The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

10 £ ~ * Wednesday, July 12, 2000 THE OAKVILLE BEAVER D1 829-0018 One number. 24 hours a day E 9 S p o r t s 24 H our G ood Neighbour Servicen IW ln M M lim C a m W ed n esd a y You'll eat up our new menu! CHECK IT O U T ! c «m . LIV E ENTERTAINM ENT 'I D o r v a ia g E w 844-8703 EveryTriday An O akville Beaver Feature Editor: NORM NELSON Phone:845-3824, ext 255 Fax:337-5567 E-mail:nnelson@haltonsearch.com Gone fi$hing The lure o f com petitive fishing has hooked O akville's A ndrew Lee By Kathy Yanchus SPECIAL TO THE BEAVER Andrew Lee doesn't like the term pro, but that's what he is. "I prefer rookie pro," chuckles Lee, a 35-year-old IMAX troubleshooter who spends summer weekends culling rivers and lakes throughout Ontario and into the U.S., fishing for sport and the often lucra tive prize money. It's a borderline obsession that devel oped when Lee was a kid. He used to accompany his dad, a trout fisherman, on excursions, and he wiled away endless summer hours throwing a line into Bighead River, which ran behind the Lee's Meaford farm "Then we moved to Welland and I would spend every spare moment fishing in the rivers, the lakes." Eventually even his dad couldn't keep up with him. Fishing became Lee's escape from the everyday. "I love being outside. It was an excuse to explore new places. It was an excuse to go canoeing, camping and hiking." And Lee simply loved the challenge of fooling the fish into snatching the bait. There's something about fishing. Almost everyone experiences the thrill of throwing a line in the water at some point in their lives, says Lee. It's quality time. "Maybe it's the competitive nature of human beings...everyone enjoys fishing, some obviously more than others." Whether you're seated on the edge of a pier rod in hand, or part of a team cut ting through the waters in a $30,000 fish ing boat equipped with state-of-the-art gear, fishing is and always will be, com petitive. The objective is still the same the bigger, the better. That aspect of fish ing will never change; the great transfor mation is in the approach, and that does n't just mean the high-tech paraphernalia. A campaign of awareness and educa tion which ensures that fingerlings are hatched and released, and has prompted "99% of all fishermen" to adhere to the philosophy of catch and release, means plentiful stock, says Lee. "Sometimes the fish would end up on the table, but usually they'd be used to Photo by Riziero Vertolli Andrew Lee casts a lure from inside his $30,000 state-of-the-art fishing boat he uses in the professional Chevy Mariner Bass Tour. In his first full year of the tour, Lee finished third in the recent Canadian Open and has qualified for the upcoming $80,000 Canadian Classic at Bass Lake on the Labour Day weekend. show off then maybe thrown in the gar den." Species became depleted. The objec tive now, emphasizes Lee, is to have fish for the next generation and the next. `T h e Ministry has been working together with conservation groups and anglers so that the fishing in Ontario is better than it has ever been in my life time, and in the past, due to the education of anglers and sportsmen alike." The practise of stuffing a memorable catch and hanging it over the mantelpiece has been replaced by plastic and plaster sculptures molded from photos. It's even more important that the `big ones' get away, explains Lee, because they are contributors to the gene pool. Five years ago, Lee succumbed to his gnawing desire to become a professional fisherman. He joined the pro-am circuit where he was teamed with a professional to catch 20 pounds of fish within a five fish limit. "I met a lot of friends who had spe cialized boats. I learned everything I could. They (the pros) are responsible for my recent success." Subsequently, Lee took the plunge, bought himself a tournament boat with an array of special equipment and live wells, and "signed off as a rookie pro." In his first full year on the Chevy Mariner Bass Tour this year, he placed third at the recent Canadian Open held in Windsor, automatically qualifying him for next year's World Cup Challenge, always held in conjunction with the Canada Cup. "On day one of the competition I was 20th. I shot to second with the biggest bag of fish on day two. On