Derek Strub: Fishing from childhood to champion

“You need 16 pounds to win.”

Those words ran through Derek Strub’s mind along with thoughts of his dad and child­hood fishing trips as he ner­vously waited to see his five bass weighed at the Kingston Canadian Open of Fishing, Canada’s premier bass tournament. He thought he had more than that weight, but, as he said in an interview a few days later, until the scale tips, an angler is never sure exactly what he’s got or where he will finish.

He was the last person to be weighed in. The three day tournament is a pro-am, which means pro­fessional anglers fish with a different amateur partner for three days. The pros were competing for a $40,000 first place prize; the ama­teurs for $20,000 in prize merchandise. The weigh-in is a ceremonial part of the tournament. People crowd around the stage to watch it.

On the first day, Strub was 21st, with 18 pounds for five smallmouth bass. A spectacular sec­ond day, 23 pounds, saw him leap into first. The top ten anglers are on stage for the final weigh-in on the last day, starting with tenth place, and down to the second day leader.

Strub’s total that last day was 20.04 pounds – and he won the tournament he has been chasing for years. He had top ten finishes in it and won many other tournaments, but the Open had always eluded him. It took a four pound average fish to win. Strub noted a three pound average had the angler 15th, and a two pound average was 60th – out of 80 boats. Only the top 20 anglers win cash, and 20th might cover the entry fee.

Strub grew up in Elora and started fishing at a young age – “probably since I could walk.” His dad, William, took him camping and fishing on week­ends all sum­mer and, “I’ve been fishing as long as I can remember. Spring and fall, we did Thornbury. We camped all summer. We were always fish­ing. That’s what we did.”

Looking back at those days with his dad, Strub said, “I don’t think I appreciated it at the time – but down the road I sure did.”

They chas­ed fish from camps and weekdays Strub got on his bike and fished brook trout streams around Elora. The Strubs also chased “a lot of walleye and a lot of bass.”

What his dad did in those early years set him on his life’s course. He atten­ded Centre Wellington District Secondary School and headed to Sir San­d­ford Fleming College, near Lind­say, known for years for send­ing graduates to work at the Ministry of Natural Re­sources. Strub studied Parks, Recre­ation and Forestry there. In summers, he worked at Elora Gorge Park. Then he worked for the GRCA part time, and a year later he was hired on full time.

At school, Strub met his first bass partner, Dean Mc­Fadden. “We started fishing out of a souped-up canoe in the Scugog River. We got the bass bug,” Strub remembered.

They heard about a bass tournament and finished fourth – in the money – and, “I’ve been fishing tournaments ever since.”

Win­ning cash immediately put them on their way for the next 10 years, but they learned it would not be a cinch. “At our first tournament, we thought, ‘This is easy.’ The next four tournaments, we did nothing at all. We realized then it was not easy to catch fish on cue. We took our lumps. We got more experienced at it.”

Strub and McFadden fished together for 10 years, a long time for such a partnership. Meanwhile, he was working his way up to Park Superin­ten­dent at the GRCA’s Belwood Lake, while McFadden was do­ing the same thing at the GRCA’s park at Conestogo Lake. After McFadden decided to step down from tourna­ments, Strub partnered with Al Patton,  who now owns a fishing resort in British Colum­bia, and who has also won the Open. Soon after that partnership started, tour­naments adopted a format where pros fished with amateurs.

In his last day at the Cana­dian Open, Strub fished with Stuart Naylor, of Hamil­ton, who won the amateur side of the tournament and the $20,000 worth of boats and hard­ware.

“I think I made a friend for life,” Strub said with a smile.

They used tube jigs and drop shots for their successful final day.

During those days of pro-am, occasionally there were team tournaments available to the pros, and Strub was sur­prised and pleased to be asked to join Bob Izumi, a fishing legend who has been hosting his own TV show for years and is known all over Canada as a top bass angler.

Izumi also invited Strub onto his TV show, which blew him away and, more importantly, in tour­na­ments, they finished no low­er than third in their first half dozen, giving them a good feeling about the part­nership.

Izumi said of Strub, “Derek is one of the best smallmouth anglers in the country. I really enjoy fishing team tournaments with him because we are both very competitive … it’s kind of funny as we both feel we should be the captain of the boat, which makes an interesting chemistry.

