Weather factor in fishing, By LAUREL BEAGER

Windy, wet and cold were three words used frequently Friday and Saturday during the fourth International Falls Bass Championship.
For some anglers, the weather played a role in their catch, but for winners Dave Bennett and Mike Salvador, Souix Narrows, the weather worked $10,000 to their favor.
“We got the big one right away this morning, and that bought us a little time, we stuck with it,” Bennett said. “We fished pretty shallow most of the time and we fished real slow. Then we started hitting windy points.”
Salvador joked that they really had no choice but to fish the wind. “We fished hard for two days, didn’t give up, tried not to waste any time in the boat, just kept a line wet at all times, and it paid off big,” he said.
At a loss for words, Bennett finally said, “I’m so exited.”
The team led the field of 60 on Day 1 with a bag of 16 pounds, 53 ounces, and took a total two-day weight of 27.08 in the live release smallmouth bass tournament. (For full results, see the Web site at http://www.ifallsbass.com/)
Second place went to Doug McBride, Fort Frances, and Tom Forstrom, with 25.14 pounds and third place went to 2005 winners Scott Dingwall, Dryden, and Jeff Gustafson, Kenora, who brought it 24.72 pounds.
Dingwall and Gustafson held the lead Saturday until McBride and Forstrom bumped them from the stage.
“It was rocking and rolling in Sand Bay,” Gustafson said. “But we got our fish and we were pretty happy.”
Chip Leer said family, friends and good fishing brings him back to serve as master of ceremonies each year.
“No. 1 is fabulous fishing, the diversity of the lake and river and uniqueness of the event,” he said. “What’s really neat is the fact that a lot of independent events and circuits are having difficulty filling their field. This field is full. Today’s day and age, difficult times that they are, that’s saying a lot and this crew and committee can be very proud of that.”
Adaptation is the name of the game at the event, said Leer. “You have to adapt to change, between the river and the lake, adapt to weather front situations. For those on the lake Day 1, it works to their advantage to be off the lake on Day 2.”
Dale Labelle and Karl Howells, the 2007 champions, took 18th place with 19.89 pounds of fish. They have never finished less than third at the event.
“You’ve got to be pretty diversified and work real hard,” Labelle said of finishing well in the championship.
Falls anglers Jason Pavleck and Shawn Sirotiak came in 19th place with 19.89 pounds, and one big surprise.
Pavleck caught a 6.24 pound largemouth bass at Kettle Falls, making for a new large fish of the tournament record. With no net in the boat, Pavleck said he flipped the big fish into the boat, thinking it was a smallmouth.
Falls angler Tom Burri and his partner Eric Altena showed a bag of big fish from their boat as they were pulled into the tent with the other top teams. But Burri explained that the fish wouldn’t count as the team returned late and were disqualified.
“We’ve got a watch for sale for $10,000. Anybody want it?” he joked. “We learned a lesson today and had a blast.”
Local anglers John Cann and Ted Olson finished in 30th place and fished Rainy River Saturday. A large drop in water levels on the river played a role in their catch.
“We had been prefishing on the other side of the Manitou and heard rumors that the river dropped 16 inches (Friday) and we didn’t believe it,” said Cann. “So we could not fish where we wanted to fish. We ended up fishing on this side of the Black (River). We struggled, be we got our five.”
Olson said the tournament brought tough fishing. “The river gave us a curve ball,” he said. “There was a lot of wind. We had waves coming over the boat. There is no water, so you’re almost bottoming out. But we had fun.”
Bill York of Fort Frances and daughter Christina Dowty of International Falls took 23rd place with 18.77 pounds.
“It was windy, cold and wet, but we caught fish,” she said. Dowty said she learned how to fish bass at about 10 years old using top water lures. “I was addicted.”