Drayton’s 2009 whopper catfishing tournament was held August 15 this year, pushed to the alternate date because of flooding on the original July date. It was worth the wait.
A warm day and on-again off-again rain greeted anglers as they trickled to Hastings Landing Recreation Area to launch their boats Saturday morning. Although conditions became a little greasy down there, things dried up nicely later in the day in time for post-contest awards and loading up boats under relatively clear skies.
The first fish was brought to the weigh-in station 45 minutes into the tournament and a steady stream of both whoppers and slot fish followed throughout the day. There were a tournament record 65 channel catfish weighed in during the tournament. The eventual winner was brought to shore halfway through the afternoon.
We increased the size of this year’s tournament to 60 boats maximum, which resulted in 57 paid registrations and 151 participating anglers tournament day.
Officials were able to bump up the top 5 advertised whopper payouts by $100 each and pay down an extra 9 positions in the whopper category and 4 more positions in the slot category—all due to entry fees collected over and above the advertised calculations.
Complete results are as follows:
Whopper category
First Place:
Mike Andrews, Grafton, ND
Weight: 22 lb. 6 oz.
$1700
Second Place:
David Rost, Bismarck, ND
Weight: 21 lb. 10 oz.
$850
Third Place:
Troy Sott, Hensel, ND
Weight: 20 lb. 14 oz.
$500
Fourth Place:
Cody Vilhauer, Wishek, ND
Weight: 20 lb. 5 oz.
$350
Fifth Place:
Tommy Grzadzieleski, Drayton, ND
Weight: 20 lb. 2 oz.
$275
Sixth Place:
Jordon Patterson, Drayton, ND
Weight: 20 lb. 0 oz.
$125
Seventh Place:
Ron Baatz, Nielsville, MN
Weight: 19 lb. 4 oz.
$100
Eighth Place:
Allen Oby, St. Thomas, ND
Weight: 18 lb. 4 oz.
$100
Ninth Place:
Dion Turgeon, Hallock, MN
Weight: 18 lb. 1 oz.
$100
Tenth Place:
Joie Haase, Grand Forks, ND
Weight: 17 lb. 14 oz.
$100
Eleventh Place:
Dick Dolan, Grafton, ND
Weight: 16 lb. 15 oz.
$100
Twelfth Place:
Shane Dalsted, Cavalier, ND
Weight: 16 lb. 11 oz.
$100
Thirteenth Place:
Zach Srnsky, Warren, MN
Weight: 16 lb. 10 oz.
$100
Fourteenth Place:
Troy Srnsky, Warren, MN
Weight: 16 lb. 9 oz.
$100
Fifteenth Place:
Derrell Gannon, Warwick, ND
Weight: 16 lb. 9 oz.
$100
Slot Fish category (less than 24” in length)
First Place:
Heather Winskowski, Stephen, MN
Weight 6 lb. 1 oz.
$200
Second Place:
Troy Srnsky, Warren, MN
Weight: 5 lb. 9 oz.
$100
Third Place:
Brandon Oby, St. Thomas, ND
Weight: 5 lb. 8 oz.
$50
Fourth Place:
Stan Restemayer, Edinburg, ND
Weight: 5 lb. 3 oz.
$50
Fifth Place:
Brooks Stellon, Drayton, ND
Weight: 5 lb. 0 oz.
$30
Sixth Place:
Tiodoro Martinez, Hoople, ND
Weight: 5 lb. 0 oz.
$25
Jeff Braswell, Grand Forks, won back his $50 entry fee in the “Whimp” category for the smallest catfish of the day at 6.5 inches in length.
The $30,000 prize for a new ND record catfish went unclaimed. See you at Rod & Reel Rally, July 17, 2010 !
Drayton Community Chamber of Commerce would like to thank tournament sponsor KXPO Radio 1340 AM, and acknowledge the input of the City of Drayton, Red River Resort’s Pete Marciniak, Joey Marciniak, Paul Kemp, and Andi Knutson (who spent hours waist-deep in the river helping load boats), Bob, Jessica, and Robbie Funaiole, Tiffany Patterson, Rob Boll, and BJ Heinrichs, who organized and ran the tournament smoothly and professionally. Nice job everyone!