day three I woke up almost sick because I was so nervous. I had no idea I was up that high." The thrilling part came during the final moments of competition when, with only 11 pounds in the live wells and a minimum of 15 pounds needed to stay in the top 10, Lee's amateur caught the big fish of the day, a 6 1/2 pound small mouth bass. "The biggest bass to that point was 5.2 pds. As soon as I saw that fish come to the surface, I said, `There's my new truck,"' laughs Lee. "That's how it can change so fast and that's how the ama teurs help the pros and the pros help the amateurs. That fish counted towards my total. My amateur caught one fish all day and that kept me in the game." In his debut pro season, Lee has also qualified for the Canadian Classic, Canada's largest bass tournament held Labor Day weekend at Bass Lake featur ing over $80,000 in cash and prizes and the top 60 fishermen from Canada and the U.S. Sound like an easy, carefree way to breeze through the summer? Gruelling is the term Lee uses to describe his week end hobby, rising well before the sun to prepare, spending up to eight hours each day for three consecutive days on waters that can become choppy and weather, miserable. That doesn't include pre-fish ing time spent scouting out areas with potential and devising a strategy based on unpredictable ingredients such as weath er, wind direction and speed, water clari ty and the mood of the fish. "There are strict rules. There is a time limit. If you're late (getting back) by one minute... you're docked one pound a minute." Fish must also come back alive, oth erwise competitors are penalized, he says. Your days are entirely dedicated to equipment andrishing, says Lee, and that doesn't include the travelling and finan cial outlay. "The goal of nine out of 10 people is to win enough money to pay their expenses," he says. With Lee's third place finish at the Canada Cup, he pocketed $6,000, "a pound" away from the $50,000 first prize money. The strategy during these tourna ments, explains Lee, is to catch five fish immediately and then spend the remain der of the day attempting to surpass that poundage. "You just keep catching fish to try and bring the weight up." All his vacation time is devoted to weekend* tournament' s both here and in the U.S. where competitions are dripping with sponsorship funds. With the gen-' erosity o f local sponsors, Car Parts Company and Oakville Tire and Auto: Service, plus Imax, MDI (Mtl) and Polaroid, and, for now, no family strings, Lee hitches up his boat trailer, and he's off in search of the elusive `big' ones. * "It's expensive and time-consuming. I figure why not do it now while I don't (have strings attached). It is a hobby but I have so much fun doing it. My goal is consistency." And when the fivers are frozen,-Lee not deterred, simply donning winter parka to ice fish. An angler could spend three lifetimes attempting to master this sport, says Lee. "If you knew what it was all about, you'd win every competition." We want your photos! Get your team photo published in The Oakville Beaver! Soccer... Or lacrosse, or baseball or ball hockey or football .... The Oakville Beaver will help celebrate your teams season with a special section dedicated entirely to the boys and girls of summer sports. The special section will feature plenty of action shots snapped by our award winning photographers throughout the fields of Oakville. And we're also extending an invitation for teams to submit a colour team photo of themselves. We'll print all the names under the photo (list names right to left, back row to front row) and briefly tell us the highlights of the season so far and what the team has accomplished this year. And yes your photos can be returned to you. This is the fourth of many special sections The Oakville Beaver will bring to you, focusing on the wonderful world of sports at the grass roots level. Meanwhile, be sure to read the Oakville Beaver for regular reports on our house league and rep teams. FALL REGISTRATION Begins July 17th 9:00 a.m. ·Artistic ·Rhythmic ·Kindergym ·Birthday parties Call About O u r Exciting Sum m er Cam ps · C ym nastics Centre Voted #1 Kindercamp 1/2 Day Camp Deadline to Submit: Friday July 21st T h e O akville B eaver CENTRE 8 4 5 -3 8 2 4 220 Wyecroft Road Unit 52 842-ELFS (842-3537)