Archs finish first at Crow Lake Classic

Gerald and Candy Arch finished atop the leaderboard at the third-annual Crow Lake Classic near Nestor Falls over the weekend—earning themselves the $4,000 first-place cheque.
The anglers netted themselves a two-day total weight of 23.82 pounds to finish ahead of the 40 other teams competing this year.
The Archs also took home an on-board MinnKota battery charger for netting the largest weight in a Princecraft boat.
Meanwhile, local angler Doug McBride, along with partner Tom Forstrom, missed out on first place by less than 1/10th of a pound—finishing with a two-day total of 23.76 pounds.
The duo pocketed $2,000 for their second-place finish.
Ron Bridgeman and Steve Gagne of Fort Frances finished in third place (23.06 pounds), which earned them $1,400.
Finishing in fourth spot, with a two-day total weight of 22.89 pounds, was the team of Peter Adams and Darryl Galusha. They won $1,100 for their efforts.
And rounding out the top five were Damien Paypompee and Dale Cowley, who finished with a two-day total weight of 22.74 pounds to take home $900.
Alex and Kevin Tom won a Hustler prop for reeling in the biggest fish (3.54 pounds) on Day One of the competition.
Rebecca and Barry Crawley took home a Hustler prop and a Frogg Togg elite rainsuit for catching the biggest fish on Day Two and the tournament—a 5.08 pound lunker.
Phil Haggberg, who organized the Crow Lake Classic along with his wife, Cindy, said he was extremely pleased with the turnout of both anglers and spectators given that attendance has been down at many of the smaller tournaments around the district this year.
Haggberg said anglers participating in this year’s event fared well despite adverse weather conditions.
“The weather kind of shifted the fish a little bit so it was anybody’s tournament,” he noted.
Haggberg said the results were good, if not spectacular, compared to prior years.
“The winning weight was down a touch from last year but the average weight was up, so we’re real happy with the results.”