Ken Johnston
For the second time in as many years, Jason and Oliver Gibbins captured the Rainy River Walleye Tournament (RRWT) on Saturday with nearly the same weight as last year.
The pair were in second place after Day 1 on Friday with 14.12 pounds—about half-a-pound behind Danny and Bryce Godin (14.74).
But the defending champs pretty much clinched the crown again this year when they returned to the dock with a 7.13-pound lunker just 20 minutes after they launched Saturday morning.
That gave them 21.25 pounds in total.
Since the top five from Day 1 were held back until the end, the story that unfolded Saturday afternoon as the other 85 teams weighed in became very clear as very few fish were caught.
Some 32 teams failed to weigh in a fish on Day 2—more than double the number that were skunked on Friday.
As none of the remaining 53 teams would unseat the Gibbins, it was left to the four other boats in the top five.
The first to visit the scales was the fifth-place team from Friday. Cliff Westover and Mark Jodoin had 12.33 pounds on the first day and weighed in a respectable 9.30 pounds on Saturday—enough to take the lead from the Gibbins at 21.63 pounds.
The inaugural RRWT champ, Brian Ney, and his partner, Jim Ney, were fourth on Day 1 with 12.62 pounds. They also had a decent basket of fish Saturday, but the 8.25 pounds only totalled them up at 20.87.
Wayne Angus and Rick Pruys, who had 13.15 pounds thanks to two beautiful fish on Day 1, were next to weigh in. They had four fish, but just 4.17 pounds.
The Gibbins were next to take the stage. Adding to the 7.13 pounds they had earlier in the day, they needed mere ounces to knock Westover and Jodoin off the podium and they got it—weighing in two more fish to add another 1.17 pounds for a total weight of 22.42.
The only thing team left to keep them from winning their third RRWT crown, and second in a row, was the top duo from Day 1.
Dan Godin and his son, Bryce, caught their four fish on Saturday but they were only small ones weighing 3.17 pounds.
Oliver Gibbins was in complete shock after it was announced they were the 2009 RRWT champs and $15,000 richer!
“I just can’t believe it,” he said. “Wow, I am in shock.”
Despite catching the big one early on Day 2, the pair weren’t sure what to expect.
“Lisa [Stone] caught that big one about 20 yards from us,” noted Jason Gibbins.
Stone caught the biggest fish of the derby (9.41 pounds) not long after the Gibbins had reeled up their monster. However, those lunkers would prove to be the exception for the day—even for the Gibbins.
“This was the toughest bite today,” Jason Gibbins said. “We only caught three fish all day, so that big one we caught took a lot of the pressure off.”
Everyone was pretty much in the same boat with more than one-third of the field not weighing a fish and many only weighing one or two that day.
Everyone agreed it was a tough tournament. On Day 1, 17 teams were skunked and one team even had negative weight.
Team #48 (Sara Berg and Neil Ivall) were penalized half-a-pound on Day 1 for speeding through the no-wake zone. Fortunately, they redeemed themselves with a .60-pound fish on Saturday to get out of negative territory.
Even the number of big fish was down on Day 2, with only three being weighed (the other being a 5.91-pounder by Glen Anders and Kathy Noton).
On Friday, eight fish were weighed ranging from 5.17 to 8.79 pounds.
The latter was the big fish on Day 1, caught by Doug and Zack McBride.
Westover and Jodoin won $7,500 for second place, with the Neys pocketing $3,500 for coming third.
Bill Godin and Ralph Galusha earned $2,800 for taking fourth (18.97 pounds), followed by Bill Stay and Bryan Barron in fifth with 18.28 ($2,000), Dan and Bryce Godin with 17.91 ($1,400), Wayne Angus and Rick Pruys at 17.32 ($1,300), Cathy and Claude Seguin at 15.51 ($1,200), Joe Bonhomme and Jim Hall at 13.79 ($1,100), and Fred Foulger and Dickie Byrnes at 13.23 ($1,000).
Rounding out the top 15 were Dave and Darren Armstrong with 13.03 pounds ($700), Glen Anders and Kathy Noton at 12.77 ($600), Ed Carlson and Jason McQuaker at 12.70 ($500), Doug Jorgenson and Al Wolanicki at 12.49 ($400), and Dean and Brian St. Pierre at 11.41 ($300).
The title of “River Champs”—top team that fished both the Emo Walleye Classic and RRWT—was Bill Godin and Ralph Galusha, which earned them an additional $1,200.
The Lionel Robert Memorial Award ($1,000) for largest basket of the tournament went to Dan and Bryce Godin for their Day 1 haul.
The top PrinceCraft team was Dave and Darren Armstrong, earning them $1,000.
Richard Anderson of Dugald, Man. won the boat raffle.
Taking the second prize of $1,000 was Leanne Nault of Kenora while the third prize of $500 went to Nibs and Cheryl Kreger of Rainy River.
