Local angler Brady Selk was the big winner of the inaugural Bass Battles competition out on Boundary Dam.
Brass Battles was a competition held on the reservoir from Sept. 18-27, with 32 entries. Competitors could fish as often as they wanted over the course of 10 days, and catch and record as many fish as they pleased, but it would be the cumulative length of the five longest fish that determined the winner.
The event had a catch and release format.
Selk finished first at 240.9 centimetres for his five largest bass, and he won $1,600. Austin Orsted was second at 237.7 centimetres, followed by Nate Smart (232 centimetres), Dylan Spencer (229.7 centimetres) and Brian McQuinn (228.8 centimetres).
Selk also caught the most fish overall at 37, 11 more than Spencer’s 26, and had the most fish logged over 40 centimetres in length.
“Another local angler informed me about it, so I thought it would be fun to do before the season ends and the water freezes to ice,” said Selk.
Orsted had the longest bass at 53.3 centimetres, followed by Selk at 48.5 centimetres. Karen Soke had the hidden length prize at 41.3 centimetres.
Jocelyn Carefoot recorded the smallest fish, followed by Mark Carefoot.
More than 30 entries were received for the competition.
Selk enjoys going out for bass fishing a few times each year.
“I lived in Estevan my entire life, and it’s pretty cool to have this close to home,” said Selk. “They’re a fun fish to catch.”
Selk said he measured most of the fish he caught. He let a few of the smaller ones go before checking their length, and a couple escaped before they could be measured.
“Everybody weighed in every fish, so they could keep track of how many fish were caught. A lot of people measured in 10-inch fish or even smaller.”
There are a lot of good anglers out there, but Selk believes he has a bit of an advantage since he’s from the area.
“I went out there and fished long days, and was able to catch a couple of good ones.”
Selk went out on two evenings and for four full days. It’s more than he’s typically able to fish, because work and family keep him busy.
The tournament used a catch photo release format. Competitors caught their fish and then measured them using the MyCatch mobile app created by Angler’s Atlas.
There were some issues with the app early on – issues that Angler’s Atlas acknowledged with a Facebook post after the tournament – but Selk stressed organizers did what they could to make everybody happy.
“I think it’s only going to grow with the online fishing tournaments,” said Selk, who said he would definitely enter the tournament again.
Selk asked other fisherman to practise catch and release with the bass on Boundary Dam. He described bass as a special fish and not natural for Saskatchewan, and catch and release is the only way to preserve them.
The event was hosted by Angler's Atlas/Walleye Wars, and was sponsored by Tourism Estevan.
