The rain held off just long enough for most of the entries to reach shore unscathed at the ninth annual Walleye Classic at Boundary Dam on Saturday.

After eight hours spent fishing the dam, 50 boats came in to shore in two separate flights to begin the process of unloading and weighing their haul.

The Weyburn team of Dave Fawcett and Lorne Garland won the tournament with a net weight of 17.56 pounds.

That was the heaviest total weight for a tournament winner since 2008, when the top net weight exceeded 20 pounds.

Fawcett and Garland also won the Big Fish award after catching a walleye weighing 5.64 pounds.
Taking second-place honours were Marcel Marcotte and Bernie Bjorndalen, with a net weight of 13.12 pounds. Marcotte and Bjorndalen also finished second last year.

Ralph Smart and Rom Hedges fell only a few decimal points short of second spot with a total weight of 13.06 pounds, settling for third place instead.

Also finishing in the money were Alan Nicholas and Nick Bennett (12.80 pounds), Joel Campbell and Richard Panchuk (12.44 pounds) and Darcy Dukart and Harley Jahn (12.32 pounds).

It was a busy day on the water, with tournament organizers having to turn away five registrations after the maximum of 50 boats was met.

The Walleye Classic is a catch-and-release tournament, with teams allowed to bring in only six fish for weighing, and the top four being included in the net weight.

Before the awards were handed out, the fishers heard an appeal from the organizers of the annual KRJ International Bass Tournament, who offered up a prize of $2,000 for first place in a bid to get more entries. The bass tournament is on June 16 this year.