“Chili Bowl” Rainy River Walleye Tournament Results
Category: article
Oct 20th, 2022 by Keith Worrall
Modified Oct 20th, 2022 at 10:36 AM
Border View Lodge 12th Annual Chili Bowl Walleye Tournament Garners Big Checks
Baudette, Minn. (October 15, 2022) – The 12th Annual Chili Bowl Walleye Tournament at Border View Lodge was ushered in with a typical October day on Lake of the Woods. But despite the chilly temperatures, there was a lot of great energy with some nice bags and fat checks for Midwest anglers. Hosted on the shores of the Rainy River in Baudette, Minnesota, the Chili Bowl is a yearly walleye fishing tournament and chili dinner celebration that touts a great time as a fun tournament for non-professional anglers.
It takes the right recipe to put together a great fishing tournament, but a key draw of the Chili Bowl is the excellent opportunity for anglers to walk away with some money — 100% of the registration fees went directly into the payouts. Over $18,000 was given away with 22 anglers walking away with a check.
The top place finishing teams were:
First Place – Olivia Olson & Chad Olson with 19.02 pounds;
Second Place – Scott Ballard & Rory Ballard with 18.75 pounds; and
Third Place – Scott Robinson & Dale Boroos with 18.62 pounds.
With the maximum capacity of 75 boats registered, over 140 anglers competed to register the best of five walleyes or sauger in this catch-and-release format tournament. And the Chili Bowl reinforced its name with a free chili dinner after a day on the water for the anglers, as well as the public. “We were extremely excited with the amazing turnout and positive feedback,” notes Vince Ojard, Tournament Director. “We’ve worked hard to grow this event and continue to make it all about the anglers. Some nice checks were awarded, and the chili dinner was great too!”
In addition to the payouts, five anglers walked away with a new Clam walleye net. And everyone got a Chili Bowl Beanie. Marketing Director Dan Stefanich noted, “A really nice touch was the sponsor-provided swag and prizes. We wanted to make sure that all anglers walked away with something, not just the check winners.”
As a catch-photo-release format, the Chili Bowl is a conservation-focused tournament that requires anglers to take photos and release their fish then convert the length of the fish into pounds. This format also enables anglers to record bigger fish that are outside the slot limit, which makes for an increased “bag” while still conserving the fishery. The Chili Bowl has boundaries that are confined to the Rainy River so anglers don’t have to worry about high winds creating rough conditions like on big water, making this a great contest for guys with smaller boats.
The Chili Bowl partnered with several regional brands that offered some nice prizes at the event as well. Partners include Clam Outdoors, Blackfish Gear, Border Bank, Outdoors Again Sports, Midwest Outdoors and Flo-Fast.
Check out the final tournament results showing where all anglers placed in this year’s Chili Bowl walleye tournament on the Rainy River. 2022-chili-bowl-results