Emo couple celebrated anniversary at tourney

Frank and Cheryl Curtis chose a less-than-conventional way of celebrating their 33rd anniversary Sunday by competing together in the fourth-annual “Castin’ for Cash” tournament at Lake Despair.
The Emo couple had never fished a tournament together before. In fact, she had never fished a tournament period.
And yet, she caught more fish then he did on Sunday.
“Our son usually fishes the tournament with Frank, but he couldn’t,” recalled Cheryl. “So Frank says, ‘Well, that’s okay because we have to go to the cabin and stuff.’
“So then I said, ‘Well, what’s wrong with us going? It’s our anniversary and all, why don’t we go try this?’ So we did.”
The couple certainly bore the brunt of a few jokes over the weekend—most of them courtesy of tournament emcee Lionel Robert, who would taunt the couple every time they stepped on-stage, asking, “So, are you still married?”
But Lake Despair Lodge owners Bill and Nellie Godin rose to the occasion by presenting the couple with a pot of flowers and a card signed by most of the other anglers.
The couple also won the award for top male/female team, earning them an iron-works Lake Despair bass sign, courtesy of Universal Enterprise.
“The weekend was great,” said Frank. “Great weather, we missed the storm. I wished my son was there a few times, but . . .” he said, laughing.
“We had good catches. We missed fish through our own fault, we should’ve weighed a lot better, but we were there for a good time. It was fun.”
One of the fish they missed was on Saturday when a committee boat was circling the lake, checking in on the anglers. Cheryl turned to glance at the boat right after a good hit—and lost it.
So Robert later chided her at the weigh-in.
“He told me that I was supposed to pay attention to fishing,” said Cheryl. “Then he said, ‘Did you take my advice?’ and I said, ‘No, I never listen to a man.’”
“That’s true,” her husband joked. “Lionel deserves everything he gets back, and he’s gonna get it paid back sometime.
“He’s a nice guy, but paybacks are good,” he added, laughing.
The couple went out three times to pre-fish—once a month ago and twice this past week.
Frank said the biggest scare was going through the chute in the Mile River. “She was freaking, and giving orders and. . . .”
“No I wasn’t!” protested Cheryl.
She also disagreed with him once on the water—and it turned out she was right.
“I had a favourite jig and I won’t say the colour or anything, but it was sorta a girly colour,” said Cheryl, casting a smirk towards her husband. “I called it candy floss but it was really ‘cotton candy.’
“Well, he didn’t want me to throw it at all, but I did catch three fish on it.”
But they did agree it was a lot of fun and a great way to spend their anniversary. So good, in fact, that they stayed an extra night.
“We want to thank Bill and Nellie, they were super—they put on a great tournament and we’d like to help sponsor them next year,” said Frank. “It was just a fun time, super tournament, beautiful weather.
“A great weekend.”