Rick Damphouse tasted victory at the Canadian Tire Mitchell’s Bay Open bass tournament, but the 10th anniversary event holds some pretty special memories.
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Damphouse, who won the tournament in 2015, was in contention after the first day with his fishing partner, 14-year-old son Berkley, born with Down syndrome.
Their 21-plus pound catch of five bass had them sitting in fourth place after Friday’s opening day of fishing. However, the just over 14 pounds they caught on Saturday was not enough to win.
The Damphouse father and his team were the final boat to weigh in on Saturday and turned out to be one of the most popular teams as people crowded in to get a photo of them with their haul of bass.
When asked what it was like to fish with Berkley in the tournament, with a voice filled with emotion, Damphouse said, “I’m blessed.
“I’m probably the most blessed human in the world to be able to have Berkley, let alone be able to come out here and fish with him for the week (pre-fishing) and weekend,” he added.
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Berkley was by no means just tagging along in the tournament, because the youngster can pull his weight when it comes to fishing, having practically been born with a fishing rod in his hand.
His Facebook page and that of his mom Stacey McBride are filled with photos of Berkley catching not only massive bass, but other species such as pickerel and pike over the years.
When asked what it was like to fish with his dad in the tournament, Berkley said, “It was fun.”
“I’m pretty proud of him, he’s come such a long way,” Damphouse said. “He’s doing so good on his own, catching fish in places that other people have a hard time.”
He added to see Berkley gravitate to the outdoors and accomplish goals “it’s pretty neat to watch it unfold.”
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Although they dropped to 18th Out of 79 teams, the father-son duo took home the Perseverance Award.
“There wasn’t a dry eye in the crowd,” said Carol Ann Belanger, an organizer of the tournament.
She added it was a great tournament with huge crowds and a lot of great memories.
Damphouse has fished the Mitchell’s Bay Open since it began.
“This is the best tournament in Southwestern Ontario hands down,” he said. “This is the smoothest run, biggest tournament.”
He said the incredible community support for the tournament can be seen with the number of volunteers who take part in making it happen.
Damphouse said he plans to return to Berkley for next year’s tournament to try to bring home a championship.
This year’s tournament was won by the team of Erick Hodgins and Mark Piche with a two-day catch of 10 bass totaling 42.43 pounds. The angling duo got it done this year after finishing second twice in the tournament in 2019 and 2021.
In fact, the top five teams all landed 10 bass weighing a total of more than 40 pounds.
The biggest bass of the tournament weighed in at 5.95 pounds, caught by the team of Bill Hamilton and Jeff Wickens, who placed eighth with a total catch of 38.29 pounds.
The final results show 735 bass were weighed in the catch and release tournament totaling 2,416.17 pounds, which was an average weight of 30.21 pounds per team.
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