By Lucas Punkari, Staff writer
Fort Frances Times Ltd.
For a group of anglers who had never taken part in the annual Safeway KidPro tournament, youngster Aaron Meyers and his “pro” partners, James Kaemingh and Dan Veldhuisen, looked like seasoned veterans on Rainy Lake on Sunday.
The trio’s three biggest bass—out of the 15 they caught that day—weighed in at 11.35 pounds, which was enough to top the 14 other teams to win this year’s title.It was a great experience, and I never knew that bass could get that big,” smiled the 11-year-old Meyers, who caught two fish.
“There were some spots that had no fish, and some areas that we caught big ones in, so it was off-and-on all day,” he noted.“But the biggest thing that I learned out there was to just have fun and to have a great day catching fish.”
That same thought of having fun also was going through the heads of Veldhuisen and Kaemingh, who are both from Emo and were in the KidPro as “pros” for the first time.
“It was just like any other day on Rainy Lake,” Veldhuisen remarked.
“We had a blast out there, and the fish were biting obviously, so you can’t really ask for much more than that,” he enthused.
“This is the first time that we’ve done the KidPro and it was a lot of fun,” noted Kaemingh.
“Hopefully, Aaron enjoyed the day out there, and maybe he can get out on the lake more often and he can be a really good bass fisherman when he’s older,” he added.
While Kaemingh and Veldhuisen both were a little worried they might have used up all of their luck prior to the start of the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship tomorrow morning, Meyers has a theory of his own to help out his partners.
“I would say that they might be asking me to hop on board with them for the tournament,” he joked.
Finishing behind the winning trio were Blake Morken and Vince Godbout, who reeled in 10.30 pounds of bass, with Braedon Belluz and Shane Wepruk rounding out the podium with a 10.14-pound showing.
The biggest bass of the day was reeled in by Aiden Wielinga and his “pro” partner, Troy Norman, who caught a 4.64-pound whopper that helped them finish in fourth place.
“Catching a big fish like that was great, and I also got to learn a lot of new stuff from Troy today also,” Wielinga said.
“Today I learned how to get a snag off, how to take a hook out of a fish, how to tie a palomar knot, and the different kind of baits that the anglers used and where to use them,” he noted.
While the youngsters were all eager to go out with some of the top anglers in this year’s FFCBC, the pros also get to share that same feeling of excitement, especially when their partners were able to catch a fish of their own.
“He [Wielinga] has been doing pretty good out there, and I might have a new partner for the tournament next year,” Norman smiled.
“It’s pretty rewarding for guys like myself to get out there and take a youngster fishing, show him a few of our tricks, and hopefully make his day on the water a great one,” he said.
“It’s also nice to see the younger kids wanting to be involved in the outdoors, whether it be through fishing or hunting, and taking advantage of what’s out there in this area instead of staying inside,” he added.