Plenty of fun to be caught at the 10th RRWT

By Ken Johnston
Editor

While 180 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 this s weekend!
After the parade of boats on Thursday at 4 p.m. the evening will see Rainy River's own rising comdian star Justin Wagner take to the stage in big tent at 8 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 hosted by the Rainy River Hospital Aux.
Opening for the weekend at 11 a.m. will be the RR Minor Hockey and Jr. Curler penny tables on which many great prizes can be won.
A silent auction will also begin at 11 a.m. on Friday and run until Sat. at 2 p.m.
At 4:45 p.m. the anglers begin returning from fishing and the Day 1 weigh-ins, hosted by 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 the very popular local band The Nitehawks will be playing in the tent.
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. The very popular Kids RRWT will begin at 9:30 a.m.a and run all morning until Noon. It will be run in two flights this year to accomodate the growning number of participants.
Kids games and face painting will begin at 10 a.m.
Beer gardens open at Noon.
At 3:15 p.m. the final weigh-ins will begin. Within an hour or so the 10th RRWT champions 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.
Always a favourite, Fort Frances band The Poor Boys will round out the tournament playing under the tent Saturday evening..