A little rain and wind couldn’t stop over 300 anglers from competing in the 20th annual Alameda Fishing Derby at Moose Creek Regional Park last Saturday.
Darryl Davis, co-president of the Alameda Fishing Derby, said a total of 326 fishermen, including 53 youth, braved the 50-kilometre gusts and intermittent heavy downpours to take part in the tournament that is used to raise money for the Alameda recreation board. He said these funds keep the Alameda Skating Rink open in the winter and the ball diamonds running in the summer as well as covering a number of other sporting costs.
“We’ll use some of that money to go towards some projects that we have going, like we’ve fenced the ball diamonds and redone the kitchen in the rink,” said Davis. “Basically all of it goes into funding for the maintenance and upkeep of our facilities.”
Davis said the one-day fishing derby usually raises around $25,000 to $30,000 annually for the recreation board and despite the tournament having a lower number of participants this year the expectation is they’ll hit that mark again. He said a big chunk of that money came through their auction on Saturday night at the closing banquet that had people trying to win an outdoor backyard package including a patio set, gazebo and fire pit, which pulled in $3,750 for the cause.
“We knew our numbers were down and in fact we lost a couple of fishermen who were in the Lampman area,” he said, noting these anglers were called back to their hometown from the tournament to help out with flooded basements due to the massive thunderstorm that rolled through the area on Friday night. “People have been watching the forecast all week and we all saw that the wind gusts were going to be up around the 50-km an hour range, so people get a little leery to be out on boats, but all in all it was still a huge turnout for us.”
Carlyle’s Ken Valentine took home the top prize at the Alameda Fishing Derby by catching a 19.245-pound fish. Estevan’s Ralph Smart followed him with a 17.58-pound catch, while Alameda’s Glenn Zimmerman took third place with a 13.995-pound fish.
Oxbow’s Joseph Marcil won the youth division by hauling in a 3.055-pound fish. Altona, Manitoba’s Rhyla Hildebrand took second place thanks to a 2.63-pound catch, while Roche Percee’s Jaslyn McNabb scored third place with a 2.14-pound fish.
Davis said when the derby began 20 years ago fishing was only starting to become a common activity at the Alameda Dam in Moose Creek Regional Park, but over the years it has evolved to where anglers from Manitoba, the United States and across the area up to Regina come to town to take part in it. He said this year was another indication of that growth thanks to the various sponsors who put up door prizes and donations as well as the many community volunteers who took the time to make sure the tournament is was success.
