Lucas Punkari
A total of 38 teams headed in all directions on the Rainy River this morning as the 12th edition of the Emo Walleye Classic got underway at 8 a.m.
“We’ve got some great weather for the start of the tournament and we’re looking forward to it,” Denis Barnard said before he ventured onto the water with teammate Dave Peterson.
“It’s going to be a very interesting couple of days,” he added.
As is often the case, the majority of the teams headed east towards the dam in Fort Frances.
But many of the ones that left later in the morning chose to head west and utilize the expanded tournament boundaries.
After the heavy rainfall over the Victoria Day weekend, the Rainy River itself is at a 10-year high for this time of year, coming up six feet in the last week alone.
“With the high water, you are going to have to be very careful out there,” Dawson Azevedo noted.
“But we should hopefully see some good fishing.”
“I think you are going to see some big weights at the weigh-ins this afternoon,” said teammate Curtis Hartlin.
Although the general consensus among anglers was that there would be a chance of some big weight totals over the weekend, two-time champions Doug McBride and Steve Ballan think the next two days will be hard.
“It’s going to be tough for everyone,” Ballan stressed.
“The water is a lot colder this year and there doesn’t seam to be as many active fish, so it’s been really slow out there so far,” he remarked.
“You have to use more weight to get your baits down to where you want it to be, and that is a challenge as you end up getting lots of snags,” said McBride.
The Day 1 weigh-in is slated to get underway at 3:30 p.m. at the Emo/La Vallee Community Centre, with the standings setting the stage for the final day of angling tomorrow.
The boats will leave from the Emo waterfront at 8 a.m. tomorrow, with the final weigh-in again starting at 3:30 p.m.
