Blight, Gaudry snag their first RRWT crown

The weather was spectacular and so was the fishing for the 14th-annual Rainy River Walleye Tournament on Friday and Saturday.
Only one team did not catch any fish on Day 1 while the vast majority—86 teams—weighed in four fish.

Local teams dominated on Day 1. Early in the day, Shannon Jonasson and her father, Chris Stone, brought in an 8.48-pound lunker.
It wound up being the biggest fish of the day and propelled the duo to the top of the 90-team field with 15.92 pounds in total.
Joe Dobransky and Brian Larsen also had a couple of nice fish on the first day to sit in second place at 13.78 pounds.
Rounding out the top five after Day 1 were Christian Armstrong/Mark Nault (13.14 pounds), Dave and Darren Armstrong (13.13), and Robert Matthew/Ken Vogan (12.39).
Many anglers reported catching more than 100 walleye on the first day, but noted that most were small.
It was teams that found the big ones who ended up on top of the leaderboard.
On Day 2, the old saying, “The fish bite the least when from the east,” appeared to be true.
Around lunchtime, the wind picked up from the east. While most teams still weighed in four walleye, many anglers said they found they caught very few fish compared to the previous day.
Some teams said the morning bite was good, but others said they did not have any fish until very late in the day.
One of the very first teams to weigh in on Saturday was John Blight and Sean Gaudry, who had a big fish that tipped the scales at 8.14 pounds.
Their two-day total of 24.40 pounds put them atop the podium—not to be dethroned by any of the other teams.
Their closest challenge came from former RRWT champs Doug McBride and Steve Ballan.
They brought in an 8.68-pounder—the biggest fish of Day 2—but their two-day total of 23.96 pounds came up about a half-a-pound light.
Nibs and Cheryl Kreger also had a strong second day, bringing in a 6.76-pound fish early and adding another six pounds with their other three fish to eventually end up in third place with 22.48 pounds.
With 84 other teams weighed in, Blight and Gaudry were called up on stage to see if the top five teams from Day 1 could unseat them.
Matthew/Vogan were first to enter the tent, needing 12.02 pounds to take the lead. They had four fish, but only weighed in 8.21 pounds to finish in ninth place overall.
Dave and Darren Armstrong also had four fish. But needing 11.28 pounds, they fell well short with only 8.07 pounds to wind up sixth.
Armstrong/Nault needed 11.27 pounds but were in the same ball park as the previous two teams, weighing four fish for just 8.35 pounds for a fourth-place finish.
Dobransky/Larsen needed 10.63 pounds to capture this year’s title but their four fish only tipped the scales at 6.23 pounds, dropping the duo to 10th place.
With only one team still to come, Blight and Gaudry were feeling confident they were going to win the tournament. And their confidence soon was validated.
Needing 8.5 pounds to claim top spot, Jonasson and Stone, the Day 1 leaders, had four fish but they only weighed 5.18 pounds to slip to seventh overall.
Gaudry and Blight were super stoked! Blight picked up the trophy and hoisted it high into the air while Gaudry grabbed his son, Owen, and hoisted him up.
The victory earned them $15,000 and bragging rights for a year.
Blight said they found the second day to be a tougher bite.
“We fished all over from Clementson to the mouth of the river,” he noted. “The east wind made it tougher.”
“We stuck to jigging,” Gaudry revealed.
“As for the colour we used the most, that is top secret!”
Oliver and Jason Gibbins, the defending champs, finished in fifth place overall with 21.30 pounds.
Rick and Mark Thompson totalled 20.71 pounds to finish in eighth place.
Rounding out the top 15 were Dorothy Leininger/Jamie Hartnell (19.34 pounds), Al and Chris Stone (18.52), Bill Godin/Ralph Galusha (18.47), Bill Stay/Bryan Barron (18.02), and Terry Wizcek/George Schell (18.00).
The prize for the biggest one-day basket went to Stone/Jonasson while the top rookie team was Dewey Beckel/Leanne Leefe (15.13 pounds).
Kirk Wood was the lucky winner of the boat in the Rainy River Legion’s raffle
Jeff Imrie won the $1,000 prize while Dustin Hawlett pocketed the $500 prize.