Lucas Punkari
Before they entered the Emo/La Vallee Arena for the final weigh-in of the Emo Walleye Classic on Saturday afternoon, Day 1 leaders Paul Allan and Jason Rostek were a little worried that they would be unable to hold on to top spot and claim the 2012 title.
But just before their boat was pulled in front of the stage, the two anglers learned they had captured this year’s crown because no one was able to overtake their Friday weight of 13.51 pounds.
“Before we came into the arena, we were pretty nervous as we thought the boats that came in front of us had bigger fish,” admitted Allan, who is from Emo and has competed in the EWC since its inception in 2002.
“So we were expecting to be bumped out of the lead.
“But to find out that we had won before weighing in was really exciting,” he smiled.
The four fish Rostek and Allan caught on Day 2 tipped the scales at 3.62 pounds, giving them a two-day total of 17.13 pounds and a 4.53-pound margin of victory over runners-up Monte Mann and Clint Steele.
“Honestly, we were just happy to have four fish by that last hour [Saturday],” said Rostek, a Dryden resident who has fished in the EWC for five years.
“By that point, it had been a long day and it had also been a real struggle to get those fish,” he added.
“The fishing just died off about yesterday afternoon [Friday] and they became harder to find for everybody,” Rostek noted.
“I’m not sure if the weather changes were a part of it, or if the pressure on the fish itself by everyone fishing up towards the dam had a lot to do with it.”
Looking to improve on their previous best finish of second place in 2009, Allan and Rostek started the tournament with a bang Friday with a tournament-best, single-day catch of 13.51 pounds—helped by a 7.32-pound lunker Allan had reeled in.
“There was no real key to catching that fish. It just sort of happened,” he smiled.
“We caught that fish around lunch time, and it actually turned out to be our last fish of the day,” Allan added.
“So we were pretty confident that we had that day taken care of and that we would be pretty high in the standings.
“We were pretty surprised that we had the lead, though, as usually when we are catching fish and doing good, so is everyone else,” he reasoned.
Then on Saturday, Allan and Rostek again headed towards the dam at Fort Frances, but found things to be a lot tougher compared to their successful showing on Day 1.
“We went back to the same spot that we fished on the first day right off of the bat,” Rostek said.
“We caught one fish there right off the bat, but that was it for us there, so we kept moving around to find some fish after lunch,” he added.
With their win, the pair earned a total of $8,050 ($6,000 coming from their first-place performance and the rest coming from numerous bonus awards they picked up over the weekend).
“A lot of this money is going to end up going back into being spent on fishing again,” said Allan, who only competes in the EWC each year.
“Usually, whatever you end up making in events like this is what you use to fund the rest of your year,” echoed Rostek, who will be fishing in events
in Dryden and Red Lake later this year.
While Day 1 was one to remember for the eventual champs, it was one to forget for Mann and Steele as they endured one unfortunate event after another.
“We had trouble right away with the starter in the motor,” recalled Mann, who is from Red Lake and has fished the EWC since it began.
“It was half-engaged and it just wasn’t starting up at all, so we were a few minutes [late] in getting started,” he noted.
“After that, the rest of the day was horrible,” added Steele, a native of Cochenour who was fishing the EWC for the first time.
“We broke three or four rods, and it was just a downward spiral all day,” he sighed.
But after finishing Day 1 in 19th place in the 41-boat field with a weight of 4.33 pounds, the pair bounced back in a huge way Saturday.
Their four-fish haul totalled 8.30 pounds, which included the big fish of the day that tipped the scales at 3.05 pounds.
“We ended up changing our strategy a little bit,” Mann explained.
“The fish bite was a little more finicky today [Saturday], so we had to lighten up the bait in order to get them to bite and away we went.”
Another team that made a huge jump up the standings from Day 1 to Day 2 were 2004 champs Dale Hartlin and Dan Pollard of Emo, who rocketed from 20th to third with a two-day catch of 11.72 pounds.
“We’ve been going backwards in the standings since 2004, so it’s just nice to be finally get back up on top again,” Hartlin smiled.
“We went back up to the dam like we did on the first day and we struggled to get the four fish that we needed to count,” he admitted.
“So around the middle of the day, we went west towards the rapids and ended up catching the four fish that we weighed, including one that we caught on our last cast of the day.
“It worked for us in 2004 and it worked well for us again this year,” Hartlin added.
The last team that had a shot to knock Allan and Rostek out of first place Saturday was Patrick LeMaistre of Emo and Kenora’s Ryan O’Connor, who entered the day in second spot after a 8.75-pound haul on Friday.
Needing at least 4.77 pounds to take the lead, the first-year duo’s four fish only weighed 2.92 pounds, which left them in fourth place in the final standings.
“I think with the weather that went through here on Friday night, the crank bite wasn’t there like it was before and it made it a tough day for everyone across the board,” O’Connor reasoned.
“But to finish as well as we did for first time together is certainly something that we’re happy about,” LeMaistre added.
Les Morrison (Rainy River) and Clarence Gibbons (Morson) rounded out the top five with 11.50 pounds.
Defending champs Rod Woodgate and his grandson, Dylan Swire, of Devlin ended up finishing in 25th place this year with 7.12 pounds.
