Plenty of fish biting down on the Grand Marais

February 27, 2018

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The Equity

Beyond the prizes for first and second place, there was also a prize for smallest fish and many door prizes raffled off. Pictured: Jonathan Soucie reads off the raffle tickets.

The tournament saw 40 sponsors make contributions to the volunteer firefighters’ efforts. From left: Second place winner Maurice Soucie, firefighter Jonathan Soucie and Home Hardware rep Matthieu Comeau show off the generator won for the second biggest fish.

The Fort Coulonge Fire Department held their seventh ice fishing tournament on Saturday, where close to 200 people hit the ice for the day-long tournament. Pictured: Jaime Romain shows off one of his many catches of the day, just before the fish is weighed in.

Donald Teuma-Castelletti
MANSFIELD Feb. 24, 2018
Saturday saw the return of a popular fishing tournament on the Grand Marais, though the firefighters organizing it were a bit wary of whether the swaying temperatures during the week leading up to it would play in their favour.
Though they’ve had to cancel it in year’s past, the Fort Coulonge Fire Department were happy to host their seventh ice fishing tourney on the river, where they saw close to 200 anglers drop a line in pursuit of the biggest pike.
Jonathan Soucie, event organizer and volunteer firefighter, saw the last few weeks leading up to the day are crucial when determining if they can put it on.

“We wait until there’s lots of ice, then we kick ourselves in the arse and get it done,” said Soucie, on preparing despite the varying weather. “Then, it’s a lot of hours, and a long week [to prepare].”
It was a good thing the weather played out well, because these firefighters had some excited anglers itching to get out on the ice.
“We had people waiting for us to set up at 6 a.m.,” said Soucie, with a laugh.
The tournament saw around 40 sponsors step up and make a contribution to the volunteer department’s efforts, with grand prizes donated by the town of Fort Coulonge and the local Home Hardware.
The town donated the grand prize of an auger, which was won by Patrick Soucie, for his catch weighing 14 lbs., 1 oz. The Fort Coulonge Home Hardware donated the second place prize, which was a 950 watt generator. Maurice Soucie took home this one, with his fish weighing 7 lbs., 9 oz.
Money raised for the department through this tournament helps fund all the extras, explained Soucie. Everything from TVs to clothing for the hall is purchased thanks to fundraising efforts like this, so that the department doesn’t have to bother the municipality for funding.
Of course, the 12 firefighters volunteering at the event that day work hard for their efforts, with new recruit Father Justin Bertrand putting in his fair share. Only two weeks on the force, Bertrand drew many smiles and laughs when folks realized it was him manning the barbeque, keeping the canteen stocked full of burgers all day long.
“Not every tournament has a priest for a cook,” added Soucie.

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