By MARK WARD for the Missoulian
Twelve years ago, Arlyn Lemer from Lolo and I were fishing the Hell Creek Walleye Tournament on Fort Peck Reservoir. Doug Breker, from Townsend, was camping with us and he was also fishing in the popular annual tournament with Mike Evans, also from Townsend.
The backyard Breker was talking about was Canyon Ferry Reservoir. And within a couple of years, Breker was able to spearhead an effort to start a walleye tourney on the lake.
The event was sponsored by the Townsend Area Chamber of Commerce and it took quite an effort by Breker and others to convince Montana Fish, Wildlife, and Parks to sanction a walleye tournament on a lake that was known throughout the region as a great trout lake.
Moving 10 years forward to today, the Canyon Ferry Walleye Festival has now become the most popular walleye tournament in Montana.
“This year, we filled the tournament by Feb. 6,” said Breker, who is still the tournament director. A total of 150 two-person teams have paid the $250 entry fee to compete for the $10,000 first-place cash prize now offered.
Canyon Ferry is still a great trout fishery, but the angler hours are dominated by walleye anglers from all over the state. An ongoing survey at the Silos Boat Ramp has indicated that 97 percent of the folks launching there have come to fish for walleye.
It has been a short 10 years for Breker and the 40 some volunteers who help put on the tournament. “The help that we have had to keep this tourney growing and running smoothly is nothing short of incredible,” Breker said. “Most of the volunteers have been working since the first one 10 years ago.”
What is Breker’s fondest memory? “I think it was the first tourney when the anglers competing in the tourney were able to discover that walleyes were in the south end of the lake,” he said.
That annual occurrence at about this time of year is now known by fishermen as simply “The Bite.” And the question they all ask is: Is it on pond 1, 2, 3 or 4.
When the tournament field fires up its outboard motors this Saturday at 6 a.m., you can also hear the Montana Outdoor Radio Show broadcasting live from the shores of Canyon Ferry on one of our 16 radio stations across the state.
Like the walleye festival, the show has been on the air for 10 years, too. In fact, our first-ever “On Location Broadcast” was from the very first Canyon Ferry Walleye Festival. Breker and I - the tournament and the show - have come a long way from Hell Creek.
Mark Ward’s statewide Montana Outdoor Radio Show airs Saturdays from 6 to 8 a.m. in Missoula on KGVO 1290 AM. E-mail Ward at captain@montanaoutdoor.com.
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