***A reminder to Anglers*** -   1^st payment Due Date - 
January 31, 2008 to reserve spot for 2008 Event.
Mail payment to PO Box 520 ,  Rainy River, ON   P0W 1L0

River walleye kings! Bill Godin and Ralph Galusha win 9th RRWT

By Ken Johnston
Editor

It was a weekend of mixed elements that saw Bill Godin and Ralph Galusha of Devlin win the 9th Annual Rainy River Walleye Tournament (RRWT).
Early on day 1 (Friday), the weather was absolutely horrid. Heavy rains, lightning and hail saw the beginning of the day put on hold for about 15 minutes. Anglers sat in their boats while about an inch of rain drenched them and kept their bilge pumps running. Many said it was absolutely miserable.
But every coin has two sides. The weather was bad but the fishing was really good that day with most of the big fish being caught early in the day, just after the storm had passed.
Godin and Galusha were in 7th place after day 1 with 12.54 lbs. just 3.16 lbs. behind former champs Mike Vacura and Marnie Korpi of Roseau who had a huge basket at 15.7 lbs.
But the flipside of the coin saw the weather turn very summerlike on day 2 (Saturday). Dry anglers found fishing to be a real struggle. Many reported catching few walleye and those that did catch more than their four fish said that there were many small ones; under 12 inches. That struggle held true for the top day 1 team. They only caught two small fish to weigh in 2.04 lbs. and drop from 1st to 10th overall. “We just had a really bad day of fishing, catching more logs than anything,” said Korpi.
For Godin and Galusha, they were really shocked to win. “We did not think we would hold out knowing there were some really good anglers coming through the tent,” said Godin. “This is unreal. Never after winning (the) Emo Walleye Classic (this spring) did we think we would win Rainy River,” added Godin.
After weighing in another 10.68 lbs. on day 2, Godin and Galusha were the top team with only the top five from day 1 to come. The first of the five to come through the tent, Dean and Brian St. Pierre, of Rainy River, had 12.88 lbs. on day 1 which included the biggest fish of the tournament at 8.08 lbs. But they struggled on day 2, weighing in only one fish and dropping to 29th overall.
Tom Briggs of Baudette and Rob Dorry of Warroad came next. Last year they finished third and were hoping to win it all this year. They had 13.02 lbs. on day 1 and added 8.74 lbs day 2; not quite enough to unseat the Devlin duo.
Fred Foulger of RR and Dickie Byrnes of Fort Frances made another journey through the tent on day 2 having 13.12 lbs. on day 1. The pair were hoping to break the “Day 2 Curse” so many people have said they have on them. They have probably been in the top five boat parade more times than any other team and in just about every case were pretty much skunked on day 2. Well they did not get skunked, but only weighed in 5.48 lbs. (three fish) dropping to 7th overall.
Dan Hanson of RR and Chad Jackson of Fort Frances, were 2nd on day 1 with 13.66 lbs. As it turned out they were the last real threat to bumping Godin and Galusha. They weighed in four fish but like so many anglers on day 2 they just weren’t as big as the first day’s catch. They added 6.88 lbs. to finish 5th overall with 20.54 lbs.
With Vacura and Korpi tanking on day 2 Godin and Galusha were declared the 2007 RRWT Champs and the 2007 River Champs, having the largest combined weight from EWC and RRWT.
Also finishing strong on the weekend was Cliff Westover of RR and Mark Jodoin of Pinewood. They had nice fish both days weighing in 11.14 lbs. on day 1 and 10.52 lbs. on day 2 to finish third with 21.66 lbs., 1/10th of a pound behind Briggs and Dorry who finished 2nd with 21.76 lbs.
Dan and Bryce Godin also had two consistent days, registering 10.86 lbs. on day 1 and 10.32 lbs. the second day to finish fourth with 21.18 lbs.
The top team, Godin and Galusha, said that they did pretty good in prefishing. They went west on day 1 fishing two spots with one yielding the best results. Again they went a couple of miles west on day 2, catching a few nice ones early on. Then in the afternoon they decided to make a run east. “It was a good move as we were able to trade some fish up,” said Godin.
With the rough weather and wind on Friday they spent most of the day jigging. “It was too hard to troll as we had to control the boat in the wind,” said Galusha.
Day 2 they mixed it up, trolling and jigging. Galusha said that they had the best results on pink jigs and shiners.
“These tournaments are hard to win,” added Galusha.
“This will be hard to top. We had hoped for River King,” said Godin, “To win both is once in a life time.”
Godin said that is very thankful that his nephew Bryce Godin (who finished fourth) shared some of his secrets for river fishing with him this year. He is also grateful to his dad Almer Godin who helped them in prefishing and made their sandwiches for the tournament.
The prize payout was as follows:
1st-Bill Godin/Ralph Galusha $15,000
2nd-Tom Briggs/Rob Dorry $7,500
3rd-Cliff Westover/Mark Jodoin $3,500
4th-Dan and Bryce Godin $2,800
5th-Dan Hanson/Chad Jackson $2,000
6th-Doug Jorgenson/Al Wolanicki $1,400
7th-Fred Foulger/Dickie Byrnes $1,300
8th-Rick and Mark Thompson $1,200
9th-Ed Carlson/Ron Skyberg $1,100
10th-Mike Vacura/Marnie Korpi $1,000
11th-Ted and Leo Heyens $700
12th-Bill Stay and Bryan Barron $600
13th-Doug McBride/Steve Ballan $500
14th-Bob Jenson/Dana Kaliska $400
15th-Sean Westman/Dave Oldakowski $300
Editor’s Note: Rick Amundsen, who finished 2nd last year, and his partner Clayton Keister, were in 12th place after the weighins. However, they were disqualified by the RRWT committee for having allegedly docked on the U.S. side during the tournament, which is contrary to tournament rules.
Hidden Wt. Day 1 (4.17 lbs.) Dennis and Colleen Barnard $300
Hidden Wt. Day 2 (8.84 lbs.) Rick and Mark Thompson $300
Blaine Ivall Memorial Big Fish Award Day 1-Dean and Brian St. Pierre $500
Tom Kreger Memorial Big Fish Award Day 2-Dave and Darren Armstrong $500
River Champs Bill Godin/Ralph Galusha $600
Top Princecraft Team Dan Hanson/Chad Jackson $1,000
Lionel Robert Memorial Biggest Basket of Tournament Mike Vacura/Marnie Korpi $1,000.
The angler’s boat raffle (a 12’ Princecraft) was won by Dickie Byrnes.
The RR Playschool Boat was won by Ken Mason of Rainy River. Winning cash in that draw was Jody Gouliquer of Bergland-$1,500, Paul Clark of Fort Frances-$1,000 and Dan Hanson of RR-$500.
A two day bet between Shawn Hartnell and his dad James Hartnell over who’s team would be higher in the standings after the tournament ended was decided on the stage at the RRWT. James and his partner Dorothy Leininger finished 26th while Shawn and his partner Sonny Gibbons came in 50th. Losing the bet Shawn agreed to have his head shaved. Well the shaving turned into a fundraising effort for the Cancer Society. People lined up to pay to shave Shawn’s head. While he was being shaved he offered money to have James shave his too. He did and in the end the pair raised $928.41 for the cause.

