CANUCKS COMPETE WELL AT BASS WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP
Team Canada battles tough conditions to place 7th on Italy’s Lake Bolsena
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This special report about the 2024 Bass World Championship comes from Pete Garnier, the Captain of Team Canada.
The 2024 Bass World Championship is in the books following last Sunday’s final weigh-inwith Spain taking the gold after a stunning, come-from-behind win on the final day of competition. The silver medal went to Australia, and the bronze to the local favourites, Team Italy. The six anglers representing Team Canada fished well, and finished in seventh place.
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The clear volcanic waters of Italy’s Lake Bolsena proved both challenging and rewarding for the Canucks. The Canadian anglers worked closely together to develop several productive, fish-catching patterns that put good numbers of tournament-grade fish in the boat during pre-tournament practice sessions.
It’s impressive how quickly our anglers can often walk off a plane, hop into a boat and start fishing a lake none of them have ever seen before. Within a few days, drawing on decades of tournament experience and bass-fishing knowledge, Team Canada had a sound game plan in place. Local weather forecasts looked extremely consistent, and confidence was high leading into the official competition days.
However, predictions of a new weather pattern began circulating around the event compound. During practice rounds, competitors from all over the globe enjoyed ideal fishing conditions: relatively steady barometer, low winds and mainly clear skies. But the changing forecast led to completely different conditions during the competition.
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Still, adapting to ever-changing conditions is nothing new to the six-man Canadian team. After the opening round, the Canucks were sitting in 7th place, within striking distance of a top-three finish, and making the podium. The second day of competition presented, yet again, a new weather system which meant the team had to adapt to get the bites they needed and move up in the standings. However, all three pairs of Canadian anglers came to the scales with only average catches, reporting a number of unfortunate incidents and missed opportunities, landing Team Canada in 9th place after Day 2 of competition.
On the final day of competition, anglers woke up to high winds and rain which persisted through the entire day. Team Canada once again responded and brought enough weight to the scales on to rebound, and climb back up the leader board landing in 7th.
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This particular World Championship will likely set a new standard for Canada’s International fishing teams. The focus of this team was on communication and teamwork. It highlighted the importance of ensuring all members are equally capable of producing good catches, and showed that there’s zero benefit for any one boat to outperform the others. As captain, I couldn’t be prouder of this year’s team, and they way we introduced a more structured approach. I think it’s something Team Canada will carry forward to future international bass competitions.
No matter the outcome, the international competitive fishing scene is remarkable. Being able to experience these events, meeting like-minded anglers from all around world, and seeing just how passionate all the other nations are about bass fishing and the sport we love, is truly incredible.