NIPAWIN — The winners of the 25th Vanity Cup annual walleye tournament were Nipawin residents Curtis Fehr and Logan Bishop.
Second place was Tom Johnston and Larry Johnston, and third place was Delvin Kushniryk and Linda Kushniryk.
Entry fee for the tournament was $1,000 per individual and there were 60 teams of two. First place got $100,000.
Fehr and Bishop’s strategy was sticking to the spot that gave them luck.
“Stick to what we know,” Fehr said. “We caught big fish in the same place that we pre-fished in, that we decided to just stick it out and not get discouraged, and give it our all.”
It was the first year for both of them competing in the Vanity Cup but they have been fishing together for a few years.
“He worked the boat, and it worked out, we’re a team,” Fehr said. “I’m glad she stayed local, the trophy.”
They don’t have a planned strategy for next year, and Fehr doubted that next year will be the same as this year.
“No strategy for next year. The weather was like two, three weeks late this year. It was a different bite than other years. Usually it was a leech bite, this year it was a minnow bite. The water was 10 degrees difference than what it should be, so we decided to stick to the minnows and he tried a bunch of different stuff and it worked out.”
He figured the fish would be trying to fatten up for winter and looking for the most calories, and minnows would be the ideal bait.
Fehr said he was surprised by winning, but it felt amazing.
“I never thought we’d do ‘er, you know? It’s awesome.”
The awards were held in Nipawin on Sept. 30.
