Gibbins win their 4th RRWT!

By Ken Johnston
Editor

There is an old saying that seemed to ring true this past weekend. “The fish bite the least when the wind is from the east.”
Everyone, including this year’s champions, Jason and Oliver Gibbins found the bite to be really tough both days of fishing.
The now four time champs, said they picked up two nice fish right at the beginning of fishing on Friday (Day 1). “It was a struggle after that (all day).” However, those two fish, weighing 7.75 lbs. and 5.72 lbs. vaulted them out in front. Combined with two smaller walleye they were about five pounds ahead of their nearest challenger after Day 1. The Gibbins had 15.48 lbs. Christian Armstrong and partner Mark Nault were sitting in second that day with 10.61 lbs., just edging out Christian’s dad, Dave, and uncle Darren, who were in third with 10.55 lbs.
Many anglers reported a tough day of fishing. Team 50, Ted and Leo Heyens said, “It was a tough day with just little taps and little fish!” While they weighed in their four fish, they sat in 38th spot with 4.36 lbs. which was a story teller weight. Only about five pounds separated 5th place and 50th place.
With that in mind many anglers hoped for a better bite on Saturday (Day 2). But again the wind blew from the east and fog delayed the start of the fishing by about an hour. Some said the delay was costly as the biggest fish caught on day 1 seemed to be caught early in the morning.
However, for one team, #85, Dan Armstrong and Sean Kilpatrick, the timing seemed to be just right. The pair travelled upstream about 10 minutes. Near the Clementson Rapids Kilpatrick had a hit that had them both excited. They brought in a big walleye. Just how big would not be known until later in the day.
Tournament rules allow for anglers to bring in big fish earlier than weigh ins if they feel the fish could die from stress in the live well. However, Kilpatrick said the big fish faired well all day. They did, however, have some reservations about a smaller fish later in the day. “We came in because one of the other fish we had was showing signs of stress.” They came in about 40 minutes early and decided to weigh all their fish.
That big fish tipped the scales at 10.97 lbs. breaking the tournament record fish held by Colin Wood/Doug Moen since 2004 (10.71 lbs.). Combined with their other three fish they had a basket total wt. of 17.4 lbs. This catapulted them from 67th place on Day 1 (1.76 lbs.) to first place at 19.16 lbs. A spot they would hold onto all the way until the last boat weighed in on Day 2; the Gibbins.
The top five from day 1 were kept back to create suspense. The fifth place team from day 1 was Harvey Cochrane and Peter Gushulak with 8.60 lbs. They needed 10.55 lbs. to knock Armstrong/Kilpatrick out of the tops spot. However they, like so many, only found little fish, weighing in three of them at 2.33 lbs. That would eventually drop them to 11th overall.
It was pretty much the same story for the fourth place team from day 1. Doug and Troy Kreger had 9.37 lbs. and needed 9.8 lbs. to take over the lead. They had four little ones weighing only 2.9 lbs. which saw them finish the tourney in 9th place.
The third place team, Dave and Darren Armstrong and the 2nd place team Christian Armstrong and Mark Nault followed suit with bigger baskets but not enough. They needed 8.62 lbs. and 8.56 lbs. respectively to take the lead. Dave and Darren weighed in four fish at 5.1 lbs. and Christian and Mark had four fish at 7.14 lbs. They respectively finished 5th and 4th.
With only the Gibbins to weigh-in, and needing 3.69 lbs., Armstrong and Kilpatrick were nervous. As Jason and Oliver hoisted out their fish one by one, the crowd’s cheers were a clear indication that they felt the three time champs were going to win their fourth title in 13 years. They were right. They weighed in four fish at 7.48 lbs. to win the RRWT with 22.96 lbs.!
Jason told the Record that they only caught those four walleye all day and that they picked them up just west of town early in the day. He said they tried about 20 spots both days fishing west in the morning and east in the afternoon. They picked up their big fish on Day 1 just west of the international bridge. But after the morning bite walleye fishing dropped right off. “We tried jigging and trolling. Jigging with different colors worked the best, considering how bad it was fishing.”
“We got bored walleye fishing and decided to do some bass fishing for a while this afternoon. We love bass fishing and it is really good on this river,” said Jason. “This river could support a bass tournament easily.”
The pair only fish the Rainy River during the RRWT but with it being so profitable, Jason said, “We might have to start fishing it more.” Both he and Oliver do most of their fishing on Lake of the Woods.
They only did one day of pre-fishing this year. Their trick seems to be consistency. In looking back at past tournaments they fished the Rainy River the same way each year they won.
Cash prizes were handed out as follows:
1st-Jason and Oliver Gibbins-22.96 lbs.-$15,000
2nd-Dan Armstrong and Sean Kilpatrick-19.16 lbs.-$7,500
3rd-Lisa Stone and Raymond King-18.00 lbs.-$3,800
4th-Christian Armstrong and Mark Nault-17.75 lbs.-$2,800
5th-Dave and Darren Armstrong-15.65 lbs.-$2,000
6th-Kirk Wood and Jon O’Connor-14.47 lbs.-$1,600
7th-Doug Jorgenson and Al Wolanicki-13.83 lbs.-$1,500
8th-Kevin Marchuk and Tom Briggs-12.46 lbs.-$1,400
9th-Doug and Troy Kreger-12.27 lbs.-$1,300
10th-Sean Westman and Dave Oldakowski-11.01 lbs.-$1,200
11th-Harvey Cochrane and Peter Gushulak-10.93 lbs.-$700
12th-Dean and Brian St. Pierre-10.80 lbs.-$600
13th-Eugene Heyens and Ken Kreger-10.65 lbs.-$500
14th-Pete Blakeney and Daniel Stamler-10.52 lbs.-$400
15th-Brian and Jim Ney-10.46 lbs.-$300
Hidden weights: Two each day
Day 1-3.31 lbs.-Dorothy and Nick Leininger-3.5 lbs.-$200
Day 1-6.71 lbs.-Jamie and Jeremy Westman-6.75 lbs.-$200
Day 2-1.31 lbs.-Dean and Kevin Wiersema-1.26 lbs.-$200
Day 2-2.31 lbs.-Brendan Loney and Shane Scott-2.31 lbs.-$200
Biggest fish
Day 1-Oliver and Jason Gibbins-7.75 lbs.-$600
Day 2-Dan Armstrong and Sean Kilpatrick-10.97 lbs.-$600
Lionel Robert Memorial Award for biggest basket of the tournament
Dan Armstrong and Sean Kilpatrick-17.40 lbs.-$1,000
Top Rookies
Harvey Cochrane and Peter Gushulak-10.93 lbs.-$300
River Champs (top team fishing both Emo Walleye Classic and the RRWT)
Bill Godin and Ralph Galusha-14.89 lbs. (Emo) and 9.99 lbs (RR)-$600
Legion Boat Raffle
Winning the boat was Melvin Kalstrom of Fort Frances. 2nd prize of $1,000 went to Craig Newfeld of Dryden and third prize of $500 went to Veldron Vogan of Sleeman.