FFCBC Champions

A pair of anglers well-known to northwestern Ontario are this year's Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championships.

Kenora's Jeff Gustafson and Bemidji's John Peterson came in on the final day of fishing with just over 20 pounds of bass, giving them over 55 lbs over the three days.

Gustafson says their catch Saturday came early in the day.

The Fort Frances team of Ryan Hyatt and Karl Wolff were a pound and a half back in second.

Fort Frances anglers Bryan Gustafson and Jamie Bruce were tops in the second division while Sean Good and Pete Badiuk earned the win in the third division.

Sorting Gap Marina Site Welcomed

It was a return to the Sorting Gap Marina for the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship after going indoors for the past three years.

Gary Rogozinski, a former chair, was among those happy to see it back on the waterfront.

While exact attendance figures aren't immediately know, the weigh-ins attracted strong crowds.

Kids Get Out On Lake

FFCBC photo

Missing from the Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship this year was the Kids Pro tournament.

That lead to Missouri's Phil Bangert taking it upon himself to organize an informal event that allowed some of the Championship's anglers to take some local kids out for a day of fishing.

It attracted between 15 and 20 kids, some Bangert says have never been fishing or been on Rainy Lake.


Bangert hopes it will continue in some fashion in the future.

Bangert says he'd also like to give similar opportunities to seniors.

Fire At Fort Frances Mill

No major damage reported from a fire at Resolute Forest Products mill in Fort Frances yesterday.

Members of the Fort Frances Fire and Rescue Service were called out at around  5 p.m. to deal with a stubborn blaze in the duct work in the grinding room.

Fire crews were on site for about four hours.

Operations at the mill, though, were not impacted.

MNR Fire Centres Get Upgrades

The Ontario Government is upgrading three forest fire response centers.

47-million dollars will be spent on upgrades to a facility in Sudbury, the Hailburton Fire Management Headquarters and a fire attack base in Armstrong.

Jails Full

New statistics show that nearly half of Ontario's jails are overcrowded.

Cells meant for two people at times hold three or more as a rising tide of inmates await their day in court.

Figures from The Ministry of Community Safety and Corrections show that on an average day last year,  14 of Ontario's 30 jails held more prisoners than they were designed for.

McCaig Wins Quest

Mike McCaig stole the show at Quest for the Best.

McCaig wowed the crowd with his rendition of "If I Were A Carpenter" to advance to the final sing-off against Larissa Desrosiers where the judges selected him as the overall winner.

People's choice winners were Erika Tymkin and Clinton Bruyere.