Googan holds off White Fins and Hot Shots to win Fishing League title
The Swift Fishing League held its final event of the 2016 season at Camp Lake, Thursday, July 7. It was an 80 degree afternoon with some rain and thunderstorms in the area. Shortly before the 5:30 p.m. start, the rain quit and the sun came out. Water temp was 78 degrees, and the wind was NW at 5 mph. Each of the teams were excited to have this last chance to move up in the standings, or hold their current position. Also at stake was the “big fish” pot for the year, where the largest walleye and northern of the entire season are paid out.
At the opening horn, the 11 teams spread out over the limited area of Camp Lake. As expected on a smaller lake, there was lots of friendly “interaction” between the teams as the evening went on. One of the teams calculated that if you trolled at a normal rapala or daredevil pace, you could easily make four trips around the entire lake in the 3 hour event; two rounds clockwise, then two counterclockwise to unwind. There weren’t very many fish brought to the measuring table, but the ones that were brought to the table were nice ones. A total of two walleyes over 20 inches, and seven northerns were measured. Jon Bucktail Dale (subbing for Mike Haas) caught and released the largest walleye of the evening at 23.25” for 7 points. Steve Benson caught and released a 29.5” northern as largest of the event for 5 points. White Fins (Steve Benson and Jeff Reuss) won the event with 11 points from a basket of 3 northerns, ranging from 24.5” to 29.5”. Second place at Camp Lake was a tie between Shake n Bake (Randy McLean and sub Jon Dale), who brought in a 23.5” walleye for 8 points, and Quarter After (Jamie Naig and John Goulet), who caught 3 northerns from 23.5” to 28.5” for 8 points.
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Pictured: Jon Dale holds the top walleye for the final week at Camp Lake, a 23.25” beauty.
