Hook, line and sinker
Phantom fishing derby takes off in the North

Emma Levez
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jul 15/98) - The North's best fishers have been challenged to a fishing derby focused on a single lure.

The 1998 catch-and-release trout fishing derby officially opened at 12:01 a.m, on July 1. It closes a minute before midnight Aug 23.

Prizes will be awarded for the biggest lake trout caught (and released) with the wolverine phantom lure. A photo of the fish with the lure, as well as specifications of the size of the fish must accompany the entry form.

Dale Johnston, owner of Wolverine Sports Shop, designed the lure in 1988. Over the last 10 years it has been going through a fine-tuning process -- and was finally made available to the public last summer.

The idea for the lure came from long years as a fisherman.

"I had fished all my life -- there was nothing on the market that resembled bait fish in the lakes in the North," says Johnson.

He experimented with colors and sizes, and ended up with two sizes and four color combinations. The lure is now made by Gibbs in Burnaby, B.C., but it is sold exclusively out of Wolverine Sports.

The lure has become popular, not only among Northerners, but also with American visitors who have passed through Yellowknife. Johnston estimates that Wolverine Sports sold between 72,000 and 84,000 phantom lures last year.

A lodge in Alberta ordered four dozen this year based on a client they had last year who used it -- the wolverine phantom lure out-fished everything else.

Guy Villeneuve, an expeditor with Bathurst Arctic Services, sings the lure's praises.

"I have a well-stocked tackle box and I have about 30 wolverine phantom lures. It's the best thing I ever used!" he declares enthusiastically. Villeneuve swears by the success of this lure. It is the first one he tries.

"And if that doesn't work, well..." He, too, is confident the success of the lure is due to the fact that it looks so similar to the bait fish.

The derby is open to anyone fishing in NWT or Nunavut waters. Some 30,000 entry forms will be distributed to all Northern communities so that no one misses out.

"We want to get everybody participating," says Johnston. "We're expecting entries in the thousands anyway."