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The Canadian Open Comes To A Fast Close
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Posted Wednesday, July 17th, 2002 to The Bass Pro Diary
You have got to read this one! You can't imagine the amount of trouble Curt gets into while fishing on the Canadian / U.S. border. Not very accustom to customs!
July 11, 2002
The day I had is so crazy, you will not believe it. In fact, the story is too bizarre to even be thought up in a creative mind - it is that unbelievable!
This day was my only day for practice fishing prior to the first competition day in the 2002 Canadian Open, located in Windsor, Ontario. What a day it would turn out to be! We (a Canadian amateur angler & myself) launched my boat into the Detroit River around 6:30 in the morning from a marina located in Windsor. Our first stop for the day -practice on the early morning feeders around Belle Island (outside of Detroit). We found a small channel, and drifted down it - hooking into some good sized rock bass, and a northern pike - all on spinnerbaits and buzzbaits. After realizing that the small and largemouth bass were not in this area, we decided to fire up the outboard and head out onto Lake St. Clair. The motor would not even turn over (I have had occasional problems
with the outboard, but never to this magnitude). We were now stranded, and drifting down this small channel. We decided that if we kept drifting, eventually we would wind up locating a landing or marina.
As we drifted, we noticed an older fellow casting from the shore line. He informed
us that there was a yacht club just ahead, and we should drift there - sounded like a good idea, yea right! A few meters later, two golf carts came rambling down both shore lines with two individuals instructing us to turn around immediately. We informed them of our problems, and they instructed us to stop and anchor our boat, or we would end up receiving a fine and ticket. We had no idea that Detroit was in the process of having boat races that day on the U.S. side of the river - and we were drifting right into the race course!
The golf car security managed to sent the U.S. Coast Guard to our rescue, and they towed my boat to the nearest marina, Harbor Hill, located in Detroit. Now think about this – we are in Detroit (with a disabled boat) and my truck and trailer are in Ontario! Can you see our first problem? First, we freaked out for a while, then went into the marina store to ask if this problem had ever come up before. We discussed the problem with the Harbor Master, named A.J. who decided that the best thing to do would be for him to loan us his car and have us drive over the border to collect my truck and trailer. We would then bring both A.J.’s car and mine back to the Detroit marina to both load up the boat and return the car.
Sounds simple - until we get to the Canadian customs who, for some unknown reason, find it suspicious that a Canadian is driving a Michigan plated car that is not owned by either passenger in the vehicle (did I mention that it was a rental car -AHHHH!) is trying to make its way across the international line. Needless to say, the customs department held us up for two hours as they checked the entire vehicle over (including dusting it for drugs) and made phone calls to A.J., the marina where my truck was parked, and Enterprise Rental Cars. We were scolded, though, as a Canadian (my fishing partner for the day) can’t be driving a U.S. plated vehicle in Canada.
This rule (Canadians driving U.S. plated vehicles) caused another problem once we were released from the border. We now needed to locate another U.S. citizen to drive A.J.’s car over the border so that I could drive my Wisconsin plated vehicle. Needless to say, we couldn’t find another available U.S. citizen to accompany us. We wound up calling back to A.J. and informing him that we were leaving his car at the Canadian marina, and would be driving my truck and trailer back through customs. We would then load up my boat, throw A.J. in the back seat, and bring him back into Canada to claim his vehicle.
The plan did work, but we once again had difficulties getting back into Canada with three different people who have known each other for less than 24 hours. I guess we looked suspicious. We were once again detained in the Canadian customs department for yet another 1/2 hour getting the boat inspected as well as drilled with questions about who we were. Thank goodness I tracked down the original customs agent who worked with us the first time, as she knew the circumstances and let us through in a more expedited time frame.
If that was not an example of a bad day - it only got worse when A.J., now through the Canadian customs, realized that he accidentally left his car keys on his desk (back in Detroit). Our response was simple - what do we do now? It was easily resolved by having one of the guys from the Detroit Marina drive a boat over the border and toss the keys onto Canadian soil. The plan worked, though the entire day of fishing had been shot down the drain. It was now almost 6:00 PM!
July 12, 2002
Day one of the Canadian Open would turn out to be a disaster as I spent the first half of the tournament trying to get my boat repaired. We spent the entire morning trying to get the problem resolved only to find out that the shift column had broken internally and it would not be able to be repaired for the sake of the tournament.
I spent the remainder of the afternoon trolling around the marinas near the launch site trying to pick up a disorientated smallmouth bass. The problem is, though, that the bass had all moved into deeper water. The water levels I was fishing in would not be holding too many bass (as we showed with a big fat zero at the weigh in). We did catch a few rock bass and another northern pike - but nothing that would weigh in for the day. I was, unfortunately, in dead last for the first day of competition - being the only pro angler with 0 lbs. on the first day. I knew my chances of placing in this tournament would be next to nil.
July 13, 2002
Fortunately, my amateur partner for the second day lived only miles from the tournament site and had a boat. We were able to use his, and pulled a 10.55 pound limit of smallmouth bass in to the weigh in stand. We had also collected several “short” smallies and a few other species of fish that day. The fish were all near the bottom of the lake (an area known as the “hump” on St. Clair) in a depth of 12 - 15 feet of water. It was a good sized limit for the day, but with my zero on day one - it ruled me out of competing on the third (and final) day of competition. The 10.55 pounds was enough to get my partner into the final round of competition, and we were thankful enough that he was able to advance to the final round. I was happy to see that there were a few other anglers on the pro side who I was still able to beat out with my one day’s catch, ensuring that I would not finish with a last place frown.
I headed home that evening immediately following the weigh-in, since I knew that I did not stand a chance in the event.
One point I would like to mention, though. If you should ever be fishing the Detroit River system - be sure to stop in at the Harbor Hill Marina for any food or fuel you may need. Many marinas are not too crazy about anglers, but Harbor Hill (as seen by my ventures) takes extra special care of them. They have gas pumps, as well as a fully stocked store with reasonable prices.
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