Saturday Sept 14th saw the final OKBT event of the season take place on Balsam Lake. To say it was a tough day may be putting it lightly. With unstable weather all week, and getting worse overnight Friday into Saturday,it did not help the fishing at all. With 43 anglers registered, only 58 fish were submitted and only 3 anglers managed to fill their cards. That’s a tough day on the water no matter where you are. But, call us committed or call us stupid, we all stuck it out and battled the wind, rain and all that Mother Nature threw at us just on the chance that we would catch those elusive bass that day. A big congratulation to you all for the effort put forth.
The winners for the day definitely earned what they received:
1st Place – Rick Beauchamp – 87.75”
2nd Place – Michael Blumhagen – 70.25”
3rd Place – Paul Winkel – 69.00”
Big Bass – Ian Schofield – 19.50”
Along with the winners of the day the OKBT Angler of the Year was announced. After all the points were totalled (best 3 of 4 events) Mike Blumhagen came out on top with 334 points beating out Paul Winkel with 325 points for the AOY title. Mike went into the day 13 points behind Paul but his no-quit attitude on the water allowed him to place 2nd for the day and that dropped of a 17th place finish to put him out in front.
The day also saw the awarding of our draw prizes from all the amazing sponsors that have supported us all year. Without them we wouldn’t have been able to bring you all the great gear that we did. Thanks goes out to DAIWA Corporation – Canada, Gagnon Sports, Scotty Fishing Products, Mega Jigs, Werner Paddles, Blind Rage Baits, SAIL, Max Die Group, Tightline Anchor, Aces and 8,s musky baits, Dakota Lithium Batteries, Bam Baits
And lastly for the day we drew off the Grand Prizes for the year from Fogh Marine and Old Town Canoes & Kayaks. Fogh Marine donated a $1000 Gift Card for a lucky angler. Jamie Stevenson Van Bemmel was the lucky person to walk away with that and I am sure she has already been shopping the Fogh Marine website to see what she can spend it on.
Old Town Canoes & Kayaks donated a Topwater 106 kayak and Nick Scott is now the proud owner of a new kayak. He will be looking good on the water at the OKBT events in 2020.
Werner Paddles donated a Shuna Hooked Adjustable paddle to be drawn amongst the paddlers in the group. Jeff Scott will now be using his new Werner paddle as he goes after the big bass.
Thanks to everyone for an awesome year. See you in 2020.