BFT's greatest wiper tournament to date

[wiperhunter2]

The wiper tournament was a great success today, thanks to a lot of hard work by BLM. It was a nice day for the tournament and a lot of great fish were caught. Here is a picture of BLM blocking the channel of the North marina so we couldn't leave too early. WH2
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[Theekillerbee]

I'll bet it was a lot of fun. We were out in the AM for a quick trip. Wish I could have stayed for the fish fry...oh well. We boated a couple wipers, nothing really big. We did bring in a nice 26" Walleye, that is still swimming around waiting to be caught again. It was a beautiful morning, and I hope all in the tourney had fun.
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[wiperhunter2]

Wow, a 26in walleye, did you get a picture of it before you released it?
I forgot to mention, there were a lot of great sponsors and everyone helped make this a great event, also thanks to Predator and P4L for being great judges. Here is a picture of some of the guys waiting for P4L to give us a go signal. WH2
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[PREDATOR]

WH2, you are just happy cause you took second and got a killer prize!

In all truth, I hope all of you that were there realize how much work BLM put into that thing.

He purposely tried to make it look like it was a small time deal, and hopefully lots of you were surprised when he pulled out the stash of prizes, trophies, and all the goodies that everyone enjoyed.

But if you think about it, its enough work just to have to come up with a set of rules, and take entry fees, organoze your weigh in and round up some support.

But BLM took it to an entire level beyond that.

And he really did put in a lot of time and effort rounding up a couple hundred bucks in gift cretificates from sportsmans, donations from hooked, mainac, Lees marine, ect.

Plus made all the flags, put together all the gift bags and raffle, Got the trophies made up, and dealt with all the red tape issues of renting the pavilllion, ect.

He really put in a lot of work to surprise you guys and make it really big and really cool.

And I think it showed. I was impressed with the ability to pay out great awards to so many places and still have a great raffle at the end.

Also big thanks have to go out to the cooks. Old coot is a competition dutch oven guy and the beans and potatoes were excellent. Thanks to you guys for all your efforts as well, you guys all worked together to put on a killer event.

It was nice to see Tom Pettingill show up and share some wiper with us.
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[mikecromaine]

the BFT fleet
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[Theekillerbee]

Unfortunately I didn't have the camera with me today. Had to work late last night, and then grab and go this morning, so it got left behind. Sure was a nice fish though.
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[PREDATOR]

All you with pics of the awards ceremony, post them up, leets at least get a pic of the winners at the table with thier big old trophies.

Heres the final results.
I am not going to post all the results, just the top half.

1st place MGB and Hells angler 41.75"
2nd place WH2 and Wiper slayer 40.5"
3rd place Team fond of hungry fish 40.25" 7.5 lbs
4th place Team Blanchard 40.25" 6.6 lbs
5th place Polokid and fishnfool 38.5"
6th place Kent of NSL and fish 1 on 38.25"
7th place ScottieB and Redhead 38.0"
8th place Old coot and Spiderwelder 37.75"

Yes there was a tie for third and fourth place. We weighed all the fish so that we could break a tie. And if there was a weight tie, we would have to flip a coin. But, there was a weight difference, so we let the fish themselves be the tie breaker.

1st place took home a stack of cash, two huge trophies that were very cool looking, and became the new loosers.
Loosers because they get to put on next years "4th annual BFT wiper tournament" Good luck boys.

2nd place took home a fortune in sportsmans whse gift certificates and became the real winners since they prized out but dont have to do it next year.

But everyone went away with a prize, and a stack of guys went away with raffle stuff too.

Congratulations to all who got in on it.

Thanks to BLM and the cooks for a job well done.
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[wiperhunter2]

Here is a picture of the winners with their trophies, although Skippy was not one of the winners on the right. I also want to echo Predators thanks to all the cooks and everyone that helped make this event an success. Hey Mike, is this what you imagined all those years ago when we first talked about that first wiper tournament? It's come a long way since those first talks we had.
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[Hellsangler69]

It will be hard to beat this Tournament . I was quite surprised at how well it went . One fine event for sure . If you didn't come to this , you sure missed out a great event . Great Job to all that put this thing together . BLM , my hat is off to you . Might need some pointers when next year come around . I never took any pics which is odd for me . I guess I was to busy fishin' .
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[Kent]

