KENORA — Does Kenora have room for another great fishing tradition? The answer appears to be a resounding yes.
Last month, Beaver Brae Secondary School and St. Thomas Aquinas High School teachers partnered to host an ice fishing tournament on Rabbit Lake for their Grade 7 and 8 students.
The tournament ended up being a “great success,” said Mike Baxter, an intermediate teacher at BBSS and one of the tournament’s organizers. “The kids all had fun and learned a lot about fishing,” he said.
Nearly $1,000 in prizes were given away for awards like the biggest and smallest catch and the best boys' and girls' teams. Kourtney Hager from St. Thomas Aquinas fished her way to becoming the big winner of the day.
Baxter and his friend, Carson Dubchak, an outdoor education teacher with the Catholic board, had been planning the tournament since early in the new year.
“We were talking one day and thought that it would be pretty cool to have a school-versus-school tournament or even just a tournament in general where the kids can come together and have a little bit of friendly competition,” said Dubchak.
The pair set out to get sponsors for the tournament and ended up working with the O.P.P. and Treaty 3 Police Service, Sunset Baits, Canadian Tire, Lake of the Woods Sports Headquarters, Dingwall Ford, local fishermen Jay Samsal, and the Miner's own Jeff Gustafson, amongst others.
Each sponsor donated either prize items or their time and services, with the police providing lunch and helping with baiting rods.
Gustafson, who currently remains on tour and is still riding high off his 2023 Bassmaster win, will present his donated prize to its winner in person when he returns to Kenora.
Dubchak said the tournament “turned into something a little bit bigger than I think we expected with the prizes we got, so that was amazing,” noting the generosity of the sponsors.
"There were a lot of people that stepped up and were able to help out,” he said. “It really made it enjoyable for the students. They got a lot out of it because of all the help that we got.”
It’s vital for students to learn about the outdoors and about the different opportunities to engage with it that are unique to Kenora, said Dubchak.
“Whether it'd be just hobbies or later on in life when they get a job,” it’s important for students to be taught about the outdoors and how to be successful in them, he said, “, especially in a place like Kenora where there's so many opportunities to do things in that realm.”
Baxter, the teacher at Beaver Brae, has a similar mindset when it comes to outdoor education.
“We value land-based learning,” he said, pointing toward the opportunities Beaver Brae provides to learn about traditional Anishnaabe culture, which includes things like learning how to fish and “how to interact with the land and develop good hobbies based off that.”
Baxter explained that these types of activities give students who already have a passion for the outdoors a chance to shine and help engage those who may not.
Thanks to Dingwall, Ford's donation of 200 fishing rods, even the students who didn’t have their own were able to fish all day.
“It wasn't a super warm day by any means and seeing the kids stick with it, get involved with their friends, with their teammates and having them work together was good to see, as a teacher,” said Dubchak. Since the tournament turned out to be such a hit, "we will likely do something very similar next year or even try to make it a little bit bigger if we can,” he said.
“We've already talked about that with local organizations, and I think we're going to shoot for it to be an annual thing,” Baxter added.
Kenora Miner and News / Local Journalism Initiative
