444 tourney fishing for funds

PORT COLBORNE — Of the 96 boats that entered the annual 444 International Walleye Tournament last year, one of the more unique entries was a 50-foot tugboat.

“They didn’t catch a thing … they just wanted to see if they could do it,” said Chris Yalowica, chairman of the tournament put on by the Port Colborne and District Conservation Club.

Yalowica said the tugboat had a number of drift socks in the water to try and keep it on course as it trolled for walleye in the waters of Lake Erie off of Port Colborne. Drift socks are devices put in the water to keep a boat steady in waves and wind.

The tournament chairman didn’t know if the tugboat captain was going to take another shot at the three- day event — two days of which are actually spent on the water, fishing for walleye — but said any size boat is welcome to enter.

Last year’s tournament was a resurgence for the tournament, which had slowly been declining.

Yalowica said there’s already interest in this year’s tournament, the 21st annual.

“We sold 600 tickets for our fundraiser and had to get 250 more printed.”

The fundraiser will be held Saturday, Feb. 25, at Brebeuf Hall, 300 Killaly St. E., from 7 p. m. to 1 a. m. with The Horns from Hell playing and food catered by Country Corner. Tickets are $10 in advance and $15 at the door.

“It’s all you can eat with door prizes and a lot of ‘bench fishing,’” said Yalowica, adding with a laugh that “bench fishing” is just a bunch of guys sitting around talking about fishing.

While anglers may talk about the tournament, which runs June 22- 24, at the fundraiser, others are talking about it across Niagara and beyond. Word- ofmouth, in addition to newspaper and radio ads and various fishing websites, is how people learn of the tournament.

“There’s talk around Brantford about the tournament. We get people from Niagara, London, New York state and Michigan.”

Asked if any professional walleye anglers have entered, Yalowica said the conservation club has received calls from some but so far none have entered. He suggested the $10,000 guaranteed prize for first place may be just a bit too small for the pros, though it’s great for all of the anglers who do enter.

In addition to the fundraising event at Brebeuf Hall, the tournament relies on sponsors to help with the $10,000 prize and all of the other prizes associated with it.

“If we didn’t have any sponsors, we’d need at least 100 boats entered just to break even.”

Tournament organizers take care of the sponsors by taking them fishing and treating them to a fish fry. Some of the fish used in the fish fry are walleye caught the weekend of the tournament. While almost every angler take their fish home, some donate their catch to the conservation club.

Yalowica said the 444 is not a catch- and- release event. He said anglers aren’t equipped to release the fish on their own and the fish are hard to keep alive.

Fish caught on the lake, which in June are found off of Port Colborne or to the east, are very healthy, with last year’s big fish coming at more than 11 pounds.

Yalowica said the walleye population on the lake is high and he’s been told the hatches in the last couple of years have been very good.

While the walleye population may be good, there’s no guarantee anglers will be able to catch any. Using a combination of science, math and a lot of luck, anglers use various methods to try and catch the elusive fish. Yalowica said planer boards, dipsy divers and worm harnesses are used.

“With the dipsy divers, there are charts that tell you the curve you need to get the right depth.”

Science, math and luck aren’t needed to find out more about the tournament, which has a booth this weekend at the Spring Fishing & Boat Show in Toronto and one in Niagara Falls at the Scotiabank Convention Centre in March.

More information can be found online at the conservation club’s website www.pcdcc.com or by calling Chris Yalowica at 905-834-1780.