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Dock Talk - Winter 2007-2008
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Winning Weighs - 1995 - Norm and Dave Lindsay
Norm and Dave Lindsay were the first champions of the FFCBC. On Sunday July 30th, 1995 the Lindsay brothers were the first winning team to hoist the brand new championship trophy and collect the $11,000.00 first place cheque, Dave and Norm were already a force to be reckoned with. Growing up on the shores of Lake of the Woods boating and fishing was second nature to the brothers.
Dave, 32 at the time, was working under contract for the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources “doing fish tech work”. Dave started guiding on Lake of the Woods for Crawford’s Camp when he was 12.
He remembers “I would be waiting on the dock for the new party. They would come down looking for their guide. I would introduce myself and either one or all members of the group would go back up to see the boss wanting to know if ‘that kid’ was really their guide.” “Ed Crawford was really good with them; he told them to go out with me that day and if they weren’t happy there would be no charge. He never had to give away anything and they were all looking for me the next day!” Norm, who was 28, started guiding on Lake of the Woods for his Dad, Lee, as well as for area tourist camps at the age of eleven.
The brothers had fished together competitively for a couple of years and were fresh off first place finish at the Shoal Lake tournament when they arrived in the Fort.
Looking back, the $1,000.00 entry fee was a “lot of money” but the brothers took the “gamble”. The fact that they had just cashed a cheque at Shoal Lake reduced the risk.
Rainy Lake was new territory for the Lindsay brothers. Norm and Dave prefished a total of three days preparing to compete in the inaugural field of 47 teams.
They pre-fished for two days in the South Arm and were “on some really big fish”. After discussing how a west wind would affect getting to and back from their spots they decided to check out the North Arm on the final day of pre-fishing just to have a backup plan. “The west wind blew hard, we went north and haven’t been back to the South Arm during a tournament ........ yet.”
Dave converted a 17’ Vanguard ski boat with a 100 h.p. Mercury to a “poor man’s bass boat”. He added a plywood casting deck and a portable livewell. “The fish we catch now wouldn’t fit in that livewell,” stated Dave. A 12 volt, 36 pound thrust MotorGuide trolling motor was attached to the deck. He made sure there was room for extra batteries. Norm, who Dave says thinks like a fish, hand-crafted the jigs that helped catch the winning fish. He rigged a 3” crawdad coloured Mr. Twister twin-tail body on a dark stand-up style Foxee jighead. He cut a brown Berkley tube in half lengthwise and attached it between the head of the jig and the twister body.
What Norm created in 1995 is amazingly similar to what is now known as a spider grub.
They also caught fish on 5” gold coloured Cotton Cordell jerk baits. They concentrated on areas of the lake that were less than 14 feet deep. On Day One Norm and Dave weighed in 14.62 pounds to lead the field and earned the right to be first boat out on Day Two.
On the second day of the tournament the wind took out the boat’s windshield. The broken part, with all its sharp edges, flew between the brothers without touching either of them. Dave said at the time that it was “the roughest weather I have ever fished in.”
Norm and Dave held on to their lead with a fourth place Day Two weight of 13.92 pounds.
They went into Day Three with a 1.4 pound lead. They were confident that they knew where the winning fish were and it was going to be a matter of “putting all the pieces together”.
Norm and Dave weighed 13.4 pounds, the biggest weight on Day Three, to win the 1995 tournament.
The Lindsays weighed a total of 15 fish weighing 41.94 pounds over the three days of the tournament. Dave quipped, “That weight wouldn’t let you cash a cheque last year (2007). You almost needed that to make the cut. Says a lot about the improving quality of the Rainy Lake fishery and the increased skill level of the anglers that compete.” When asked for advice for anglers entering tournaments Dave said.” Keep it simple. Take an area and learn it well. Break it down. Get to know every hump, rock, weed bed and piece of shoreline. There are fish there!”
Norm’s advice is to keep learning. “There are a lot of great fishing magazines and television fishing shows that contain a ton of information on fish and fishing techniques.” Norm says he keeps copies of Bassmasters, Ontario Out of Doors and In-Fisherman in his reading room. Norm is a regular viewer of In-Fisherman, Bob Izumi’s Real Fishing Show and Lindner’s Angling Edge. He goes on to say, “Take the information and do not be afraid to experiment. Many techniques featured for other species can be modified to catch smallmouth.” 1995 was just the start of the Lindsay legacy at the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship. Norm and Dave would be heard from again.
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