It’s nice to be back in Canada!

Saturday was the last day of competition at this year’s Federation Nation Championship. Although the weather was slightly better, it didn’t improve my results, another goose egg for myself. I fished hard all day and endured some pretty nasty conditions but in the end Milford Lake “beat me like a rented mule”. Overall, the fishing was slightly better on day two as a total of 21 fish came to the scales, shattering the first day of competition totals by one fish. A total of 41 fish were weighed-in over two days of competition. That works out to 0.75 fish per angler over two days or 0.38 fish per angler per day. I just had to get  that off my chest, the fishing was unbelievably bad.

Although the weather and the fishing were terrible, everything else was great. B.A.S.S. really did a lot of work to make sure the tournament rolled smoothly. The people in Junction City were fantastic and support for fishing events in this town is tremendous. It’s nice to see politicians that understand the economic impact fisherman can have on the local businesses in their community. This is something I’m sure B.A.S.S. emphasizes strongly and I think it would be great if some of the circuits in Ontario succeeded at getting support from the cities and towns we go to each year.

Being Ontario’s Federation representative was a real treat for me and I hope someday to be able to do it again. I’ve fished a ton of tournaments already in my life but this week will be a week I’ll remember forever. The unique format of the FNC brings together anglers from all walks of life and from all over the world to compete for a few days. Talking with the competitors you really started to understand how diverse the field was. Although everyone is there to make it to the Classic, it was interesting to see how many guys realized that whether they made the Classic or not, this would pretty much be one of, if not the highlight of their fishing careers.

I feel like I let a tremendous opportunity to get to the Bassmaster Classic slip away but it wasn’t due to a lack of effort. I feel like the fishery was so tough that at some point you needed to catch a break and see something or catch something to give you a clue what to do. I tried a lot of things but I never got that break I needed. I can’t wait to someday get another chance to do this all over again.

Thanks to all the clubs who supported me, sorry I couldn’t have done better. Thanks to all my sponsors who help me do what I do. Special thanks to Ken Hamilton for guiding me through the Federation program and Gerry Heels for stepping up and taking the Ontario Junior representatives fishing for me the day after the qualifier so that I could make it to my Pike Classic the next day. Congrats to Jake Sasnowski for winning the Eastern Divisional that day. I'd also like to thank my wife Meegan and mother-in-law Norah for coming to support and cheer me on in Kansas, and for the great company during the cancelled days.