I Falls Bass Championship

[1HawgHunter]

Hi guys and Gals,

August 25 and 26 was the 2nd annual International Falls Bass Championship in International Falls Minnesota. For those of you who do not know. International Falls is located on the Minnesota/Canadian border. The tournament was limited to 60 teams with half the field fishing Rainy Lake on day one and the other half fishing Rainy River. On day two you flip to the other body of water. One of your local angler/guides, Jim VanHook, was up here for the tourney although I did not get the opportunity to meet him. Was very interesting with the river down about 5 or 6 feet. One of the local taems from the Falls hit an underwater rock doing about 70 mph, took off the lower unit and lost all steering control. They were very lucky to only slide up on shore for about 30 feet and not get hurt.

My partner Greg Peterson and I (Arnie Nichols/HawgHunter) did not do too well with only 4 fish each day. Jim and his partner also had a tough time of it but it was a real good time. This tourney has the whole town come out and support the anglers. They have information/results posted at ifallsbass.com. Check it out. Jim I hope to catch up with you the next time I am down on the Rock.

[MTM]

One reason I always thought a 25 horse motor was big enough for all the fishing I will ever do LOL Ron

[Steve Smith]

Rainey Lake and River are the best smallmouth haunts this side of the Candian border IMHO. Beautiful country and great people who live there. The rocks are terrible whether the lake is high or low. Just make sure the boat insurance is paid up. I have left a chunk or two of aluminum there myself.

[MTM]

To heck with the boat insurance I will take the life insurance if I was going that fast thank you LOL Ron

[RSBreth]

Thanks for the info, I would love to fish that one, rocks or not.

[1HawgHunter]

It is a really fun tournament to fish (rocks and all). I don't know if you know Jim Van Hook from Branson, but he was up here for the tourney. Rainy Lake is a large lake with tons of islands and rock reefs/humps. It is one of the best small mouth waters in the country. I am going to suggest they move the tourney date to possibly the spring so we do not have to contend with the low water on the river. The river has great walleye, small mouth bass and sturgeon fishing. Pull up ifallsbass.com and you can learn more about the tourney and if interested you can sign up for next year. Like I said earlier, the whole town comes out to show their appreciation to the anglers.

[SD bass hunter]

Does anybody know the island that he hit or the name of the island it was by? I led canoe trips up there and snorkel a lot. (It is surprizing what one finds) a couple years back we found a purse with a 50 dollar bill in it. We return the money and the purse to the person and she had lost it 10 years before we found it.

If any equipment fell out I would like to check the spot out and see if any would be in any condition to return it to him.