Last year's winners of the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship have put themselves in a good position in their drive for five.
Joe Thrun of Annandale, Minnesota and Jim Moynagh of Carver, Minnesota ended the first day of fishing with a 5-fish catch of 19-point 1-4 pounds of bass.
Thrun says the fishing was far better than they saw in pre-fishing.
"We didn't really get anything like this in practice," says Thrun. "It's a lot better than we expected and hope to do it again tomorrow."
The team has also won titles in 1998, 99 and 2007
Matt Christy of Superior, Wisconsin and Chris Hay of Brooklyn Centre, Minnesota are 3/10's of a pound back in second
Ron and Dan Lindner of Baxter, Minnesota are third.
The top angler from the Rainy River district is Andrew Perrault of Fort Frances who is 6th with his partner Jeremiah Gardner from Eagle Lake.
The big fish of the day was caught by Scott and Blair Dingwall of Dryden who reeled in a bass weighing in at 4.82 pounds.
