Two Oshawa men, one a very experienced tournament competitor, and one fishing his first walleye tournament, overcame tough conditions and 115 other teams to take home top spot and $5,000 cash in the return of the Canada/US Walleye Tournament this past weekend.

Dan Risorto and partner Jeff Salazar fought the rain on Saturday to weigh in six walleye totalling 10.66 pounds and sat in fifth place heading into Sunday's final day of competition, over one and a pounds behind the day one leaders Steven Jenkins and Josh Westerink of Oakville and Newcastle and 1.09 pounds behind former champions Grant Mills and Rick Verkruisen of Pontypool.

Sunday brought some of the worst walleye fishing conditions imaginable...bright sunny skies, calm waters, and high air temperatures.

The pressure was on everyone to try to catch their limit of six fish, but none more so than Risorto and Salazar, officials with the Bobcaygeon And Area Chamber of Commerce said. The changing conditions hit almost all of the top anglers hard. None of the four top teams managed to catch their Sunday limit; in fact, one of them got blanked.

Risorto and Salazar were up to the challenge. They not only brought in another six fish limit, but they slipped by their competition by just over a third of a pound, a slim margin in a tournament won with 20.26 pounds.

The tournament was Canada's very first live release walleye tournament when it premiered back in 1978.

The Canada/US Walleye Tournament was operated by the chamberon Sturgeon Lake, in the part of Ontario defined by the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) as Fisheries Management Zone 17 (FMZ 17).

Regulations there require that only walleye measuring between 35 and 50 cm could be retained. Several teams reported catching and live releasing walleyes of four, five, and six pounds. One team even caught and released one monster that tipped their on-board scales at over eight pounds. Those big fish are the ones that will produce the most eggs at spawning time to produce good numbers of young fish, but releasing them certainly keeps the maximum weight of a tournament winning bag lower than historical levels. It also means consistent anglers who can catch their daily limits are rewarded, not the lucky ones who fluke into one huge fish, the chamber said.

In addition to their $5,000 cash prize and championship trophies from the Bobcaygeon Legion, Risorto and Salazar received attractive prints from award winning artist Murray Henderson.

The second place team, Louis Sinclair and Cory Stillman of Lindsay received $3,000 for their 11 fish two day weight of 19.91 pounds.

In third were Mike Trevett of Ashburn and Ray McCabe of Little Britain, who received $2,000 cash for their two day catch of 12 fish weighing 19.87 pounds.


Rounding out the top 10 were:

4. Mike Allen and Tom Allen (Whitby & Ajax) - 19.01

5. David Harris and Frank Pugelj (Port Perry & Caesarea) - 18.85

6. Brent Fiebiger and Don Neubert (Bobcaygeon) - 17.26

7. Jay Martin and Brad Arnott (Oshawa) - 16.82

8. Ryan Crowley and Shawn Walsh (Oshawa) - 16.64

9. Garnet Armitage and Wayne Misselbrook (Bowmanville & Brooklin) - 16.29

10. Steven Jenkins and Josh Westerink (Oakville & Newcastle) - 15.67

The top 20 teams received cash prizes, and dozens of competitors won merchandise draw prizes.

"I don't know a single competitor who didn't go home happy. Everyone had a great time and many were winners in one way or another. We are so delighted that we were able to bring this once great walleye tournament back to life in such a spectacular way and I know our dedicated volunteer committee members are already looking forward to working with our tremendous sponsors to make this historic event even greater next year," said chamber director Tom Hunt.

Among the many sponsors of the 2012 Canada/US Walleye Tournament were: Shimano,

Pure Fishing, Lucky Strike, Buckeye Marine, Lowrance, Johnson Outdoors, Buckeye Surf & Snow, Happy Days Houseboat Vacations and British Empire Fuels.

Award presentations and exhibitors were located in the Bobcaygeon Curling Club.