A big fish was waiting for Randy Lewis to catch in a bitter sweet fishing tournament win after the unexpected passing of his mother.
Eileen Lewis lived in Virden for 20 years. She passed away on June 6 at 77 years of age. She and her husband Ed raised three active kids on the Lewis family farm near McAuley. One of these kids, Randy has a strong interest in the sport of fishing.
Randy was doing his pre-fishing for this year’s Prairie Classic Walleye Tournament at Lake of the Prairies when he received unexpected news of his mother’s death. With only three days left before tournament registration Randy considered withdrawing, but family urged him to continue, saying that was what his mum would want, so he went ahead with his preparation.
On day one of the June 10 and 11 fishing tournament he and his wife Cheryl’s brother, Brian Cook, were in 80th position out of 110 boats yet not far off the leaders in fish weight.
“Day two, my brother-in-law and I were just going to go out and have a fun day,” says Lewis. “Within the first half hour of the day I caught the largest walleye that I had ever caught on that lake. By the end of the day we had caught over 100 walleyes and moved from 80th spot up to first spot winning the event..”
The fish caught that day put Lewis and Cook into first place in the derby and a big prize of $25,000. Five qualifying fish from each day were weighed, yielding 22.5 lbs. which was .68 pounds ahead of second place for the tournament.
They also claimed the award for the top local team and the Day Two Biggest Fish award, a $1,300 prize for the 29.5-inch-long fish weighing 7.99 lbs. “I’ve been 15 years in the tournament and never caught one that big. It seemed incredible. It was a very good day.”
When Randy phoned and told his dad the good news he said that "we had an unfair advantage because mom was an extra person in our boat that day."Randy Lewis had a special mug onboard for the tourney. “Mum gave me a coffee cup for Christmas one year. She gave all of us Contigo travel mugs.” With a hitch in his voice he tells, “It said, Rise and Shine, It’s Fishing Time.”
