Good fishing for Goodnights in Washington Governor's Cup

A Hayden man was the top North Idaho Finisher in the 19th annual Washington Governor's Cup Walleye Tournament last weekend in Kettle Falls, Wash.

All 66 teams in the tourney were permitted to weigh in six walleyes and could cull the smaller ones from their livewells as the day wore on. Greg and Cathy Goonight weighed in six fish totaling 18.10 pounds on day one.

But their lead was tenuous as the team of Stan and Jerrad Romig from Umatilla, Ore., checked in with six fish weighing 17.86 pounds. Not far behind were two other Kettle Falls teams: Jerry Marco and Rod Sly along with Don Ghramm and Craig Bircher.

The Goodnights did well again on Sunday, the final day of the tournament. They checked in with 12.86 pounds of fish, but shortly thereafter, Ghramm and Bircher put 17.24 pounds on the scale. The final tally?

The Goodnights had a total weight of 30.96 pounds to barely eke out a victory over Ghramm and Bircher who finished with 30.94 pounds. Marco and Sly fell off the pace a bit and finished third with 26.02 pounds. The Romigs faded to 4th place.

The top North Idaho finisher was David Aagen of Hayden who teamed with Pink Wilkenson of Selah, Wash., for a two-day total of 10.84 pounds.

The Governor's Cup was the fourth event on the Washington Walleye Tournament Circuit this year. The final event will be the Spokane Walleye Club's Washington State Walleye Championship at Kettle Falls July 28-29 sponsored by Mark's Marine of Coeur d'Alene, Lund Boats and Cabela's.

The circuit's "Angler of the Year" will be named following the tourney.

Info: spokanewalleyeclub.com