A professional South Dakota fisherman took first place at the international Winnipeg River Greenback Championship – home of the unique greenback walleye.
Thirty mile an hour winds pair with pelting rain and near-freezing temperatures hardly make for ideal fishing conditions, but professional angler Ted Takasaki and his partner, Dave Randash, overcame these elements to reel in a prize catch on the Winnipeg River.
Takasaki said there’s one thing bringing anglers from near and far to the Canadian prairie town of Pine Falls, Manitoba.
“That system is the only system in the world that has green walleyes. They’re called Greenbacks, just like a dollar bill. If you looked at a dollar bill, and some of the holographic bright-green printing on the dollar bill, that’s exactly what these walleyes look like, and there’s nothing like it anywhere else.”
Takasaki’s claim to the title was cemented with a 30-inch, 8.5 pound fish.
“I would consider any thirty-inch walleye to be a trophy, because you just don’t catch that many 30-inchers," Takasaki said. "I’ve caught a lot of 27, 28, 29, a handful of 30's, and very very few 30-plus. They’re pretty rare. I mean, a true 30-inch, 10-pound walleye is tough to catch anywhere you go.”
For the catch-and-release tournament, once the fish are officially weighed, they are returned to the water.
“We weighed in, it was about 37.5 pounds, and the next closest team in second place was ~31," Takasaki said. "So, we actually won the tournament by about six pounds.”
Takasaki – who lives in Sioux Falls - says despite his professional experience, he still believes the best hunting and fishing can be found in South Dakota.