Anglers from near and far hit the Boundary Dam Reservoir Saturday for a one day fishing tournament that will attempt to place the city and area on the map of potential fishing destinations.
The 2018 Boundary Bass Classic Saturday had 26 teams.
“We had planned for 40 boats but this was the first year in this incarnation,” said organizer James Turner. “Of course, this tournament has run as a club event for a number of years and we’ve heard 10, 12, 15 boats, so 26 is a big increase.”
There were teams from Ontario, Manitoba and Alberta for the event and the idea is held in part to bring people out to the reservoir.
“The city has identified the dam and the reservoir and the largemouth bass here as a unique tourist activity,” Turner said. “In Canada, it’s hours of driving in either direction to find largemouth bass. Even if you go to the States, they have bass but it’s all smallmouth. This is a very unique fishery so they’re promoting it, creating a tournament so that will elevate the status and visibility of those fish.”
Some of the posts they had on their Facebook page leading up to the event had up to 7,500 views.
“So we’re meeting our expectation of promoting the bass fishery here,” Turner said.
The bass fishery here is somewhat of a secret even within the Estevan area. Some people living here don’t know that there’s largemouth bass this close to their homes.
“It was a little bit shocking to me as a tournament director when I’m talking to people about possible sponsorship of the tournament that a lot of times we got, ‘There’s bass here?’,” he said. “In terms of the fishery it’s very underutilized here, and of course there’s very good walleye here as well.”
Turner was anticipating there would be baskets of ten pounds worth of fish, but the real big catch would be to put the Boundary Dam reservoir event on the map when it comes to a future largemouth bass tournament.
Local angler Jef Morrison said the tournament was tough this year
“We worked all day for what we got,” he said. “I’ve lived in Estevan my whole life and this is the first time I’ve actually fished in the tournament. I’ve fished bass for 20 years or better.”
The weather was good for the event but it wasn’t too hot and the winds were very calm with overcast skies.
The event was won by Russell, Man.’s Matthew Terleski and Brandon, Man.’s Derek Robins who had a big fish of 3.98 pounds and a total weight of 14.64 pounds for their top four fish. The Estevan-based team of Lance Marcotte and Karen Soke was second with 3.88 and 14.28 for their fish.
