Two local teams keep audience in suspense after day 1

Ken Johnston
Editor

There was lots of fish caught, but it was the 8 totalling 20.92 lbs. by Mark Chapman and Kent Christianson of Baudette that earned $15,000 in prize money at the 5th Annual Rainy River Walleye Tournament.
This pair of anglers were third last year coming from 38th place with an amazing second day. Well this year they had yet another amazing second day bagging 12.98 lbs. to add to the 7.94 lbs. they had after day one. However, after the first day they were in third spot behind what seemed to be a lead by two other teams that would be hard to catch.
Ken Vogan and Robert Matthew, of Dawson Township, came in early on Saturday and weighed a tournament record fish at 8.18 lbs.. With three other nice fish they had first place for most of the weigh-ins on day 1. Then late in the game Troy Dalseg and Brent Westover of Rainy River came in with four really nice fish and a total weight of 13.42 lbs. to lead after day one.
Chapman and Christianson headed west on day 2 to the mouth of the river hoping that some big walleyes were moving into the river. “The current overnight got big fish into the river,” said Christianson. Mark jigged with a pink jig and Kent with a white and orange glow in the dark jig and they used shiners for bait. Chapman said they both caught fish and in the morning figured they had about 12 pounds. “But we did not know what the day 1 leaders were doing and we hoped they were not doing well,” said Chapman. Their hopes came true and their two day total saw them get the RRWT crown for the first time; Chapman only just missing it in the inaugural year of the tournament when he finished 2nd with a different partner.
The pair plans to spend the money having some fun and to refurbish their boat.
Coming from 14th position after day one to take second prize was year 1’s champs Brian Ney of Baudette and Dan Stier of South Dakota. With 5.7 lbs. the first day they needed a lot of weight to take top spot and the got a lot of that, reeling up 11.42 lbs. on day 2. They weighed in a total of 17.12 lbs. and won $6,500. They said they had decent fish pretty early and then culled up two more times. They said the fish were biting best around noon. Ney used a pink and white glow in the dark jig and Stier used a chartreuse/white and pink jig. Both used shiners and they too fished the mouth of the river.
Dalseg and Westover finished third with 16.64 lbs. and won $3,000.
Vogan and Matthew finished fourth with 16.14 lbs. and won $2,500. Both these teams weighed in only 3.22 and 3.04 lbs. respectively on day 2. That allowed the top finishers to slip by them.
Rounding out the top five was Lorne Jonassen and Roy Sigurdson who quit fishing early on Sunday with a big basket of 11.96 lbs. They weighed in around 1 p.m. figuring they would not catch anything bigger. They weighed a two day total of 16.14 lbs. and won $1,900.
The rest of the top 15 were as follows:
6th John and Jeff Kreger $1,200
7th Troy Kreger/Len Clarke $1,100
8th Wayne & Steve Carlson $1,000
9th Nibs & Cheryl Kreger $900
10th Doug Jorgenson/Al Wolanicki $800
11th Bill Stay/Mark Chivialkowski $700
12th Tom Briggs/Rob Dorry $600
13th Mike Vacura/Marnie Korpi $500
14th Vaughn Murray/Barry Marmus $300
15th Oliver & Jason Gibbons $200.
Before the prizes were handed out two former tournament anglers were honoured. Blaine Ivall and Tom Kreger passed away in the past year and both had been long time anglers of the RRWT. The hidden weight awards for each day of the tournament were renamed. Day 1 is now the Tom Kreger Memorial Award, which was won this year by Julie Tiboni/Tiffany Burbeck ($500 3.62lbs.). Day 2 is now the Blaine Ivall Memorial award, which was won by Peter Burbeck/Trevor Thurier ($500 6.92 lbs.).
A moment of silence was observed by the entire crowd and wreaths were presented to their tournament partners, Jeremy Johnson and David Ivall.
The Big Fish award, $500, for day 1 went to Ken Vogan/Robert Matthew for their 8.18 pound monster.
Day 2 Big Fish award, $500, went to Nibs & Cheryl Kreger for their 6.92 pound lunker.
Most improved team was Oliver & Jason Gibbons who saw a 9.16 pound improvement from day 1 to 2. The each won $100 gift certificates for Pinewood Sports.
The top lund team was the champs, Chapman and Christianson. They received lund jackets. This was their second time winning that award in as many years.
Winning the Rainy River Charitable Association’s boat raffle was Linda Gibbons of Morson. Winning the big screen t.v. was Richard Ganup of Eagan, MN. Winning the jewellery was Archie Wiersema.
Winning the 16 foot skiff donated by lund for the anglers to buy tickets on was Barry Marmus of Kenora.
Winning the door prizes each day was Dave Singleton of Rainy River (gourmet meat package) and on Sunday Bev Noga of Fort Frances on day 1 (a Labbatts Blue sign)
Doug Hartnell of Rainy River won an Out of the Blue sign raffle.
Winning the kids tournament was Josh Halverson of Rainy River who caught two Northern Pikes. 2nd was Dan Usiski Jr., 3rd was Bryce Godin and 4th was Delbert Kirkrude. Nolan Short had the longest cast. Aaron Short was named most promising, Kenzie Godin most sportsmanlike and Kylee Fileccia most beautiful anglers.
Champion, Mark Chapman told the audience, “I have fished the NAMN and the PWT. They do not put on a great show like here. I wouldn’t miss it for nothing!”