Lucas Punkari
The 10th edition of the Emo Walleye Classic is well underway after 52 teams headed off in all directions from the Front Street boat launch early this morning.
“It looks like it’s going to be a good day,” said EWC committee chair Lincoln Dunn.
“It’s not too sunny out so the fish won’t go into hiding, and the water levels have been pretty good, which should hopefully help lead to some big fish getting caught today,” he added.
Nearly all of the anglers were bundled up in heavy jackets as they were getting ready to tackle the Rainy River.
“It’ll be a cold ride at first, but we have our coffee in the boat so we should be good to go,” smiled Colin Kaemingh of Emo, who is in his first EWC with seasoned veteran Matt Redford.
“It’s going to be a bit cold and a slow bite out there to start, but it should start to pick up as the day goes on,” added Redford, who also hails from Emo.
“No matter how many times you’re involved in a tournament, you always get excited at the start, but then usually you end up getting frustrated,” he reasoned.
One of the teams getting set to launch this morning was the Winnipeg-based brother/sister tandem of Curtis and Heather Hartlin, who had signed up to take part in their first-ever EWC a few days ago.
“I’m just hoping for no rain, but I’m glad it’s not really windy right now,” noted Heather, whose father, Dale, won the event back in 2004.
“We’re just going to go out there and have some fun, and hopefully catch some big fish,” Curtis added.
The 52 teams taking part is down by one from last year’s entries, but still was better than what organizers had been hoping for.
“We were hoping to get 50 teams, so to get a couple more than that is pretty good,” reasoned Colleen Vennechenko, the director of angler services for the EWC.
The Day 1 weigh-in gets underway at 3:30 p.m. at the Emo/La Vallee Community Centre, which is when the first flight returns to the Front Street launch.
The second flight will return at 4, with the weigh-in continuing until 6:30 p.m.
The two-day tournament wraps up tomorrow, with the first flight heading out at 8 a.m. and the final weigh-in again starting at 3:30 p.m.
