Lake of The Woods Women's Walleye Tournament

The Lake of the Woods Women’s Walleye Tournament began with a conversation about
women, food security, and access. In 2014, Lynda Richardson, who served on the Collective at Women’s Place Kenora, and Executive Director Colette Surovy were discussing practical ways women might stretch their food budgets. One idea stood out: teaching women how to fish, even from a public dock with a simple homemade rod. That conversation soon revealed a larger truth, that in the Kenora area, fishing was still widely seen as a male-dominated sport.

As they spoke with more women, the same barriers kept coming up. Many did not have access
to a boat, had never been taught how to operate one, or were not allowed to use the family
boat. The issue was not interest. It was access, confidence, opportunity, and support.
Looking into the history of women’s fishing in the region, Lynda and Colette learned that
Kenora had once hosted a women’s derby in the 1980s. When organizers stepped away, the
event ended in the early 1990s and was never revived.

Recognizing both the history and the need, they carried out an informal survey to see whether
women would participate in a new derby that could also support Women’s Place Kenora. The
interest was strong, but the concerns were clear: no boat, no confidence driving one, no one to
teach them, or no permission to use the family boat.

Rather than seeing those barriers as a reason to stop, they treated them as the reason to begin.
A planning committee was formed in 2014 with Lynda Richardson, Colette Surovy, Danyelle
Neniska, and Jen Hansen, and the first tournament was launched as the Triple D: Derby, Dinner
& Dance. One of the most important early decisions was to allow drivers for women’s teams,
making the tournament more accessible to women who were new to boating or not yet ready
to enter on their own. From the beginning, the tournament was about more than competition.
It was about building women’s confidence, skills, and independence on the water.

That first year, there were just six teams, but those six teams laid the foundation for everything
that followed.

Honouring Lynda Richardson

Lynda Richardson was more than a founder. She was a woman of vision, heart, and
determination. She believed women belonged in every space, including on the water, at the
helm, and at the forefront of a sport that had too often left them on the sidelines.

She helped create this tournament because she saw what it could become: a place where
women could learn, grow, take risks, support one another, and discover their own strength. She
understood that empowerment sometimes begins with something as simple, and as powerful,
as being given the chance to try.

After Lynda’s passing from cancer in 2018 at the age of 59, the tournament was named in her
honour as the Lake of the Woods Women’s Walleye Tournament – Lynda Richardson
Memorial. Her legacy lives on in every part of this event, in every team that registers, every
boat that launches, every woman who steps outside her comfort zone, and every memory
made on Lake of the Woods.

Lynda was the kind of woman who changed a room when she entered it. She brought energy,
compassion, humour, and purpose. She believed fishing was about more than the catch. It was
about connection, confidence, community, and creating space for women to belong. This
tournament exists because she believed it should.

where we are now

Since launching in 2015 with six teams, the Lake of the Woods Women’s Walleye Tournament
has grown into the largest all-female walleye tournament in Canada. Lynda Richardson’s vision
was realized when the event reached 91 teams.

Today, the tournament continues to empower women through fishing by building confidence,
skills, and community on the water. While maintaining its welcoming spirit, there is a renewed
focus on growing the No Driver division and encouraging women to take the next step in their
angling journey.

Held annually on the second Saturday in June, the tournament is a Catch-Record-Release event
using the eTournament Fishing platform and proudly carries forward Lynda’s legacy.
At its heart, this tournament has always been about more than fishing. It is about women
having access. It is about women building confidence. It is about women learning skills that
once felt out of reach. It is about community, laughter, courage, and stepping into new territory
together.