Thanks to BLM, Old Coot (and all of the others who helped cook), Petty, Predator, all of the sponsors, and everyone else for a great tourney.
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[BEARCLAW]

Blm definately deserves a huge pat on the back for putting up a great event. You and all the others that donated your time need to be thanked as well. Gongrats to MGB and HA69 for taking home the sweet trophies and gift certs.
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[MGB]

Curt I knew the first couple years would be tough and then it would get bigger and better but this years event exceeded my expectations thanks to BearLakeMac. BLM went the extra mile to insure we had a great time and he came up with prizes for every one. Thanks again BLM.

A big thanks goes out to the sponsors,judges,cooks and everyone who brought food to the fish fry. And lets not forget The Angler for those great trophies and prizes.

Curt I am glad you caught SkippyTheLurker in the act try to steal my winnings, great pic.

Heres somes pics of the trophy thanks Angler it surprised everyone, a pic of the lure (cotton cordell/bleeding shiner) that worked good for me the last two days and a pic of the filleting team just as it was getting under way.
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[wiperhunter2]

Mike don't worry about next year, you and Randy will do fine and the best thing about planning the tournament yourself, you get to make the rules. It doesn't need to be a big production, it can be small, like the two years before but if you want to go all out like BLM did this year, I'm sure BLM will give you a hand and so will I. Congratulations Mike, you and Randy did good. Here is a picture of the Judges and BLM, I think BLM and P4L are showing how big their fish were, Ha,Ha.
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[kokeking]

Congrats to everyone that was in the tourney ,looks like a good time was had by all.WTG BLM looks like you put on a first class shindig.
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[iconoclasticPaul]

I concur with WH2 on this! I was impressed with this tournament and the rules. The fishfry and the banquet excellent to the T! The judges, BLM, and the sponsors did a superb job! The people attending were all great! Excellent examples of great sportsmanship and the spirit of camaraderie was all there.

One thing that really helped make this a smashing success, were those nametags that helped me put the faces on the map of BFT. It was really great of you guys to come out of the hiding.[] I will always remember those faces I recognize with the names (screen-names). Hope to see you cruisin around on the waters.[]
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[fish1on]

What to say.......

WOW!!!!!!!!

What a great day. Great event, great people, great prizes, great food, great fishing, etc, etc, etc.

Thank you to everyone for making this such a fun day.
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[fonduvfishin]

Well after having read the post and replies I'm not sure I can come up with any more superlatives. A BIG THANKS goes out to all of the folks who put on a great event within the BFT community, including the sponsors. A special THANK YOU and hats off to BLM for organizing a truly memorable event. Someone said it earlier - it takes a lot of time and effort to ensure everything goes smoothly and that all of the fine details are worked out, the planning and coordination are paramount to it's success and it showed!
If I can take anything away from this event - it would have to be centered around the camaraderie and great folks who comprise the BFT community - ALL OF YOU!
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PS: Congrats to MGB/HA69, and the WIPER BOYS for besting us in the tourney, the stakes have been raised for the 5th annual tourney.
...and yes Skippy, not only am I fonduvfishin, but as I witnessed yesterday so are you and the entire BFT gang.
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[skipythelurker]

That was a good time yesterday fellas...Love that trophy pic...would of been better If it were me and bigbuck but what the heck...my kid had a great time too...thanks ever body!
Here's a few of the pics that I took...kinda dark some of um but they'll do...even through in a pic of the SS Sweet Toe at the dock..
Thanks a gain!

Ps. Mike and Randy...Ide start Plannen now..

SkippytheLurker.
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[utwalleye]

I would like to say Thank You To All who was involved with putting on this tournament. It was nice to put names with faces and meet everyone. I had a great time. here's the pic's I took. later chuck
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[fishinfool]

I would like to say thanks to all the sponsors,BLM(I wont that fish batter recipe),P4L(JUDGE),Predator(JUDGE),Old coot(what a great dutch oven cook)and everyone else that help put this tourney on.
also thanks to Natalie(boat driver) & Rob(POLOKID) for being my partners.
It was was a great day to be on the water and to meet some of you guys.
Cant wait tell next year!!!!!!!
I also took some pics.
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