After two days of tough fishing, and the last ones in line to have their day’s catch weighed, Pete Medved and Raymond King watched as the scale read out .01 pound more than they needed to become the 2023 Rainy River Walleye Tournament Champions this past weekend.
With a robust roster of angling teams taking to the water on Friday and Saturday, the common refrain during weigh-ins on that final day was that the fish just hadn’t been biting. While the big fish of the day, caught by Rick Thompson and Tracy Wahl, came in at a respectable 8.42 pounds, many angler teams crossed the stage with a bucket of much smaller fish. Be that as it may, Medved and King still brought in just enough on Saturday to knock Brian and Jim Ney from the number 1 spot they had only just found themselves in during the final five weigh-ins. As the Neys, at that point the front runners, and final team of Medved and King watched the scale count up the pounds, the Neys had a total weight of 17.7 pounds. With a day one weight of 11.4 pounds, Medved, King, the Neys and everyone else in the tent knew it could all be won with anything over 6.3 pounds of fish.
As the scale readout locked in and the final results updated, the crowd went wild to see the new champions eke ahead with a day two catch of 6.31 pounds.
Behind the tent following their big win, Medved and King were both still shaking off the shock of taking home Rainy River’s most sought-after trophy.
“We’re extremely shocked,” Medved said.
“The Ney’s are really good fishermen and I thought for sure they had us. I can’t believe it was that close.”
Medved noted that after landing the most weight on after Friday’s fishing, they lost a big catch early in the day that King said made the rest of the day a bit more stressful.
“We had one on early this morning and we lost it and we just couldn’t recover,” he said.
“We caught a lot of fish today but it just wasn’t there for us.”
Even with a smaller catch the second day of tournament fishing, their day one catch helped ensure their victory. Their other secret weapon?
“Nightcrawlers,” King said.
As the winners of the 2023 tournament, heading into next year’s milestone 25th Annual Rainy River Walleye Tournament Medved and King will be the first out for fishing, but that is yet a long way away, and neither angler said they had even begun to think about it.
It was a high-energy cap to a weekend full of fishing and other fun events. Saturday featured the Kids Mini Fishing Tournament, where dozens of young anglers, oftentimes with a hand from mom or dad, took to the docks along the river at Hannam Park to try and land a big catch of their own. There were also plenty of prizes to be won by the non-anglers at the tournament, from penny tables to silent auctions and all sorts of raffle prizes. And second only to the weigh-ins themselves, the West Rainy River District Lions Club wowed a hungry crowd with a delicious pig roast dinner. In short, it was a shame to miss this year’s tournament, and going off of the many successes this past weekend, it’s likely that next year’s milestone tournament will be one for the history books.
For the complete results of the 2023 Rainy River Walleye Tournament, see page A5
– Ken Kellar, Allan Bradbury photos
