The 6th annual Falcon Lake Walleye Masters, second stop on the Central Walleye Trail, took place on Saturday June 1st on Falcon Lake in Manitoba. This catch and release walleye tournament has been around since 2014 with this year being the first with new Tournament Director Jason Woychuk and family. A whopping eighty teams registered for the 2019 event, all vying to take home the top prize of $7000 cash and an Agassiz Outdoor prize package.
The later than normal spring didn’t leave much time for the water to warm up which was evidenced by a relatively tough walleye bite on the lake. The morning started very slow for most teams, but the increasing wind saw the bite pick up in the afternoon which some teams were able to take advantage of to grind out some keeper sized fish.
As the anglers came across the scales at the end of the day, there were only a couple max four fish limits with a handful of three walleye baskets. In all there were 29 teams in the field that were able to weigh at least one walleye. The 45cm to 70cm slot rule in place in this section of the province left most teams struggling to catch legal fish but had no issue catching fish in the affably known ‘red zone’.
Congratulations go out to the team of Alex Keszler & Les Slymkevich who won the event for the second time, having won previously in 2014. Keszler and Slymkevich brought in a four fish limit all under 45cm for a winning weight of 6.47lbs. Second place went to the father and son team of Craig and Reed Everett with their four fish limit weighing 5.91lbs. The Falcon Lake Walleye Masters was young eight-year old Reed’s first ever tournament where he also took home the Top Youth award. Third place went to another father and son combo, Mike and Larry Davey who came to the scales with a three fish limit weighing 4.66lbs.
The top four was rounded out by the Top Mixed Team, Falcon Lake Marina owner Ian Young and partner Lindsey Emberley whose three walleye came in at 4.57lbs. A special acknowledgement goes out to the Top All Female Team award winners Divine Labaupa and Janis Surla who finished in 16th place with a weight of 1.71lbs. The Big Fish Award of the tournament went to the team of Blain and Kinley Jones who caught a 44cm walleye weighing in at 1.80lbs.
The next stop on the Central Walleye Trail is on June 8-9 at the Russell Lion Prairie Classic on Lake Of The Prairies in western Manitoba. For more information on the CWT and how to enter please visit their website @ centralwalleyetrail.com
From the Trail is sponsored by: