The North Bay Bassmasters has won the bid to host the 2018 Ontario Bass Nation Provincial Qualifier on Lake Nipissing.
The tournament is referred to as the Hank Gibson Ontario Bass Nation Provincial Qualifier.
“Hank Gibson was the first Canadian to ever fish in the Bass Master Classic. He qualified through the provincial qualifier which is the event we’re holding, and he made it all the way to the Bass Master Classic which is the Superbowl of bass fishing, proving to Canadians that we can make it,” explained Mathew Koprash, vice-president and qualifier chair for the North Bay Bassmasters.
“The qualifier is to put ourselves into contention to carry on through the various tournaments. We have to win in Ontario, win at the regionals, win at the national divisions and then get into the actual classic.”
This qualifier is the start of that journey.
See: Bassmasters to be lured to Lake Nipissing for major event
Up to 200 competitors are expected to register for the two-day event which takes place at the North Bay waterfront August 24-26.
“All the local clubs and local chapters have what is called the ‘angler of the year’ so they accumulate points throughout their regular club season, and the best anglers throughout the year get first right of refusal to enter the qualifier tournament. So you have to win in your own club, at your own home waters against your club, and then you make it to the qualifier which is why we’re here, and you compete against all of Ontario.”
The last time the city hosted this event was over 10 years ago.
“Our club is really excited to bring it back, and expose North Bay and expose Lake Nipissing and show everybody what the fishery has,’ said Koprash.
The anglers will be competing for a spot on Team Ontario.
“It’s an accumulative total, so the boaters will weigh in five fish per day, best total 10 fish. Non-boaters will weigh in three fish per day, best total six fish. At the provincial qualifier, it will be the top 11 boaters and 11 non-boaters making Team Ontario, so a total of 22 anglers. The top 10 of each will actually be competing, and the 11th of each is the alternate in case somebody gets sick or there’s an injury. This weekend, last year’s Team Ontario is taking part in the eastern divisional’s in South Carolina.”
Anglers will be looking for five-pound catches.
“You’ll see a lot of competitors in the two-pound class, and the anglers you see making Team Ontario will be in the three to five-pound range, and those are trophy class fish. All those five-pound fish, everyone you see, is roughly 15 to 18 years old. ”
Josh McKay has been fishing his entire life. He is looking forward to the high level of competition in this year’s tournament.
“There will be some really good anglers, top-notch anglers here from across the province. I think some of them will be showing us how it’s done, so it will be an interesting two days. I'm looking forward to a fun weekend.”
Gary Neal is one of the local organizers.
“Anything we can do to help with the local economy, and bring attention to North Bay is great. Most of the people will probably be here five or six days coming up ahead of the tournament to get in some fishing, to get a feel for the lake.”
Friday is "community give back day" with an invitation extended to members of 22 Wing CFB North Bay.
“We’re going out on Trout Lake, and we’re giving back to members in our community, and we’re taking members of the military fishing for the day. We’re looking at 40 to 50 Base members.”
The winning bid to host the qualifier was a group effort involving Tourism North Bay, and Sports Tourism.
“Any type of event is a great event when you’re bringing people in from all across the province. Hopefully, it will lead to other spin-off events in the future. It’s a little bit out of our comfort zone. This is good for us to do something with fishing because we haven't tackled anything like this in the past,” said Larry Tougas Sports Tourism Coordinator for the City of North Bay.
“The community is going to benefit from it immensely. It’s a good event to have. We don’t have much in the summertime in terms of events for sports tourism so it’s hopefully something we can continue in the future.”
The economic spin-off is estimated to be $500,000 to $750,000.
Tournament organizers are in their final big push for sponsorship opportunities.
“We’ve received our title sponsorships. We’ve got our key partners, now we’re just looking at community sponsorship. We have quite a few advertising opportunities. We’re a not-for-profit club, so everything we can do to make this event better is coming from those sponsorship opportunities.”
