2014 Kingston Canadian Open - Final Results - My first win

This past weekend marked the 5th annual Kingston Canadian Open, held, you guessed it, right here in Kingston Ontario. Many of you are use to me providing daily updates during this event, as well as tons of pictures, but this year things were a bit different as I was no longer on the sidelines but an actual participant.

The Kingston Open is a Pro/Am event pairing Pro's with a different amateur angler each day of the 3-day event with each angler taking their combined weight onto the next day. After 2 days there was a cut and only 29 of the 58 teams moved on to the final day of fishing.. I was lucky enough to not only make the cut to be able to fish day 3, but I was sitting in 2nd place overall and in good position to win the event on the amateur side.. but before I get into that storey, I will congratulate the Open winner on the Pro Side Jeff Coble.

Coble fished this event in 2013 placing second, this year he was sitting in 2nd going into the final day where his 24.15lb bag gave him the edge over Day2 leader Doug Brownridge for the title.

Coble finished the event with a record 3-day total weight of 72.05lbs.. and of course a check for $20,000

Below you will find the top 15 Pro's all of which took home a check during the event. The Big fish for this years event was a 6.25lb smallie brought to the scales by Wayne Izumi.

Ok, on to my weekend. I will start of by saying that this event was a blast to fish, and whether your a smallie fisherman or not, it is worth your time and money to spend 3 days on the water with some of the best Canada has to offer.. and the odd american like Jeff Coble and  JVD (Jonathan VanDam). I had amazing draws and was partnered with Cory Johnston, John Whyte and Mike Deforges.

Not wanting to give away their spots, techniques or fishing styles, I will keep this part of my recap to a high level. Over the course of the 3-days I got the chance to fish Shallow (under 7feet) medium (8-15ft) and deep (17-35ft). Each day was a whole new crash course on smallie fishing as each angler had their own pace, style and choice of techniques.

On Day 1, Cory and I weighed in 24.65lbs for an average fish weight of 4.93lbs. We had the majority of this fairly early and spend most of the day continuing to catch 4+ lb fish and having to put each one back since it would not help our total weight, I have never landed so many big fish in one outing as I did on Day1, i can't even put it into words

My learning's from Cory were patience, at times spending 20-30 minutes trying to get a single fish to bite, power, meaning that power fishing techniques can and will work on smallies and finally planning, Cory had a plan in mind and he stuck to it all while watching the time and our bag size

on Day 2, I got to spend some quality time with John Whyte, I had never met John before but had had some on-line chats and conversations with him over the years. He was very relaxed on the water and his laid back demeanour made the day fun while we battled high winds and rough water.

John and I weighed in 21.09lbs for an average fish size of 4.2lbs. We did not catch as many fish as I did on day 1, but each fish mattered and help us get to our end result. On Day 2 I finished in 2nd place being knocked out of first by 0.10lbs by another local angler Shawn Stenson.

My learning's from John were:  Be Different, John was throwing a bait I had never seem used on smallies, not only was it working, but it was out producing any other traditional baits we were throwing (no I won't tell you what it was). Relax and Enjoy, John seemed to enjoy ever minute he had on the water, he was able to quickly shake of a lost fish, and was laughing about it. His demeanour relaxed me, and made for a great day on the water. Admit/Learn from Mistakes, we attempted to fish a few spots that were high risk due to the weather, both sports were nearly un-fishable when we reached them costing us precious time. John was not afraid to look at the spot admit it was a mistake and turn around where others may have attempted to fish the sport anyway causing more lost time and possible injury or damage to the boat (and or fish)

Day3 I was paired up with Mike Deforges, an angler I have been watching at this event the past three years and who quietly racks up big fish day in and day out. Knowing we were in for a long day on a windy lake Mike made changes to his game plan and put us on fish all day long.. even caught some monster walleye along the way

Mike and I weighed in 24.5lbs for the day (the biggest total bag for day 3), sealing first place for me, and bumping him up from 8th to 4th place. 

Learning's from Mike: Adapting, Mike had a game plan that had been working for him all weekend long, but the weather did not co-operate at all, so plan B kicked in, and Mike had us back in the game (there was also a Plan C). Eliminating Water, Mike would quickly decipher if the area we were fishing was actually holding fish and how active the fish were, this aided in his decisions on how long we stayed on one spot verses moving on. Repeat, repeat whats working for you, and stop doing what isn't, this goes for baits, techniques and spots

This pic I took while on stage sitting in the hot seat, waiting to get knocked out of first. Thankfully that time never came and I finished my first Pro/Am in top spot. I'm very proud of what I accomplished on the water, but know it would not have been possible without the incredibly skilled Pro's that I fished with every day. I want to thank them all for their time, teachings and support.

Special thanks also goes out to Eikon Device, for helping make this possible.

Weapons of Choice:

As mentioned since this is a pro/am no baits will be disclosed but here are the rods, reels and line that helped me out this weekend

Dobyns DX744 w/ Daiwa Zillion - Toray Finesse Braid
Dobyns DX742SF w/ Daiwa Lexa - Toray Finesse Braid - Soloram Superhard Leader
Dobyns DX703sf w/ Dawia Lexa - Toray Finesse Braid - Soloram Superhard Leader


here are some more pics from the event….