Organized by the Groupe de l’Ile-du-Grand-Calumet (GLGC) and the MRC Pontiac, the event served as an opportunity for local fishing enthusiasts to catch the heaviest fish that they could while raising money for the community organization.

During the event, participants headed out onto the water in search for the hugest fish in the river as volunteers cooked and doled out hot dogs from the barbecue station. Nearly 50 doors prizes, donated by various local businesses and organizations were raffled off and the 50/50 draw also proved to be a big hit.

But out of all the draws people seemed very interested with one in particular.

With a fish-shaped glass bottle filled to the brim with M&M’s on hand, participants were invited to guess how many of them were in the container for a chance to take it all home.

This year’s event was more popular than the inaugural one with lots of people wanting to support the GLGC, according to the organization’s President Philippe La Salle.

With plenty of people from all over the region and beyond attending the event, the fishing derby has become a great way of exposing the beauty of the region to people who aren’t from there.

Plus, without a lot of good fishing tournaments around these days, people are always hungry for an opportunity to fish with something on the line, La Salle said.

“There are a lot of strangers today,” he said. “There are people from Aylmer here, a lot of people from outside.”

When it was all said and done, Jean-Marc Lagarde won the adult category after hauling a hefty 7.5-ounce fish. In the kids’ category, Coralie Gauthier was the lucky winner with a 3.7-ouncer.

All the money raised from the event will go towards two community projects, La Salle explained.

One will be the purchase and establishment of a historical plaque for an old school and a chapel in the municipality, La Salle said.

The other will involve repairing old, broken and lost headstones at the cemetery by building a small commemorative monument displaying the names written on the lost headstones, La Salle said.

The GLGC is a non-lucrative community organization dedicated to raise money to subsidize projects aimed to benefit the municipality at large and to promote the island as a tourism destination, La Salle said.

GLGC President Philippe La Salle hands presents Coralie Gauthier with her trophy for winning the kids category.

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