Orillia Perch Festival winner announced

Orillia District Chamber of Commerce executive director Allan Lafontaine (left) and events coordinator Doug Bunker (right) handed over the keys of a new Lund boat, motor, trailer and cover to Orillia Perch Festival winners Kevin Gratton and his son Cooper Gratton on May 6, 2023. (Photo submitted by Orillia District Chamber of Commerce).

For more than 40 years, the Orillia Perch Festival has dangled the hope of glory and grand prizes to fishers across Ontario.

This year, winner Kevin Gratton of Brampton pulled in dozens of perch. Using the My Catch app, he and his nine-year-old son Cooper were able to photograph their location in Lake Simcoe and submit the perch size before releasing it back into the water.

"It's not hard to catch perch," Gratton said from his home in Brampton. "You can get one or catch 20. They swim in schools and when they're spawning there's hundreds of them.

"Once you find 'em, you can't keep 'em off the hook," he said.

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The Perch Festival grand prize winner was determined by a draw at the official closing ceremony on May 6. To qualify for the draw, an angler had to be registered for the derby and catch at least one perch during the festival.

Anglers were allowed to submit one catch each day, and each catch provided the angler with a ballot in the draw. The more days an angler fished and was successful in catching a perch, the more chances they had to win the grand prize.

Gratton and Cooper not only earned bragging rights, they won a grand prize of a Lund boat, motor, cover and trailer worth an estimated $15,000.

"It's the first year we entered it because of COVID-19," Gratton said, adding they fished for four of the eight days of the tournament from a government dock in Innisfil, at Tudhope Park, the Narrows and out in Lake Simcoe in a boat.

In previous years, anglers were required to bring their fish to the festival's perch headquarters at Orillia's Tudhope Park for verification. However, the past two Perch Festivals have featured an app allowing anglers to submit photos of their catch remotely.

This allows the fish to be released back into the water immediately and makes it easy for anglers to participate from various locations around Lakes Simcoe and Couchiching.

"We had close to 1,000 participants," said Eric Fomenko, membership, communications and policy coordinator.

"And because of the app, we had anglers from Lagoon City, Ramara and all along the lake to Barrie."

Fomenko said dozens of other prizes were awarded through the Perch Festival in addition to the grand prize boat. Runner-up prizes included a fish finder, kayak, and paddle board, and children's grand prizes were a canoe and gift certificates for local shopping sprees.

In addition, daily prizes of fishing rods and hats were awarded each day of the festival.

The Orillia Perch Festival takes place each year in late April or early May, with registration beginning in early spring.