Shelby Tymkin wins annual Kids’ RRWT

By Ken Johnston
Editor

The Kids’ RRWT is nearly as big and just as exciting as the main event.
This year there were 71 kids registered for the fishing tournament which is held just off the Government Dock and RR Marina Docks every year.
While last year’s champ Perry Lachance was there bright and early to stake out his winning spot from last year, he didn’t have the fisherman’s luck with him. He was skunked but the anglers just next to him would prove to be the lucky ones this year!
Caiden Fileccia started things rolling catching a 7.9” Crappie, just down from last year’s champ.
Rachel Ball, who fished the west side of the Govt. Dock then caught a 21.5” Northern Pike.
Then right next to Lachance, Jaden Gustafson thought he had a snag when he pulled up a 9.9” walleye.
A little while later huge drama unfolded right next to Gustafson. Shelby Tymkin thought she had a fish. When volunteers came to help her net it, it appeared that she and two of her neighbouring anglers all had their lines tangled up. For a moment they thought that was all that was going on then they noticed one line was swimming away. Volunteer Brent Anderson went to net the fish and nearly lost it. Once on the dock volunteer John Homer measured the feisty fish. Tymkin caught a 28” Northern Pike and cinched the 2007 championship.
Named Most Promising Female Angler was 12 year old Rachel Ball. Most Promising Male Angler was 10 yr. old Jaden Gustafson.
Winning the Lionel Robert Memorial Trophy for Most Sportsmanlike was Alyssa Spence.
Fifteen other competitors were randomly drawn to win rod and reel combos. They were Emma Noga, Madison Wier, Cole Tymkin, Kendra Moen, Jack Wood, Jacob Halverson, Thea Holland, Evan Lowes, Keagan Murray, Ed Plumridge, Shauna Moen, Cody Peterson, Damon Short and Jasmine Holmes.
All anglers received a goodie bag for participating.

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.