By Jim Brown
peijim@hotmail.com

When it came down to the crunch, tiny O’Leary PEI, despite “outstanding” support from Islanders, won’t win the World Fishing Network’s Ultimate Fishing Town Canada contest, says Lee Cowan, natural area manager for Trout Unlimited’s Prince County Chapter.

The deadline for voting online in the contest was extended from Sept 28 to 6 pm tonight local time (Sept 29).

Ms Cowan said O’Leary sits in eighth place nationally.

“We’re sitting on eighth and likely to finish eighth,” she said.

Still, that’s a major accomplishment, considering there were 159 communities entered.

And Islanders can take pride in the fact that O’Leary’s Trout River-Coleman entry still got the most votes of any trout fishing destination in the country.

All the top vote grabbing communities featured bass, walleye and salmon as the major species, she said.

Ms Cowan also stated the contest has put O’Leary on the map as a fishing destination and “hugely” boosted the profile of the watershed and the challenges it faces.

The promotion has been priceless, said Ms Cowan, noting she is getting inquiries from far and wide.

And, she added, there is still a good chance that O’Leary could end up winning a secondary cash prize.