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Largest One - Day Weight Takes QUINTE FISHING SERIES Opening Bass Tourney!! The first bass tournament of the Quinte Fishing Series 2004 season saw the largest weight ever recorded for a one day tournament in the eight year history of the Series. Toronto and Richmond Hill’s Ralph and Tom Papiest weighed in an great bag of smallmouth’s of 21.53 lbs. to take the title and with that a first place cheque for $2,400.00. Amazingly enough these two anglers did not have the Big Fish of the day in this bag but had five bass that all weighed between 4.2 and 4.5 lbs. In an interview after the weigh-in, Ralph said, "I have never had a day of fishing like this before! We probably caught around 20 smallmouth all day but they were all the same size and weight and we were culling for a difference of just a few ounces." These anglers, regulars on the Q.F.S. trail, travelled to big water to get these fish and although the run in the morning was relatively flat, Tournament organizer Pete Thompson added " the Papiest’s and a number of teams had a much rougher ride home in the afternoon as the winds blew over 25 kph. out of the west right down the Bay."This tournament, the second of the Series six tournaments, saw 53 teams/boats leave from the mouth of the Trent River in Trenton at 7:00 a.m. with check-in and the weigh-in at Fraser Park Marina, Trenton at 4:00 p.m. A number of teams made runs at the first place spot but they could not dethrone the eventual winners and their amazing weight. The Papiest’s along with their first place money of $2,400.00, also received two waterproof coats compliments of Mark’s Work Warehouse, a $50.00 gift certificate from Kelsey’s/Montana’s-Belleville and two Q.F.S. 2004 Tournament Champions hats. Last years "Angler of the Year" Dean Thompson and partner Mike Burriss took the second place prize money of $1,700.00 with another great bag of fish weighing in at 20.45 lbs. These very consistent Napanee anglers had a mixed bag of bass, initially catching some good smallmouth before adding a couple of largemouth to their five (5) fish limit. Grant Elliott and Karl Neumayer, also from the Napanee area, claimed the third place honours and the $1,000.00 with their weight of 19.58 lbs. These anglers also travelled to get their bag of smallmouth’s and in this bag was the H2Optix Big Fish of the day of 4.79 lbs. Grant and Karl received two pairs of quality H2Optix sunglasses, the "Big Fish" money of $1,040.00 as well as Big Fish trophy. The Asselstine’s, Andy and Darcy took fourth place with 16.91 lbs. and earned them $750.00 and 16.80 lbs.gave $500.00 to Murray Brydson and partner Curtis Richardson for their fifth place finish. The final two placings went to Bill Brydson and Jeff Kerr with 14.71 lbs and the Lawrence brothers, Tom and Steve, who won the opening walleye tournament in the Series claimed seventh with a weight of 14.67 lbs. Tournament Director, Pete Thompson was again very pleased with the number of entries for this opening bass tournament. " This Series continues to grow every year and the response from anglers from all over the province has been tremendous. As you can see, the Bay of Quinte is a amazing fishery and we have anglers coming from all over the province to fish this Series." He added, "The Canadian Fishing Tour and the Tips from the Tackle Box are both running tournaments on the "Bay" this summer so you know the fishery is top notch! The Series will be assisting with the Tips from the Tackle Box tourney on July 9-11th which is Waterfront Weekend in Belleville and a number of local anglers are participating in this tournament. The next Q.F.S. tournament will be on Sunday, July 18th, 2004 at the George St. ramps in Belleville and entries must be postmarked by Monday, July 12th. For further info please call Pete Thompson at 613-967-1024. |
