The Town of Fort Frances and the Rainy River Future Development Corporation joined forces to promote Rainy Lake as a smallmouth bass fishing destination at the Outdoors Expo held in conjunction with the 2009 Bassmaster Classic in Shreveport, Louisiana.
Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship (FFCBC) became an additional partner by agreeing to man the booth as well as arranging for photographs, assisting with the booth design and banner graphics, creation of literature for distribution, securing booth transportation and contest entrant data entry.
FFCBC was able to gain the support of many tournament sponsors.
Wayne, Pat and Dean Howard, owners of Campfire Island Camp, donated a three day guided smallmouth bass fishing trip for two people on Rainy Lake to be used as a draw prize for attendees at the Outdoors Expo. Contest entrants were required to complete an entry form that contained questions regarding their fishing and vacation destinations as well as knowledge of Canada and Rainy Lake. Over 400 individuals entered the contest. The trip was won by Sam Hesser of Delhi, Louisiana.
Bill Lindner Photography Studio donated four underwater images of Rainy Lake fish species to be used as part of the booth graphics.
Lee Oekle provided tournament photographs and images from his private collection for use in the booth and on the printed material.
The graphics for the booth were created by Dutka Signs of Atikokan. One of the full-colour panels was produced at no charge.
Mark Fisher, the Director of Field Promotions for the Rapala VMC Group, provided an endorsement for Rainy Lake as the final proving grounds for Rapala freshwater lures.
Gord Pyzer granted permission to reproduce parts of an article from the January 2009 issue of In-Fisherman Magazine proclaiming Rainy Lake as a “Smallmouth Paradise”.
In-Fisherman provided ‘hot off the press’ 2009 Bass Guides as well as books and CDs for distribution to contestants that entered the draw.
Lindner Media Productions donated CDs on smallmouth fishing techniques, which were filmed primarily on Rainy Lake, for distribution to draw entrants.
Northland Fishing Tackle and Bill Lewis Lures (Rat-L-Trap) supplied lures that were given to contest entrants.
FinTech Tackle Company also provided lures for give-a-way. John Butts, National Marketing Director of FinTech Tackle Company, transported all of the booth materials from Fort Frances to Shreveport and back.
The Fort Frances Chamber of Commerce supplied souvenir three dollar coins and agreed to respond to phone calls to their toll free number listed in the literature.
The Fort Frances Times built the Survey Monkey Survey to tabulate the results from the draw entry form questions and provided it at no cost.
The booth was manned by Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship (FFCBC) volunteers Jim Cumming and Doug Cain. Veteran FFCBC angler Phil Bangert, of Camdenton, Missouri drove over 850 miles to help set-up and man the booth at the Shreveport Convention Center. Robert Weaver and Rick Turner made the trip from Tyler, Texas to assist at the show.
July 17 - 19, 2025
2024 Full Results
