‘Castin for Cash’ a hit

Sixty-five teams battled strong winds and steady rains during the sixth-annual “Castin’ for Cash” bass tournament at Lake Despair Lodge this past Friday and Saturday.
But it was the duo of August Collinson and Jeff Gustafson who best prevailed against the elements to take home the $5,000 first prize.
The Kenora-based pair hauled in a big two-day catch of 29.03 pounds, besting runners-up Pat Steele and Ralph Galusha, who finished with a 25.71-pound haul.
The hard-luck team finished second for the third-straight year.
“It’s hard to win any of these tournaments and we definitely had a little luck today,” Gustafson said shortly after the final weigh-in Saturday.
“The weather was really challenging and we were really struggling for weight all day,” he added. “But at two o’clock, we got a couple of those big fish in a 20-minute flurry and that was our day basically.”
The father/son team of Grant and Dillion Swire came third (23.54 pounds) while Paul Jewiss and Mike Graham followed up their third-placed finish from a year ago in fourth (23.23).
Greg Swire and Paul Visser rounded out the top five with a catch of 21.99 pounds.
Defending champs LeRoy and Mike Wilson came in 19th place this year with a two-day weight of 16.38 pounds.
“No one has ever repeated here, let alone won it twice, and that was our goal but we’ll be back,” Wilson vowed. “We are definitely going to try to win this again.”