“The real key to our success as a team has been that we both are very analytical in our ap­proach, as well as we push each other to do well.”

Strub was honoured to fish with Izumi. “It was a career highlight when he asked me,” he said. “It’s been a lot of fun.”

Tournament fishing

“You don’t start at the top,” is how Strub described reaching the high end of his sport.

He remembers the first thing he did after graduation was to buy a small pick-up, boat and motor. Then he be­gan fishing in regional bass tournaments. They are differ­ent than derbies. In derbies, the biggest fish wins – which means anyone can get lucky – including first-time anglers. In a tournament, an angler has to be consistently good over two or three days. Luck has little to do with it. The biggest fish counts only its weight; the angler with many consistently good catches is the one win­ning money in a sport that costs a good deal.

Strub said getting started by entering regional events like the Canadian Bass Anglers Federation al­lows people with­out boats to compete. En­try fees range from about $100 to $150. He said such events are “scattered all over. You can fish all summer without a boat in club events,” he said.

Then there is the serious side – the one suc­cessful re­gion­al anglers strive for – such as the Kingston Cana­dian Open of Fishing. It runs three days, but anglers like Strub “prac­tised” seven to ten days prior to the start. That means heavy costs, start­ing with a $1,000 entry fee, hotels and meals, plus time off work. Anglers burn be­tween $100 and $200 a day in gas during prac­tice and the tourna­ment. Sponsorship is crucial. Boats are worth thousands of dollars, and motors are more. Strub uses Humming­bird, which he calls the best fish and structure find­er. It has satellite technology. He has a 22-foot walleye boat, and credit­ed it with with helping him win the tournament.

On the last two days, he was well out onto Lake Ontario fishing in waves six to eight feet high. A lot of smaller bass boats could not withstand those conditions. He gambled he knew where the big fish were, and that he could catch them. Top anglers also have top tanks for holding the catch – to protect the fish.

When they reach five fish and catch another, the smallest one goes back, and the larger one goes into a climate controlled tank. The fish are released unharmed after the weigh-ins – and Strub said there are severe penalties for injured or dead fish. Anglers handle them as gently as possible.

Strub per­son­ally rigs 20 to 25 fishing rods for each day of the tournament. If a lure gets wonky, or a tube jig gets tatter­ed, he can change rods without having to waste time tying on lures. Time is money.

“At the upper end, it’s very expensive fishing,” he admitt­ed. “People are fishing with the best boats money can buy. You invest, so you can buy the best you can get.”

He explained prac­tising.

“We’re not really ‘prac­tising.’ We’re looking for areas where the bass live – where the big fish school. We’re putting together a plan for three days of competition.”

That includes figuring weath­er conditions and which sites will be best in heat, high winds or low winds, rain or clouds. Strub estimated that he fished at 40 of his practice locations during the tourna­ment. He had 150 to choose from when he set out every morning at 7am. The tournament ends every day at 3pm sharp, and it is a pound a minute penalty for being late to the dock.

“Being late is not an option,” he said.

Bass Pro

Having reached the elite of the sport several years ago, Strub has many sponsors and also lots of promotional work besides his work at Belwood Lake. Carstar, the collision service, is his biggest sponsor. Bass Pro Shops had him dem­onstrating new lures when it opened its huge store in Vaughn a few years ago. He is also sponsored by Shimano and Rapala.

He presents a number of fishing semi­nars every year, and he has a pair of top five finishes in Ameri­can bass tourna­ments, which are ex­tremely competitive. The U.S. invented the bass tour­na­ments and there are major dollars in­volved there.

In the meantime, he is deal­ing with the aftermath of his latest win. A friend of his sent emails to dozens of media out­lets and Strub had hundreds of phone messages and emails waiting for him when he re­turned with the title.

He said the $40,000 first prize will come in handy. He said he and his wife, Jen, had been planning an addi­tion to their Elora home. He also thanked his family for tremendous support over the years. He spends a lot of time away from home and such support is crucial.

Of course, the season isn’t over yet. There are still a number of events coming in the rest of the summer and fall, keeping bass anglers busy chas­ing fish and prizes on the bass trail; all of them waiting to hear those weigh-in words, “You need … ”

 

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