Fishermen AND women - start your engines! Here it is, time for North Dakota Governor's Walleye Cup fishing tournament! This is an amazing two-day event that has been going on for almost 50 years. COVID-19 canceled last year's contest, and so many people felt the loss. Garrison city park is where the contestants finish up, the two-man (or woman) teams leave as early as 7 am both today and tomorrow. There are 260 teams this year, one of them is a five-year-old daughter and her dad - competing for the grand prize of $15,000!

                 Do all the teams take off at once?

There are four groups - 65 teams in each - they are Flight One- Flight Two - Flight Three - Flight Four - The defending champions ( Ricky Schumacher and Kerry Wentz from Bismarck) are guaranteed to be in the first group - by a random drawing, the other teams are thrown into the flight groups - That order of groups goes out, tomorrow they flip-flop the order to make it fair.

                 Is there a time limit per day?

The competing teams have eight hours - in that time frame, they can collect 8 walleyes in their live well - when they return to the park, the fish are weighed and only the top five count. Joyce Pfliger chairwoman of the event says without a doubt her favorite part is the people - those that she comes across only once a year. I asked her if there are any additional prizes besides the $15,000 - each team by their own choice can throw $5 bucks into a pool - that collection of money goes to the one who caught the biggest walleye - and of course bragging rights for years to come. I mean, how many times have we been out to dinner and someone says "Hey, let me tell you about the whopper I caught last week"

Finally, I have had the opportunity to be there, at the Garrison city park during the event, and it is electric. Families, friends, and so many local residents fill the park - when the competitors finish for the day, everyone gets together with their tales of adventure - the huge scoreboard is there on stage for all to see. Whether you fish OR you just like eating walleye, be there, take your whole family - it's a blast!


 

 

 

Get Out And See North Dakota!!!

 

 

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