Mother Nature failed to cooperate with anglers who traveled from all corners of Ontario to take part in the Hank Gibson Proviincial Qualifier bass fishing event which took place this weekend on Lake Nipissing.
The event took place out of the North Bay Municipal Marina over the weekend and hosted about 200 competitors.
However, a poor forecast on Sunday led organizers to shut down the competitive fishing event after day one.
"Overall I think the event went really well. the Friday night meeting was very well attended and received," said Mathew Koprash, president of the North Bay Bassmasters.
"Mother nature came at us pretty hard and we ended up getting hit with the storm of the summer. With thunder and lightning being in the forecast for the entire day Sunday plus the winds gusting to 50 km/h made the tournament director cancel day two and the results from day one, be final."
This is the second time the North Bay Bassmasters have hosted the event, and back in 2018 Mother Nature also impacted the event.
"It is bittersweet for sure, you put a year's worth of work into it and you don't even get that final close out at the end of the day with the awards ceremony and everything in that sense it is just the event is cancelled and everybody head home," said Koprash.
See related: Major Bass tournament coming to North Bay this week
However, Koprash doesn't believe any anglers are leaving the Gateway City with any hard feelings towards the event due to the cancellation.
"Overall it was a successful event, the anglers were very supportive of the decision by the Ontario Bass Nation (OBN). Day one was pretty rough leaving so I think anglers were more okay with their bodies and boats not taking a beating again on day two," he said.
But there was good news for some local anglers including Koprash. He and Tucker Bedard qualifed for Team Ontario while local non-boater anglers Richard Beaudoin, Tracy Rich, Richard Bilodeau also qualified.
They are part of the top 10 boaters and 10 non-boaters who made Team Ontario. They will proceed to compete against other clubs in the 2023 B.A.S.S. North or Northeast Championship Tournament in the United States with hopes of qualifying for the Bassmaster Classic which is the biggest fishing event in the world.
Koprash hopes the OBN considers North Bay as another location for this high profile provincial qualifier on Lake Nipissing in future years - of course, weather permitting.
