Plenty of fun to be caught at the 9th RRWT

By Ken Johnston
Editor

While 174 anglers will be out on the Rainy River trying to land prize winning fish, there will be a great deal of fun caught by everyone else at the annual event.
After the parade of boats on Thursday evening the popular local band, The Nitehawks will entertain in the big tent at 9 p.m.
Friday morning the anglers will leave from the Rainy River Marina at 8:45, 9:00 and 9:15 a.m.
For the public activities will begin at Noon under the big tent with beer gardens opening and a pay as you go Bingo.
The Chamber of Commerce will be hosting a mini-trade show at 1 p.m. tent. It will run until 5 p.m.
Also opening for the weekend at 1 p.m. will be penny tables on which many great prizes can be won.
At 4:45 p.m. the anglers begin returning from fishing and the Day 1 weigh-ins, hosted by new Emcee Paul Morrison of Fort Frances.
At 6 p.m. the public and the anglers can feast on walleye as a fish fry is held at the tent.
Later that evening DJ Chopper will be back in Rainy River for the first time since the early days of Railroad Daze. He was a huge hit back then and promises to be just as much fun this year.
The anglers will be up a bit earlier on Saturday as they have 7:45, 8:00 and 8:15 a.m. departure times for the final day of fishing and a chance at $15,000 top prize.
Activities will also start earlier that day. Kids games and face painting will begin at 10 a.m. and will be followed by the increasingly popular Kids RRWT at 11 a.m.. Last year’s champ, Perry Lachance has vowed to defend his title again this year.
Beer gardens open at Noon and at 12:30 p.m. Chopper will provide some entertainment until 2 p.m.
At 3:15 p.m. the final weigh-ins will begin. Within an hour or so a new RRWT champion will be crowned and following that will be the official awards presentations.

The prize payout is as follows:
1st-$15,000
2nd-$7,500
3rd-$3,500
4th-$2,800
5th-$2,000
6th-$1,400
7th-$1,300
8th-$1,200
9th-$1,100
10th-$1,000
11th-$700
12th-$600
13th-$500
14th-$400
15th-$300
Hidden wts:
Day 1-$300
Day 2-$300
Early Bird prize-$1,000
Parade prizes-10 prizes of $100
River Champ-$600
Big Fish:
Day 1-$500
Day 2-$500
Lionel Robert Memorial Award for Biggest Basket of the Tournament-$1,000
Top Prinecraft Team-$1,000
Total prize payout for the tournament is $45,500

After all the excitement of fishing is over, the Legion will host their world famous steak fry again this year.
Draws for the boat raffle and penny tables will follow the awards presentation.
Thinking of Pinky will play at the big tent Saturday night to end the weekend.