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A popular ice-fishing derby in northern Saskatchewan is dealing with allegations of misconduct by a participant.
The Montreal Lake Cree Nation issued a statement saying it became aware that a participant allegedly violated the Montreal Lake Walleye Derby rules, and was asked to leave the fishing area. The matter was referred to the RCMP and the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency.
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The Waskesiu RCMP detachment has since confirmed officers are investigating a reported case of fraud, but no charges have been laid. No other details pertaining to what exactly happened have been released.
In its statement, the Cree nation said there have been no known incidents of fraud in previous years.
“The Nation wishes to reassure the public that the integrity of the derby remains intact and that it continues to uphold a fair and transparent process,” the statement read.
The derby has a grand prize of $100,000.
Andrew Pallotta runs about 30 competitive sport-fishing tournaments each year with the Competitive Sports Fishing League in Ontario. When lucrative prizes are on the line, he said it’s not uncommon to hear about cheating.
“We’re pretty strict right from the get-go in the morning with the way we check boats,” Palotta said. “We’ve used metal detectors, and we’ve done lie (detector) tests. We do everything it takes, and we’re fortunate enough that we haven’t had anybody do anything stupid at this point.”
That wasn’t the case, however, at a fishing event in Ohio in 2022, when two men admitted to stuffing fish with lead weights and fillets from other fish. According to NBC news, they were given 10-day jail sentences and had to forfeit a boat valued at $100,000.
Pallotta said people need to realize fishing events are a serious sport, and participants have their reputations on the line.
“I don’t think they ever want to be put into that position where you don’t want to be considered mud and never fish a tournament again for the rest of your life,” he said.
larongeNOW reached out to Montreal Lake Cree Nation Vice-Chief Dean Henderson for more information on the situation at this past weekend’s derby, but he declined to comment. The Cree nation did, however, say that if violations are confirmed, it will support all enforcement measures and prosecutions in accordance with the law.
“The First Nation remains committed to ensuring a fair and respectful event for all participants,” the Montreal Lake Cree Nation said.
The winner of the 18th annual Montreal Lake Walleye Derby was Drayden Morin. His 2.5 lb walleye landed him the $100,000 grand prize.
