The second stop of the Central Canada Kayak Trail took place on June 23 at Pelican Lake in Manitoba’s Westman Region. The target species this time around was the lake’s plentiful prairie golden walleye. 18 anglers set forth bright and early on a crisp Sunday morning to catch, record, release their five longest fish.
Tournament Title Sponsor E & J Live Bait were gracious hosts the entire day of competition. Anglers were required to muster before hand at the bait shop located in the town of Ninette on the north shore. Once everyone was had their gear and rigs inspected and received their Angler ID cards, they were free to launch at any of the five authorized launches on the lake.
The cool morning quickly gave way to blazing sun and little reprieve from the lighter than expected northwest wind. Anglers took a little bit longer to warm up though as submissions trickled in very sparingly for the first three hours of the tournament. James Friesen who finished in 5th place, led the event for most of the morning anchored by a 22″ kickerfish to go with a bag of 14″ walleye.
Nick Wytinck followed a couple minimum sized 13.75″ fish with what turned out to be the Big Fish of the Day at 27.50″ just before 11am. “It took me the morning to figure out how to catch them. When I caught the 27, I began to believe that I could put a good bag together.”
Angler Dylan Thiessen woke up that morning not feeling well and notified Weighmaster Divine that he would see how he felt in a few hours. Thiessen felt well enough by mid-morning to make the drive down from Brandon and compete. Even after giving the field a 3-hour head start, he still managed to wrangle up a bag of 15″ walleye to finish in 6th place.
The Casting Deck Podcast’s very own Mike Dotoli and Eric Labaupa were locked in tight battle during the last two hours of the tournament. Labaupa improved on his bag of 14 inchers with a rare Pelican Lake 17″ followed by a kicker 25″ after lunch. After a slow morning, Dotoli steadily climbed the standings with each upgrade landing just behind Labaupa after he scored a 24.25″. With time running out, and bragging rights on the line, Dotoli hooked into an 18.25″ walleye pulling cranks way off shore to jump into 3rd place.
Aaron Wiebe of Uncut Angling was looking for a win after a close second place finish at Lac Du Bonnet to Jay Siemens. He had a tough hill to climb though as Wytinck had quickly put together a bag of giants soon after scoring the 27.5″ to take a huge lead by mid-day. Wiebe started the comeback with a solid 24.75. He clawed his way closer and closer to the lead with a series of 25″ plus catches including a 27.25″ kicker of his own.
Wytinck and Wiebe, along with all of the anglers and viewers at home, were able to keep tabs on the competition by watching the Live Leaderboard on the tournament Livestream. All of our tournaments are streamed live on our YouTube channel – Kickerfish.
With time winding down, Wytinck still had a 16.50″ walleye in his bag and Wiebe was on a tear catching multiple afternoon big fish. “I didn’t use my forward-facing sonar all day as I was working very shallow water. I decided to turn it on late when I ventured a bit deeper to look for another big fish and found one. I though it was a pike at first actually.” Wytinck was able to boat a last hour 24.75″ for a huge upgrade which secured the lead for good.
Huge thanks to Eric, Jaylene, and Danica Evans for hosting the tournament! Give them a visit for all of your bait and tackle needs at Pelican Lake. Click for Full standings of the Pelican Lake Walleye Tournament and information about the CCKT.