New 3 week event over July, August features $25,000 in cash prizes
MANITOULIN ISLAND—This newspaper is excited to announce the launch of its Manitoulin Expositor Salmon Classic, coming to waters near you this coming summer.
The Salmon Classic will be held between the dates of July 23 and August 14 with the goal of showcasing Manitoulin as a whole, together with its spectacular fishing. The event will span a three week period in order to give as many people as possible the opportunity of using some of their holiday time to search for salmon in our waters.
“It’s going to be a fishing event like no other in the North,” said Expositor production manager Dave Patterson, the brainchild behind the derby. “It’s great for the local tourist operators and will add to tourist traffic to the Island, in particular sports fishermen and women.”
Mr. Patterson noted that salmon fishing in Island waters is on the rebound and there are plenty of fishermen eager to catch them—this is just an added incentive.
“Salmon is the No. 1 sport fish in Ontario,” he said, “and sportfishing is a multi-million dollar industry and we are looking to increase those numbers on Manitoulin.”
The Expositor is posting some great prizes for the biggest catches too, starting at $12,000 for the heaviest salmon with prizes for second through fourth too with a total giveaway of $25,000.
“There will also be a weekly prize for the largest salmon or trout plus a $2,500 largest trout (rainbow, brown or lake trout) prize,” Mr. Patterson said. Weigh-in stations will be located at posts throughout the Island.
Tickets are a reasonable $60 each and are available at The Expositor Office and online at www.fishmanitoulin.com and at select Island outlets in the new year. Anyone wishing to enter must have purchased a ticket at least one day prior to fishing. All parties in a boat must have a ticket, otherwise the fish will be disqualified (the full rules and regulations will be available online).
The Salmon Classic is already attracting some major sponsors and The Expositor is welcoming anyone wishing to get on board (packages start at $100) to get in touch. Becoming a sponsor means great exposure, including all of this newspaper’s advertising as well as at the Salmon Classic booth this March at the Toronto Sportsman Show.
“Fishing derbies are popular and they certainly create an interest in sportfishing in the area where they are being held,” said Expositor publisher Rick McCutcheon.
“People like catching salmon: they’re nice big fish and every fish can be considered a trophy. In the case of any fish caught in Manitoulin waters (the North Channel, Lake Huron and the Georgian Bay side), they also have the added bonus of being completely edible because they come from our clean, sparkling waters—other fish derbies can’t make this same claim.”
Mr. McCutcheon said it is this newspaper’s hope to bring a level of business to all of the Island port communities from which people fish—Meldrum Bay, Providence Bay, M’Chigeeng, South Baymouth, Little Current, Kagawong, Gore Bay and Wikwemikong.
“The Toronto Star has been sponsoring and organizing a Lake Ontario salmon derby for over 30 years so this was clearly an inspiration for The Expositor to organize one for Manitoulin’s waters, on a Manitoulin scale,” the publisher added.
He said there are other salmon derbies in the lower end of Lake Huron (Kincardine and Owen Sound) but this one will be unique to this end of our large Great Lake.
“It’s a new venture for us as a publishing company, but we’ve had lots of support and enthusiasm when we first raised the idea,” Mr. McCutcheon said. “We’re taking a promotion of Manitoulin Island in general and this new salmon derby to the Toronto Sportsman Show in March where we’ll be talking it up and encouraging people to visit Manitoulin for all the myriad reasons there are to come here. It’s useful that we also publish Manitoulin’s tourism lure book, This is Manitoulin, so we will be distributing those at the Sportsman Show as well.”
Jim Sloss, chair of the United Fish and Game Clubs of Manitoulin, said he thinks the Salmon Classic is a “great idea. There’s so much potential available around Manitoulin—I think it’s wonderful and I think it’s long overdue.”
Mr. Sloss is a long-time proponent of the importance of sports salmon fishing to the Island’s economy and one of the driving forces behind the Gore Bay Fish and Game Club’s salmon hatchery project.
Mr. McCutcheon added that the dates of the Manitoulin Salmon Classic (the last week in July and the first two weeks of August) neatly overlap with many of the signature summer Manitoulin Island events: Haweater Weekend, the Wikwemikong Cultural Festival and Manitoulin Country Fest, to name some of them. “This means that, for families coming to Manitoulin for the fishing event, there are also plenty of other activities going on and we will be pleased to cross-promote them. Of course there are the ongoing experiences at the Great Spirit Circle Trail, Manitoulin Streams, 4elements Living Arts, golfing and horseback riding so this means one more activity to draw people to our Island,” he noted.
For more information or to buy a ticket, email info@fishmanitoulin.com.
