Canadian fishing legend “Big” Jim McLaughlin visits Ompah

Jun 30, 2010

Canadian sport fishing legend “Big” Jim McLaughlin at the Ompah Community Hall

Denis Bedard and Rose Boivin, owners of the Double S Sports Marina in Ompah and hosts of the seventh annual Palmerston Lake Bass Fishing Derby, thrilled area anglers when they invited Canadian sport fishing legend “Big” Jim McLaughlin to the event this past weekend. Jim, who came armed with 50 free rods to hand out to young derby goers, spoke at the Ompah hall on Friday night. Proceeds from the event went to the North Frontenac Christmas parade.

McLaughlin's contributions to fishing in Canada include hosting countless children’s events, donations to charities, publishing his very own magazine “Just Fishing”, as well as hosting the “Ultimate Fishing Show” on television. He is a world champion bass fisherman and has won two Canadian Classic championships plus many tournaments too numerous to mention.

McLaughlin proved himself also to be an entertaining and humorous storyteller, with a bit of the philosopher in him. He shared with the crowd plenty of information and advice to improve their fishing.

Number one on his list was ”Always strive to think and adapt to all situations”. Jim stressed, “Fish love options and often the best place to be on any lake in a tournament is the place that offers the fish the most variable landscapes”.

He covered wacky rigging and “drop shotting”; the latter, according to Jim, is “the number one and simplest method for catching small mouth bass in North America”. All you need is a rod, a reel, a line, one sinker and plastic bait. The bait is hooked so that it presents itself just up off the bottom all of the time (for more detailed information, Google drop shotting).

He covered quick fixes for twisted lines and tangled rods, which can save much time and aggravation. For the former, never spin your reel unless you’re bringing in a fish. He said that most fish are lost when the line goes slack, so keep it taut. “So many little things you do can ruin your day and waste a lot of valuable fishing time even if you have the best gear.”

To stop rods getting tangled Jim demonstrated how you simply tighten the line and spin the rod so that the line wraps itself around it - a seemingly simple tip but one worth its weight in gold.

Similarly, chasing a big fish by the tail with a net will almost always end in disaster. “I've seen that ruin so many good fishing days. All you do is touch their tail with the net and away they go.”

Putting an end to bad habits was also advised - like leaving your rods in the car or in tarped-over boats where the heat and the sun will damage them over time.

Hooking your lures on the rod guides is another bad habit to drop since rods left this way tend to rattle in a moving boat or car and will dent the guides and cause problems later on.

Bait casters should always drop slowly, and when casting you should never be trying to “kill it.” Jim demonstrated how one should cast with the same strength that you have when you place a water bottle in the pit of your casting arm. “You never need more force that that.”

Marker buoys are invaluable for marking areas in the lake since it is always hard to relocate a spot with or without shore guides.

Other good advice - always retie knots when they first appear frayed so they don't break the next time you have a catch.

He also recommended using a number of smaller inexpensive plastic tackle boxes instead of one large more expensive one. Much easier to sort and to manage and you can take with you just the boxes that you need for certain occasions.

Another point he brought home: “Never cast over good stuff to get to good stuff.” You end up upsetting the fish closer to you and he reminded the crowd that most fish you catch are never that far away from you.

His other general advice: “Everything works sometimes.” He encouraged the crowd to always mix it up, try different-sized lures, different techniques, and different spots to fish.

No doubt after his talk derby goers were even more pumped to get out on the lake and put some of Jim's tried, tested and true advice to their own tests.