Marina and Morgan Cignini Win amBASSadors Cup
By Wil Wegman
October 9, 2005 , on a cold and windy day that made it rough even for Lake Couchiching , Marina and her husband Morgan won their 2nd amBASSadors Cup Tournament. The former students of the Successful Bass Fishing Course taught at Seneca College brought in 14.87 pounds for their five fish limit. They also caught the big bass of the day at 3.62 pounds. We caught up with Morgan and Marina after the tournament and asked them how they caught their fish as well as how they got into competitive angling. Here's what we learned about one of the finest young tournament couples in the province.
At the 2005 amBASSadors Cup weigh-in, Morgan explained that Marina did most of the catching but he did manage to get a few on gold Rapala Husky Jerks and white spinner baits. When things died down with the reaction baits it was time for Marina to shine with her finesse presentation which also yielded the larger fish. Marina explained that, “Basically I got mine by drop-shotting a small little copper colored Storm Rattle finesse worm. They would hit fairly hard too which was kind of cool, and in depths from six to 12 feet. I thought I blew the tournament for us though when I had a really big bass on - much bigger than the 3.62 pounder and it went under the boat. Somehow it got stuck and broke free." Fortunately for the husband and wife fishing duo, they didn't need that bass to win as their closest competitors Marc and Carlos Coratti in 2 nd place, came in with just 12.59 pounds of bass.
Morgan and Marina took the Successful Bass Fishing Course at Seneca College in the fall of 2002 when Morgan had just moved back home from working in Montreal for two years. Marina was scheduled to move down from Montreal later that fall so she did a few classes by "correspondence” and came for the last two plus the tournament. Since then they have quickly become one of the most popular teams along the Bassmania Tournament Circuit and have fished it regularly since 2003. In their initial year on the circuit they did well enough to become the Rookie Team of the Year.
How They Started Fishing:
Marina always went fishing with her dad as a child, as did Morgan on the small pond at the family farm. Morgan's pond originated from a small creek that ran through the property and was fed by many natural springs. It was stocked with rainbow trout and native chub. “I would spend countless days fishing with my sister trying to see who could catch the biggest fish. It was always a competition... and I think this later spawned my love of tournament fishing. As I grew older into my teenage years, fishing took a back seat to soccer, school, girls etc. And as luck would have it, I only picked it up again when I met Marina .”
When he was trying to get a date with Marina he found out she liked fishing. “At that point I hadn't been fishing since I was a kid... but I got up enough courage to ask her out on a date one summer and I decided to make it a fishing date on the Ottawa River . We caught two smallmouth on a "Little Cleo" and never looked back.” After that they enjoyed many more episodes of shore fishing for catfish and fishing from numerous rented tin cans in Montreal .
Go Shopping … Or Go Fishing?
Marina grew up as the only daughter of a hunter/fisherman and her choices for the weekend were either fishing with her dad or shopping with her mother. “When my mother realized she would never have a shopping partner, she gave in and fishing became a family affair. We did most of our fishing on the Ottawa River at the Carillon Dam on the border between Quebec and Ontario . I can't remember what kind of fish we would catch but spending endless summer days fishing with my family is something that still bonds us to this day”.
After spending two summers fishing out of a rental boat in Montreal , Morgan came home and bought a used bass boat. Marina eventually joined him and they spent all of their time fishing out of the Moon River Basin near Mactier and at Six Mile Lake . Morgan explained, “We soon realized we were two very competitive individuals who pushed each other to always out-do one another. “ Something they still do to help them stay on top of their game to this day.
Morgan concluded by saying “After we took the bass course we saw there was a Bassmania tournament scheduled on Six Mile Lake the next summer and decided we would do the whole western series and see how things played out. After the Wildcard on Simcoe with only three pounds we almost quit. We were overwhelmed by the lake, the anglers and the competitiveness. We stuck to it though and came in 9th the next day on Dalrymple and won Six Mile Lake two weeks later. Now it seems all we do is think fish. I proposed and subsequently honeymooned on Lake Okeechobee . We go down there twice a year when we feel the itch in the dead of winter.”
Tournament Accomplishments to date:
2003
Bassmania: Dalrymple 9th, Six Mile Lake 1st, Classic top 25, Rookie team of the year
amBASSador's Cup 1st
2004
Bassmania: Sixmile Lake 3rd, Gloucester pool 12th, Classic Qualifier
2005
Bassmania: Lake Muskoka 9th, Classic top 25
Pro Bass: Rice Lake 6th
amBASSador's Cup 1st
Sponsors: Pure Metal Galvanizing, Rapala, Ernie Dean GMC - Alliston, Welders Depot, Target Sports Center, All Railings, Northland Motel
The amBASSadors Cup is a bi-annual tournament for the students of Wil Wegman's Successful Bass Fishing Course taught thru the Continuing Education Department of Seneca College. Operating since 1986, the amBASSadors Cup is one of the longest running continuous bass tournaments in Canada and is open only for former students of the course. The next series of bass classes at Seneca will be in April 2006. |
