Renegade is Eastern Ontario’s premier Bass tournament series.  Orchestrating a pro-am Bass tournament team event at the beginning of each season is just one of the ways Renegade primes the pump to ensure a steady stream of future members.  Matching those new to competitive tournament fishing with experienced pros wets the appetite of amateurs and passes on important knowledge needed to fish tournaments that have more on the line than bragging rights.  In Renegade’s case, the team winning the classic bags a brand-new Ranger Bass boat powered with an E-TEC outboard.

As an amateur participant I was fortunate to have aboard the Blind Fishing Boat, Lorne Cugrue, 1/2 of the Renegade Classic winning team from 2010.  we set off in my brand-new Ranger Reata 1850 equipped by Orleans Boat World with an Evinrude 175HP E-TEC outboard.  Lorne loves speed and holds numerous motorcycle speed records and, as I was soon to find out, applies his love of speed to the sport of fishing.  Joining us on board was our observer and colour commentary contributor, Maestro my 7-year old Burnese Mountain Guide Dog.

Our strategy for the start of the day involved ripping rattle baits over emerging weed growth in 6-8 feet of water for Smallies.  Lorne believes that by working cranks quickly it’s more likely to stimulate reaction bites from Bass and results in fewer Pike being caught.  While each of us did pick up a Pike working cranks, far more Bass were brought to the boat.

After quickly adding some chunky Smallmouth to the livewell we turned our attention to some of the shallower bays.  With the sun staying behind the clouds most of the day, water temperatures never did climb enough to draw the Bass in, which we were soon to discover.  Lorne’s not one to spend time picking apart structure when it’s obvious the Bass just aren’t home.

With the late spring weed growth was sparse, but we were able to find some Lilly Pads forming along some of the steeper shorelines which proved to be holding Bass.  Funnily enough though, the larger pockets of Lilies sheltering the shallower areas proved barren.

Lorne knew of some mid-lake humps that Bass often frequented, and we executed several passes with Lorne tossing stick baits and my working a Carolina rig with a craw.  The areas around the humps were also thin on weeds and offered up mixed results.  We finished the day by making several more passes throwing cranks along the initial shoreline where we had first picked up the Smallies.

IN all 31 teams participated in the event.  While no cash prizes were awarded, in every other respect the weigh-in unfolded as a true tournament event with on-stage interviews conducted by Ed Han and all the tension of a real event.  The complementary BBQ was a nice touch as well.  Participation in the Renegade Pro-Am is certainly well worth the investment as I don’t think there was anyone that left feeling disappointed — well, maybe everyone, with the exception of this year’s winning team, would have liked to catch more and bigger fish, but that’s just the nature of the sport.  A big thanks to Lorne and the Renegade organization for supporting my participation in the event.  Who knows, maybe some day I’ll be one of the Renegade pros taking out an amateur.