the fish were on. They are sponsored by Fence Depot in Cornwall. In addition to the $ in regular prize money presented each tournament, and the sponsor prizes already mentioned, there are a number of other awards up for grabs. A Motorguide Tour trolling motor will be awarded at the end of the regular season to the team already running a Motorguide trolling motor that records the largest total weight during the five qualifying tournaments leading to the Classic. Currently leading in this race are Bryan Pollock and Tom Reid who placed 5th in the tournament with lb. At each tournament one Lowrance qualifying team is awarded (by draw) two Navionics Platinum chips. John Martin and Wayne Jackson were the lucky winners this week. The G. Loomis Skeleton Crew Challenge, in which both team members must purchase a G. Loomis rod from either Paddletales or Bennett s Bait and Tackle, presents the qualifying team weighing the biggest fish of each tournament with a gift certificate pro-rated to the value of the original purchase. There was no winner this tournament.

While the cash and prizes provide serious motivation, the anglers are also seeking one or both of the important annual titles.

It s no wonder we all take these tournaments so seriously. Every ounce counts! Renegade Bass has always been extremely proud of its fish handling practices.

4 While the cash and prizes provide serious motivation, the anglers are also seeking one or both of the important annual titles. The team recording the largest total weight after the five qualifying tournaments earns the title of Team-of-the-Year and two complete home theatre systems. The Top 40 teams earn the right to compete in the annual two-day Classic with a chance to earn the title Classic Champions and win a brand new Ranger Z119 powered by a 200 HP Evinrude BRP E-Tec HO and fully equipped with 2 Lowrance HDS-Gen 2 units, a Motorguide Tour Edition 24V trolling motor, 3 batteries from Total Battery, on-board charging system, a stainless prop, and Ranger travel cover. It s no wonder we all take these tournaments so seriously. Every ounce counts! Renegade Bass has always been extremely proud of its fish handling practices. It utilizes the Shimano Water Weigh-in System, which means that the fish are immersed in fresh water throughout the process. Following the weigh-in they are taken to one of two Shimano Live Release boats to be returned to appropriate locations far from the launch site after the tournament. Over its 18 year history, Renegade Bass has evolved from its fairly humble beginnings to become one of the pre-eminent bass circuits in Canada, drawing such well-known anglers as Bob Izumi, host of the Real Fishing TV show. Our Master of Ceremonies is Big Jim McLaughlin of Ottawa, experienced tournament angler and publisher of Just Fishing magazine. Unfortunately Big Jim was ill this week. His duties were ably performed by Paul Shibata, one of the founders of Renegade Bass and host of the Renegade Bass radio show. Despite the many hours committed to Renegade Bass, Paul and his partner, Craig Lister, managed to place 17th with a weight of lb. It was an amazing start to the 2013 season. Renegade Bass would like extend a huge Thank You to Geraldine Fitzsimmons from the South Dundas Chamber of Commerce for making all the arrangements for the tournament and providing such a warm welcome. Riverside Park provides a spectacular tournament site, with lots of parking, great washrooms, and an excellent launch ramp. We greatly appreciate the use of the site. In a bit of a twist, Ralph Rick presented Renegade Bass with a certificate of appreciation as well as a book signed by all the business members of the Chamber of Commerce thanking us for hosting an event in Morrisburg. Talk about feeling welcome! Renegade Bass also extends its thanks to all the volunteers who served in any capacity to make the tournament a success. The series continues on the Ottawa River at Petrie Island, on Saturday, July 6th with the weigh-in at 4:00 p.m. If you can t join us, visit our website at www. renegadebass.com and click on the WATCH LIVE icon to the view the weigh-in on-line. You can also join the listeners tuning their radios to Team 1200 AM on Saturday mornings from 7:00 8:00 a.m. for the Renegade Bass Radio Show hosted by Paul Shibata--an hour of tournament updates, interviews and tips from some of the biggest names in bass fishing.

Top 20 Results THE TOP 20 TEAM WEIGHT CASH PAYOUT (lb.) Charles Sim/Nigel Touhey 27.24 $5000 + $1080 BF1 + $438 BF2 + $1000 RC Jay McCormack/Mike Deforges 24.

10 $750 + $292 BF3 Lenny Devos/Jeff Desloges 23.02 $650 Dave Western/Duane Clifton 22.86 $550 David Chong/Doug Brownridge 22.73 $450 Bob Izumi/Darren Izumi 22.

59 $225 Robert Lalonde/Alex Schafer 20.95 $225 Fred Young/Don Jones 20.80 $200 Paul Shibata/Craig Lister 20.75 $200 Pierre Guay/Gary Gaussiran 20.53 $200 Peter Bartonek/Craig Sevink 20.

5 Top 20 Results THE TOP 20 TEAM WEIGHT CASH PAYOUT (lb.) Charles Sim/Nigel Touhey $ $1080 BF1 + $438 BF2 + $1000 RC Jay McCormack/Mike Deforges $2000 Jean Morin/Serge Carriere $1200 Jean Martin Landry/Pat Milot $1100 Tom Reid/Bryan Pollock $1000 Jean-Charles Goulet/Pierre Hugues Lussier $750 + $292 BF3 Lenny Devos/Jeff Desloges $650 Dave Western/Duane Clifton $550 David Chong/Doug Brownridge $450 Bob Izumi/Darren Izumi $350 Clancy Mulvihill/David Craig $225 Jamie Plumb/Andrew Oomen $225 Spencer Gaffney/Corey Gaffney $225 Doug Dolan/Mark Boisclair $225 Robert Lalonde/Alex Schafer $225 Fred Young/Don Jones $200 Paul Shibata/Craig Lister $200 Pierre Guay/Gary Gaussiran $200 Peter Bartonek/Craig Sevink $200 Robert Greenberg/Chris Lawson $200 BF1=Big Fish BF2=2 nd Big Fish BF3=3 rd Big Fish RC=Ranger Cup BIG FISH TEAM WEIGHT CASH PAYOUT (lb.) Charles Sim/Nigel Touhey 6.53 $1080 Charles Sim/Nigel Touhey 5.99 $438 Jean-Charles Goulet/Pierre-Hugues Lussier 5.69 $292 Visit us online at

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UTBFN NEWSLETTER www.utbfn.net October 2010 UTBFN Board of Directors PRESIDENT Rick Culver phone 801-732-9646 email rakkc@msn.com VICE PRESIDENT Tom Nokes email tom@xmission.com SECRETARY/TREASURER Cory