It was a good day for fishing and fundraising. About 250 people participated in the Greenback Walleye Classic Sept. 23, raising $1,070 for the River East Optimists Club. “This is such a great turnout,” said derby director Dan Sernyk. When they opened the gates at just after 6 a.m., there was already a line-up of people waiting to get in with their boats. It took until 8:30 a.m. before all the boats got in and on the water. Sernyk said they weren’t expecting any more than about 50 boats, but wound up with 112 and 20 more people fishing off the Selkirk town dock. Winnipeg’s Tom Hayden pulled in one of the biggest fish of the day, a walleye weighing in at 5.144 kilograms. “It was a slow day,” he said shaking his head. “We brought in a couple of small ones.” Then they caught the big one. His daughter Dawn Fuerst, who was out fishing with him, said when other participants saw the size of the fish, they wanted to buy it from them. “We had offers for it,” she said. Nine-year-old Matthew Klopak caught a much smaller fish than Hayden, but had a great time at the derby. Klopak could have won the award for the farthest distance travelled to fish. Klopak is from Australia. His dad Roger went there on a teaching exchange years ago. Now he’s back in Canada on another teaching exchange, this time one that’s brought him back to his home country. “There’s nothing like this back home,” said Matthew. “It’s fun.” Winnipeg’s Steve Gidilevich won the derby, a Lund boat and Mercury motor, with a fish that weighed in at 5.443 kg. Pearl Sasaki of Winnipeg won a two-day three-night fishing package for her 5.38 kg fish and Hayden also won a won two-day three-night fishing package for his catch. Organizers say next year they’re looking to expand the event. By Nancy Renwick source: http://www.selkirkjournal.com/News/341996.html