The 2021 Vanity Cup was awarded on Sunday at the Nipawin and District Regional Park.
The 28th annual walleye fishing tournament hosted 160 teams of anglers from across North America over two days.
Stan Ricci and Louie Kapooulos of Regina were named this year’s champions to take home the $100,000 grand prize.
After experiencing lower than usual weights throughout the first day, the pair did not expect to come out in first place according to Ricci.
“We didn’t have any overs and Vanity has never been won without overs,” Ricci said. “Every time we would come into the weigh-in shack, the people weighing were telling us we would be happy with that weight, and we were like okay, that is nice of them.”
When the end of the day was nearing on Sunday, the pair still didn’t think it was their year until phone calls from friends and fellow anglers were coming in.
“We had people telling us that we were in fourth, and then all of a sudden it was like you guys won and we just kept saying, come on,” Ricci said. “We just never expected it.”
Ricci said he has attended the Vanity Cup for over ten years now and bites were scarce in comparison to previous years.
“Fish on average were much, much smaller so we decided to focus on our slots and then if we happen to run into an over, then great,” Ricci said. “We didn’t get an over, so we figured, well, there’s always next year.”
On day one, the two were sitting with a total weight of 15.78 lb. Day two was even lower with a total weight of 12.90 lb, for a finished total of 28.68 lb.
In second place was Bob Kirkpatrick of Cabri, Sask. and his partner Ryan Tynning of Swift Current, Sask. with a total weight of 27.93 lb, to take home $30,000.
“Bob has won premieres four times now and he knows that river and knows that lake and he is very good. So I definitely did not think we would win,” Ricci said.
Bob Kirkpatrick presented with second place cheque of $30,000 by organizer Jim Chute. (Facebook/Vanity Cup)Kirkpatrick and Tynning were also named the top team in a Lund Boat with 27.93 lb winning $1,000.
Brad McKerracher of Nipawin and Jeff McKerracher of Air Ronge had a total weight of 25.72 lb which was good enough for the third place prize of $20,000.
Most Improved from day one to day two with an improvement of 13.22 lb went to Tim Geni and Daniel Gougen to win a Lund 12′ Aluminum Boat.
The Top Mixed Team went to Lance Marcotte and Karen Soke with 20.40 lb caught winning the team a Minn Kota Terrova trolling motor.
Hidden Weight of 8.80 lb was caught by Dave Bouclin and Mark Bouclin to win a Hummingbird Helix 7X fish finder.
The big fish prize from day one was given to Joe MacDougall and Wade Brunette for their 10.39 lb catch on Saturday.
The first fish weighed on Sunday was 10.81 lb caught by Steve Brasseur and Wayne Holmen ended up being the big fish for day two.
On top of the lack of bites from fish this year, another difference was the cancellation of the awards banquet in order to keep everyone safe by limiting gathering amongst anglers, organizers, and volunteers.
Over 70 volunteers from the Nipawin Minor Hockey Association were on hand through the weekend to help make the event a success. All proceeds from Vanity Cup support Nipawin minor hockey.
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angie.rolheiser@pattisonmedia.com
On Twitter: @Angie_Rolheiser
