Weyburn Wildlife Federation says first annual event was a success

The Weyburn Wildlife Federation held the First Annual Walleye Classic on Saturday at Mainprize Regional Park.

Troy Kincaid said they couldn't have asked for better weather.

"It was a perfect day to be out on the water, and we had lots of anglers out on the lake, and they all had a really good day, too, by the sounds of it," he shared.

"We had 36 teams, so 88 anglers because 16 of them were actually youths. We ran it as two-man teams, but if you wanted to bring someone 15 years or younger, you were able to, and they could join your boat basically just with the normal entry. It worked out well for us." 

An awards banquet was held after the weigh-in, at the North Eden Golf Club. Nate Smart and Dylan Schreyer took first place overall.

"They had a five fish with a total weight of 16 pounds, 11 ounces for the five walleye there." 

Second place went to Tim Bowers and Ron Fraye with a total weight of 11 pounds, 10.8 ounces. 

Third place went to Jeremy L’Heureux, Sheldon St. Denis, and Carson Vallie, for a live well of 11 pounds, 9.5 ounces. 

Fourth place went to Paul Skoczylas and Rene Sehn. 

"They also had a total weight of 11 pounds, 9.5 ounces, and since Team 3 and 4 had the same weight, which is kind of odd in the fishing world, but we weighed one fish individually, [and whoever had] the biggest fish out of the two groups, they would move into a third, and the other team got fourth."

Smart and Schreyer also had the biggest fish, which was a 5 pound, 6.1 ounce walleye.

He said they also had a tournament within a tournament.

"So you paid a little extra money and that got you into another draw or pool and the winner would take 50 percent of that, second got 30 percent, and third got 20 percent of that pool," explained Kincaid. "So actually the people that got first they ended up taking over $2,500 in cash home." 

"I'd like to actually thank the sponsors and all the volunteers we had that made the day a huge success," he concluded. "Without them, we couldn't have done it. That goes a long way and that keeps people coming back here from here, and hopefully, next year is just as good numbers, or even better." 

Find photos of the winners HERE.