For this year’s Ladies Fish for Freedom winners, the key was patience.
Cheryl Joo and her mother Shirley Anderson of Prince Albert caught three fish with a combined length of 205.25 centimetres during the women’s-only tournament Aug. 18 and 19.
“We had a lull, probably around noon, where we were feeling kind of down because we just had three small ones in the tank, nothing really worth counting,” Joo said. “But we thought we’d ride it out and see how it goes.”
Anderson recalled the team wasn’t feeling good about their chances for most of the day.
“Not until the last hour and a half of the derby,” she said. Then we thought maybe – maybe – we stood a chance.”
“Our day was really slow and then the last hour is when we caught all of our big fish,” added Joo. “It was pretty exciting. We knew we were close, but we didn’t know how close.”
It was playing the waiting game that allowed the team to get those big ones. Joo said there was a point where they caught a big jackfish and were deciding what to do next.
“We were thinking of moving and then we thought we’d wait a few more minutes and then a big sturgeon flew out of the water in front of our boat, so that was exciting to see,” she said. “Then right after that, we started catching our fish.”
The tournament raises money for causes that support women. Last year, money raised went towards the North East Outreach and Support Services.
After the fishing was other, Joo and Anderson looked at their scores and compared it to everyone else’s.
“I was wondering if we’d made it to the top five or not because you never know,” Anderson said, as she recalled the moment she checked the board out.
During the moments between having the scores posted and made official, Joo said she was nervous and excited.
“We’ve never won before. We started in 2009 and we had a fourth place once, but other than that, we’ve never placed, so we’re pretty pumped up right now.”
Back in 2009, the duo had found out about the tournament in the Prince Albert newspaper. Since then, the other fishers have helped out, giving them tips on what to do and not do out on Tobin Lake. Because they have fun each year, they always have come back – with even more women from Prince Albert in tow.
