With only one weekend left in this year’s Flinty Fishing Derby, the hunt for prize categories is starting to heat up.
Entering the last weekend of the derby (which ends April 3), the leaders are mostly Saskatchewan-based anglers. As of March 30, well over 100 fishers have entered 344 fish into the contest, including more than one hundred in the last week.
Out of the four size-based categories, two belong to fishers who caught them near Flin Flon - Chantelle McDermott from Denare Beach has the mark for the largest burbot, taking over the lead from Mike “Northern Mike” Cook, while The Pas' Hunter Rambow has overtaken Snow Lake’s Matt Paul for the biggest northern pike. Paul’s pike was entered on the first day of the tournament and was only toppled from the first spot Thursday.
The largest lake trout entered so far was pulled in by Watson, Sask.’s Trevor Athmer and Rob Galbraith from Creighton has caught the biggest pickerel so far - Flin Flon’s Holly Kinnear held both the first and second spots in the pickerel category last week, but was pipped twice this week, first by Nipawin's Raymond Lamy and then by Galbraith.
The Flin Flon Rotary Club is hoping to have more fishers involved this week - Spring Break for schools and for some workers - to push existing leaders.
“With spring break starting in Manitoba schools, we anticipate that some of the younger anglers are going to get out there and show the old guys how to reel in the big ones, as we head into the last week of the tournament,” reads a statement from organizers.
Other prize categories include a mystery length prize for all four categories, a best stringer award for catches covering all categories and 10 prize spots per species. In all, more than $30,000 in cash and prizes - donated mostly from derby sponsors - are up for grabs. The top lengths in all four species will net whoever caught them $2,500 in cash.
Due to COVID-19 concerns, this year’s Flinty Fishing Derby is being held as a several week-long remote event instead of a one-day fish-off on Lake Athapapuskow. Entries can be made remotely through the app Fishdonkey - a $40 entry fee is required before entering a fish. Fish caught anywhere north of the 54th parallel are eligible to be entered in the competition.
All funds raised from this year’s derby will go towards a replacement for the Flin Flon Aqua Centre.
