The spotlight will be shining on Mitchell's Bay next weekend.
Canadian fishing legend Bob Izumi will be in the community to compete against local anglers in the Canadian Tire Mitchell’s Bay Open through July 7 and 8.
"Tournament fishing is all about making decisions on the fly for the conditions that you are faced with," said Izumi. "When we're out this year, I'm not going to try and fish history. I am going to try and find out what's going on for that day and its conditions."
Izumi and his son Darren competed in the open last year but didn't take home any of the prize money. This year, he said he plans to get a few days on the water prior to the event in order to figure out where the fish are moving.
"It's going to be a bit of a chess game," said Izumi. "We were the first loser last year. We were so close, like ounces out. We had a good average we just needed one more fish, we would have cashed a cheque but we were out of the money."
A total of 95 boats will roar out onto the water with 190 participants.
According to Izumi, Chatham-Kent has some of the greatest spots to fish in the region. He said because Chatham-Kent is located in the middle of a great lake, it's like the "heartbeat" of fishing.
"You have all of these arteries that come into a lake like Lake St. Clair and it just keeps it fertile," he said. "Fertile water like that makes for great fishing."
Aside from last year's tournament in Mitchell's Bay, Izumi said the last time he would've fished in a local tournament was about 1990 or 1991.
When asked about having an advantage, Izumi said he doesn't think he has an advantage being a local guy and having fished Lake St. Clair before because the fish have migrated to different spots and the anglers have improved over the years.
"This tournament fishing is very competitive and there's a lot of great anglers that fish the Mitchell's Bay open," said Izumi. "I'd like to make it worthwhile. It's such a wonderful event."