Murky Water Makes for a Challenge at B1

The murky waters caused by the strong showers of the week affected the positioning of the fish and made the fishing conditions challenging

Norman Quesnel and Mark Currie are in the lead after day 1. The first day of the Berkley B1 Canadian Bass Open took place in Salaberry-de-Valleyfield , 142 powerful boats were at the blast off at 7 a.m. with a chilly 5 degrees. The 142 teams of professional anglers were competing on the water during 8 hours on lac St-Francis to bring to the weigh-in the 5 biggest catches of the day.

The team of Norman Quesnel and Mark Currie managed to bring in the largest limit with 24.71 lbs of smallmouth bass. Stephane and Jacques Chopin were in second with 24.23 lbs, and David Chong and Doug Brownridge were not far behind with 24.06 lbs.

The murky waters caused by the strong showers of the week affected the positioning of the fish and made the fishing conditions challenging for this largest Canadian fishing championship. Many experienced teams could not bring back the quota of 5 fish.

According to the championship's rules, half of the teams (71) will move on. The prizes are worth a good fight as the best teams will share a total of $120,000 in prizes, including $60,000 for the winning team. The total weight of day 1 and day 2's catches will determine the final ranking.

The water weigh-in system developed by Shimano ensures the survival of the fish from their capture to their release at the end of the day. Each boat is also equipped with a livewell that will keep in healthy conditions the 5 fish that teams are allowed to keep on their boat until weigh-in. The day's survival rate was 100% as all fish caught were returned to the water healthy and alive.