Heyens/Caul just miss winning Lake Despair bass tourney

Reuben Villagracia
Fort Frances Times

It was "that" close from being interesting. Stratton's Ted Heyens and partner Kelvin Caul bagged 20.44 pounds at the annual 'Castin for Cash' bass derby at Lake Despair Lodge over the weekend but fell short of first-place or about two pounds -- or one fish.
“It makes that one two-pounder the difference,” said Heyens, who with Caul still won $2,000 for second-place.
But it was Mel Giesbrecht and Chris Bell made the most of their first time fishing on Lake Despair over the weekend.
The veteran fishing duo from Sioux Narrows leapt frog from third place to capture the title and $5,000 top prize yesterday. Their two-day total was 22.48 pounds.
While Giesbrecht had pre-fished all-day Thursday, the pair had never seen the lake together until the first day of the tournament Saturday. “That was our first time on the lake,” said Bell. “We worked a lot on our experiences from different lakes, which helped a lot. We were very fortunate.”
“Being new to the lake, we didn1t have as many spots as some of the local anglers, so the few spots we had, we hit hard,” echoed Giesbrecht.
Day One leaders Jody Shypit and Dale LaBelle of Devlin couldn1t follow up their 13.06 pounds on Saturday, reeling up just 6.88 yesterday to finish in third place ($1,000).
Bill and Jay Albright earned $500 for their fourth-place finish (19.88 pounds).
Rounding out fifth through 10th place (winning $300 each) were Dave Byrnes/James Asplund (19.74 pounds), Pat Cross/Keith Cates (19.06), Paul Jewiss/Dale Strachan (17.88), Dallas Mosbeck/Jason Caul (17.32), Darrin Ward/Mike Mihichuk (17.32), and Dennis/Glen Smith (16.86).
Defending champs Cory Calder and Dave Woodgate only bagged 2.72 pounds on Day One and quickly were knocked out of contention.
Two $300 cash prizes went to “big fish” winners‹Shypit and LaBelle with a 3.46-pounder on Saturday and Ward and Mihichuk on Sunday (4.34 pounds).
A total of 54 boats competed.
Danny Godin of Rainy River, did not compete in the tournament but did come home a winner. He won a 12’ skiff on a $5 ticket. Godin also won the boat and motor package at the Rainy River Walleye tournament last fall.