And here we go. Season 9 of the OKBT started off on May16/17 on Lake Nipissing once again on the early bass opener in Zone 11. 118 anglers were excited to start the year off after the winter that would never end. With no pre-fishing or scouting allowed everyone was uncertain what they would be facing. What would water temps be? Would the bass be pre-spawn? They would have to wait for tournament day to find out. Also new this year was a format change for the event. In seasons past the event was the best 5 bass each day for a winning total from 10 bass. This year we cahnged to the best 5 bass over the 2 days. This would keep everyone in the game going into day 2 and make it interesting.
Day one was calling for some gusty weather, and that was the case. Depending on where you were on the lake made a huge difference in the conditions you saw on the water. There were some early fish hitting the boads and there seemed to be no problem finding them as the leaderboard was constantly changing. The wind picked up through the day which made for some interesting times out there for a few anglers. None-the-less they all persevered and put in the effort to get as much on the board as they could. Day one ended with Sam Haynes on top of the leaderboard followed by Duffy McGuire and Shawn Coffell.
Day two was a much different day on the water with clearer skies and calm winds. Everyone got to businees right away and a quick lead change happened with Duffy McGuire taking the lead. He was on a big largemouth bite all day one and it continued into day two. As the day progressed anglers were making moves. The key to moving on day two was being able to find the right fish to allow you to cull out fish from day one. Seems easy but it was proving hard to do for some. The board went dark at 2pm and we would have to wait for the late entries to see how it played out.
When the results were in there were some late charges that changed the board in the last hour and here is how it played out.
1st Place – Shawn Coffell – 99.00″
2nd Place – Ryan Tyler – 98.75″
3rd Place – Duffy McGuire – 98.25″
And our Big Bass winners were:
Big Bass Day 1 – Ryan Tyler – 21.25″ Smallmouth
Big Bass Day 2 – Duffy McGuire – 20.75″ Largemouth
Along with the cash for the Big Bass award they also received a new item for this year from Mig Sig Outdoors. Any Big Bass winner that wins with a bass over 20″ will receive a custom MSO Chasing Twenties hat.
Congrats to all the winners and all thew anglers that came and participated. Here are a few stats of the event for you
118 angler
641 bass submitted
27 anglers over 90″ card
All in all was another great early season event on Nipissing with a new format that seemed to be well accepted by all. Now on to Event #2 on a new venue for the series at Lake Muskoka on June 27.
Thanks once again to all out great sponsors.
See you at the next event