Governor's Cup This Weekend

It’s another big weekend of fishing ahead at Fort Peck as the 27th annual Montana Governor’s Cup Walleye Tournament kicks off Friday.

The festivities begin on Thursday with a guys and gals tournament running from 8 a.m.- noon. Following that, Governor’s Cup registration will begin at 3 p.m. at Kiwanis Park with a mandatory 5 p.m. rules meeting.

At 6 p.m. Thursday, a Calcutta will be held featuring auctioneer Lucas Strommen at Kiwanis Park. The calcutta will carry over to Friday with the same start time after the first day of the Governor’s Cup.

The cup will officially begin Friday at 7 a.m. as the teams of two will disperse out onto the lake in groups of 50, starting at 7 a.m. and ending with the final flight heading out onto the lake at 7:30 p.m. Scores from the first day of fishing will be being posted at 4 p.m. at Kiwanis Park.

"This is by far the biggest economic impact to our community," said Glasgow Chamber of Commerce Director Lisa Olk. "People start coming to town in the week leading up to the event."

Olk said that to make sure everyone plays by the same rules and guidelines, the tournament will have 20 patrol boats out on the water.

Fishermen competing in the tournament are not allowed on shore to fish at any time during the event and prior to each take off in the morning, boats will be inspected by the National Guard to make sure no teams are entering the competition with fish already in their possession.

Olk said that to her knowledge there have been no issues from previous Governor's Cup tournaments with teams breaking the rules in which monetary prizes had to be rescinded from one of the winning teams.

The Cup will wrap up on Saturday with its second day of competition at 7 a.m. with final weigh-ins and awards beginning at 3 p.m.

So far there are 125 teams registered in a field capable of holding 150 teams. Final payout will be distributed to the top 20 percent of the field with 100 percent payback on day money, entry fee and big fish.