My First Tournament Experience

Over this summer, at a local bass tournament, a kayaker managed to place high in a tournament. I was impressed at the audacity to compete against some of the most talented anglers with their expensive boats and electronics. It was also at that moment that I realized I had no more excuses. I had to sign up for a tournament this season and see how my skills stacked against the best anglers in the province.

The Red River Walleye Masters Cup

I decided to do the Red River Walleye Masters Cup for my first tournament. It’s a one day walleye tournament out of Selkirk, Manitoba.

The reason why I chose it as my first tournament was because it was a close drive from home. For my first tournament, I wanted it to be logistically easy. I don’t have a lot of fishing experience on the Red River but I had more experience there compared to most classic tournament waters. Most importantly, there were many skilled local anglers in the pool. If you want to be the best, you must beat the best.

It was a big step to get into tournament angling. I didn’t have any fishing buddies who could join me. So I had to enlist my younger brother to help me out. He’s not really into fishing but he can back up a trailer and do as I say. That would be adequate enough for me. The only downside was I had to pay for the entry fee and fuel all by myself. I really wanted the tournament experience though so I bit the bullet.

Preparation

The Red River is not a very complicated fishery in terms of technique. I rigged up a few rods with jigs, pickerel rigs and crankbaits.

Unfortunately, our prefish the week before went very poorly. My livewell pump had a really bad leak that nearly sank our boat. With some quick thinking, we managed to stuff the intake of the livewell with a plastic bag which completely stopped the leak. Though I had to get the livewell pump fixed before the tournament. Fortunately livewell pumps are not difficult to replace.

Fishing was very tough though. As the water temperatures were high with a strong south wind, conditions would not be favorable. I tried a variety of spots but only caught saugers and bullheads. Since I didn’t know where the walleyes were, I decided to troll crankbaits. Trolling crankbaits on the Red River is an excellent strategy when you don’t have much information to work with.

We managed to catch one walleye with that method but that would be the only walleye we would catch all day. Right before heading in for the day, we found a pod of goldeyes to lift our spirits a bit.

It wasn’t a good sign and we really didn’t have much of a plan. I had nobody to rely on for information. All we could do was to just give it our best shot and hope.

The Tournament Day

Not going to lie, I was pretty nervous the day leading into the tournament. I barely slept and the whole drive there my heart was thumping out of my chest.

It was pretty intimidating seeing all the fancy boats with much greater speeds than my slow tiller. I tried to shut out all thoughts about other competitors. After all fishing is all about doing what you can regardless of the performance of others. Though that didn’t stop my heart from pounding hard the whole morning. Once our boat number was called, we were off.

Fishing was mostly a repeat of our prefish. We tried jigging though that wasn’t working for us. Lots of saugers and bullheads were caught. Around noon, we realized we had to change our tactics. We decide to troll crankbaits again. Instantly my brother hooked into a nice walleye. Unfortunately it popped off right before I could net it. It was quite discouraging but we had to keep calm and keep fishing.

We pulled crankbaits the rest of the day. I managed to get two small eligible walleyes. Things were not looking good but we fished until the very end in hopes that something would happen. Though that would be all we could weigh in. Our total weight would be 2.5 lbs and we placed 45th out of 61 boats. It was tough all around though some impressive fish were caught.

Conclusion

Overall it was an excellent experience. Despite the results, I really felt that we were somewhat competitive. The Red River does have some luck involved but there is a reason why certain people consistently high in the standings. I recognize that we are still far from the best. Though it’s these kinds of experiences that really humble you and that is a good thing to have in life.

My competitive drive has kicked in from this tournament and I feel motivated to do better next time. One day we’ll place decently and maybe even win the whole thing.

Until then, it will be a year of daydreaming and scheming before my next attempt.