Local duo win walleye crown

EMO—District anglers Todd Grennier and Eric Lessman won the fifth-annual Emo Walleye Classic on Saturday—walking away with the $11,000 top prize.
Grennier, from Emo, and Lessman, of Devlin, caught a two-day total of 16.12 pounds—beating runners-up Jody Shypit (Devlin) and Gary Noga (Fort Frances) by a mere .04 pounds.
The win caught Grennier and Lessman completely off guard.
“We never quite expected to win,” Grennier said. “Our highest expectations were just to do well.”
Their Friday catch of 7.52 pounds, followed by Saturday’s total of 8.60, represented the most consistent fishing displayed by any of the 60 teams in the tournament.
But while Grennier and Lessman were consistent throughout the two-day event, they did not catch the big fish either day.
Eventual third-place finishers Dave Oldakowski (Ham Lake) and Sean Westman (Andover) landed the big fish Friday. The 4.46-pounder was part of the biggest basket of the day (9.84 pounds) that had given the team the lead heading into Day 2.
The ended up with a two-day total of 15.42 pounds.
Shypit and Noga reeled in the biggest walleye of the weekend (6.30 pounds) on Saturday. The monster walleye was part of the biggest basket on Day 2, weighing an impressive 9.82 pounds.
In the end, however, Shypit and Noga’s two-day total of 16.08 pounds was not enough to overtake Grennier and Lessman.
The winning team was all smiles as the initial shock of their impressive accomplishment began to wear off.
“Feeling great. That’s the only way you can really say this one,” said Lessman. “It wasn’t expected.”
“It’s starting to sink in a little bit more now. I’m realizing what we’ve done,” Grennier added.
Rounding out the top 10 were:
4. Trevor Croswell (Emo) and Bryan Hughes (Devlin)—15.30 pounds;
5. Dennis Smith (Devlin) and Marlin Carr (Emo)—11.32 pounds;
6. Ted Olson (Littlefork) and John Cann (International Falls)—10.50 pounds;
7. Ron Skyberg (Roseville) and Ed Carlson (Emo)—9.76 pounds;
8. Greg Bombay (Emo) and John Wappel (St. Cloud)—9.54 pounds;
9. Bill Godin (Devlin) and Ralph Galusha (Devlin)—9.12 pounds; and
10. Todd Baker (Emo) and Greg Stahn (Devlin)—9.06 pounds
Last year’s champs, Doug McBride and Steve Ballan, finished in 11th spot overall.
(Fort Frances Daily Bulletin)