Following two days of fishing, and more technical issues than any angler wants to deal with, Mike Maxton and Dylan Ossachuk were crowned the 2025 Champions of the Emo Walleye Classic on Saturday night.
Maxton and Ossachuk, Team #41 in last weekend’s Emo Walleye Classic, took home the grand prize with a two day total weight of 21.29 pounds. While their efforts on day one of the tournament earned them the top spot with 13.18 pounds heading into Saturday’s fishing, it was a hard fought catch owing to several setbacks.
“We were going down the river at about 50 miles an hour, and then your boat decides it doesn’t want to go anymore, so it shuts itself down and starts beeping and whistles are going off,” Maxton recalled.
Patrick and Waylon Mills, front left and front centre, were the recipients of the first annual Frank Grunewald Sportsmanship Award, presented by Grunewalds’ son Sean, back centre, and longtime fishing partner Frank McWhinnie. – Allan Bradbury, Ken Kellar photos
“So we figured out that it wasn’t getting oil from the main reservoir to the motor, so the pump wasn’t going or a plugged filter. I’ve had this happen before, being in lots of tournaments, so you just have to manually fill the motor up, and you can run for 20 – 30 minutes and then you have to fill it up again. So you’re not stranded, but it’s a pain in the butt trying to get back and forth.”
Even with a functional, if finicky, motor, the duo were again up against mechanical issues as they neared the end of Friday’s fishing action.
“To top it off yesterday, we limped back to Emo and we were fishing around the boat launch because we were worried about making it back in time, and the battery’s dead,” Ossachuk said.
“So we had to jump it. The fishing was amazing, the boat problems… I was telling Mike that I’ve never seen such a dumpster fire of a day be so good for fishing.”
Thankfully, Ossachuk was able to borrow his dad’s boat for day two fishing, helping Team #41 avoid the headaches they experienced on day one. Rather than technical issues, however, their day two was plagued with that worst outcome of tournament fishing: fish that just won’t bite.
“Today was tough,” Maxton said of Saturday’s fishing, a sentiment echoed by many of the teams who took to the Emo Walleye Classic stage to comment on their luck.
“We stayed until the last possible minute we could, and we didn’t have our fourth fish in the boat until about half an hour before the end of the day, but we stuck it out. It was like we were gonna live or die in that spot, and it paid off.”
Maxton noted they didn’t do anything special to pull off their impressive day two catch of 8.11 pounds, noting there have been plenty of tournaments he’s fished where it all comes down to which lucky angler catches the big fish they need to take the title. Other years he said he’s watched his competitors land the big one; this year, the right fish responded to them, rather than the other hooks in the water.
The pair are no strangers to tournament fishing in the Rainy River District, with Maxton a repeat competitor in Emo alongside his son, and Ossachuk with a previous fishing tournament attempt under his belt. However, this is the first time the pair have entered a tournament together, and it all came down to the wire thanks to a snag in Maxton’s original plan.
“This is the second tournament I’ve ever fished,” Ossachuk said.
“Mike was looking for a partner, and it was Wednesday night, the day before we had to sign up for the rules meeting, and I said, ‘well, why not?’ And I couldn’t be more happy with the way things turned out. Mike is a great partner and he has a lot of tournament experience. It was great to learn some things from him as I went along.”
“Normally I fish with my son,” Maxton said.
“He had to guide this weekend. If he decides to guide again next year, then I’ll take [Ossachuk] back in a heartbeat. Or they might have to wrestle. But we had a great time. Dylan did really good and we just had a lot of fun.”
In addition to taking the 2025 Emo Walleye Classic championship, Maxton and Ossachuk were also the recipients of the tournament’s Rookie Award, owing to Ossachuk being a first time competitor in Emo.
Following Maxton and Ossachuk on the leaderboard at the end of this year’s Emo Walleye Classic were Robert Turner and Paul Tilson in second place with 17.81 pounds, Oliver Gibbons and Les Morrison in third place with 15.38 pounds, Cody and Jack Drennan in fourth place with a total of 14.93 pounds and Callum and Zander McCormick taking the fifth place spot with 14.92 pounds. The McCormicks were also the winners of the Young Angler Award.
In a special award presentation at the end of the tournament, organizers presented a brand new prize in memory of an Emo Walleye Classic stalwart. The first ever Frank Grunewald Sportsmanship Award, in memory of longtime Emo Walleye Classic competitor Frank Grunewald, was given to the team nominated by all the competing teams for displaying integrity and respect throughout their time fishing the Rainy River. The first recipients of the Frank Grunewald Sportsmanship Award were Patrick and Waylon Mills.
Other award recipients during Saturday night’s presentation included: Cody and Jack Drennan, who received the Elmer Haglin Award; Ted Heyens and Kelvin Caul received the Most Improved Team award for improving their day one to day two standing by 23 places; Carter Robinson and Ryan Redford landed the Day One Hidden Weight prize of 4.55 pounds; Alex Kreger and Rex Tolton took home the Day Two Hidden Weight prize at 3.26 pounds; and Jim and Jessica Steele won the Early Bird Prize.
