Inaugural FLW Canada Tournament
Campeau and Boileau headed to 2016 Rayovac FLW Series Championship
It’s official: FLW Canada is the first organization to hold a tournament under the auspices of the new FLW international partnership. FLW Canada held its inaugural event, which also was its championship tournament, Sept. 18-20 on Big Rideau Lake near Smith Falls, Ontario.
The tournament, which was sponsored by UnderArmour and hosted by the Smith Falls Walmart, drew 128 anglers who competed in two-person teams. All contestants fished the first two days, and the top 12 then participated in the championship round on Sept. 20. Local anglers Fern Campeau and Carl Boileau claimed the title with a winning stringer of 51.88 pounds. Jason Greentree and Richard Kazimierczuk were second with 50.55 pounds and Dave Chong and Steve Neveau were third with 50.19.
“Rideau is known for a pretty equal populations of smallmouths and largemouths,” says FLW Canada chief and tournament director Cory Banford of the tournament lake, which is about 100 miles west of the Canadian capital of Ottawa. “So the catches in the tournament were evenly divided. Typically, the fishermen would go out and catch their limits of smallmouths, then switch over to largemouths and try to cull up.”
Altogether, 122 limits were weighed. Banford noted that most anglers used drop-shot rigs, tube baits or jerkbaits to catch their fish.
A 5.82-pound largemouth weighed in by Ed Macpherson and Todd Watters was the big bass of the tournament. Those two qualified to fish as co-anglers in the 2016 Rayovac FLW Series Championship next fall on Table Rock Lake, while Campeau and Boileau will fish as boaters in the international division of that event. Smart Bait Fishing Lures, an FLW Canada sponsor, will pay their expenses to and from the Rayovac championship.
Banford said three FLW Canada qualifying tournaments will take place in 2016, with the first one scheduled for June.
For more information about FLW Canada, visit flwcanada.com.
Photos courtesy of Limitfish Media.
