Richard Froese
South Peace News
A longtime popular summer fishing derby at Shaw’s Point Resort on Lesser Slave Lake appears to be history.
The Golden Walleye Classic – annually held on the first weekend in September before its August dates in earlier years – is cancelled for the fourth consecutive year.
Longtime organizer Ken Sperling says support and entries for the event over the past several years has diminished and the tournament may not return.
“There is no Golden Walleye tournament,” says Sperling, who chaired the organizing committee for more than 20 years.
“It’s time to shut it down.
“It just won’t happen anymore – that’s the way it looks now.
“We have nobody to run it and a lack of entries.”
Last held in 2019 as the 31st annual event, the tournament was can- celled in 2021 and 2020 by the COVID-19 pandemic and restrictions, and called off in 2022 by a lack of entries.
For three decades, the tournament was annually held in late August, then on the first Saturday and Sunday of September.
The 2019 event drew 36 teams of two anglers, down from 58 in 2018.
Sperling and the committee and Shaw’s Point Resort thank all those who supported the event over the years.
Sperling notes other fishing tournaments in the province have struggled with the number of entries.