CHEBOYGAN – It was almost 25 years ago, but Pete Dobrowolski still remembers how things were back then.  

Dobrowolski, a longtime fisherman, was helping host the first-ever Cheboygan Salmon Tournament in town.  

Almost a half-century later, the tournament – clearly a super small event at the time – has morphed into something much bigger.  

“I can remember our first year that we started with a trailer down at the city beach and a scale hanging on a two-by-four, just a regular little scale hanging from a two-by-four, we brought our fish in and would weigh in, and we would bring our own coolers and own food, and now to the extent where we’ve got a 40-by-100 tent, and another tent that’s 30-by-50, and with now the (Cheboygan) Eagles putting on the beer tent and doing all the food, us moving from the hanging regular scale to a professional digital scale to weigh the fish in. It’s remarkable what we’ve done from day one until now,” said Dobrowolski, who has been involved in every Cheboygan Salmon Tournament since it started. “It’s just how much we’ve improved and fine-tuned everything, and that’s why I think people keep coming, because we keep it all the same, we don’t change anything, and we make it simple for the fishermen. It’s in the rules, plain and simple. There’s no questioning one of the rules because it’s in black and white.” 

This weekend, Cheboygan will feature anglers from not just in town, but from several different locations, as it hosts the 24th edition of the highly-popular fishing tournament put on by the Cheboygan community, Cheboygan Salmon Tournament Committee, and the Cheboygan Trail Blazers.  

Asked what makes the event so unique, Dobrowolski, a tournament committee member, alluded to making things easy to understand for the participants.  

“Well, we keep it very simple, and as far as any of the tournament rules and that, if you cannot enforce a rule, then we don’t have it a rule, so you can have as many poles on the boat as you want, and you can also have as many people as you want on the boat,” Dobrowolski said. “It’s all by Michigan DNR rules and it’s just a fun tournament.” 

Last year's event featured a total of 59 boats registered and 38 boats officially weighed in, as anglers made their way out to sea early in the morning and returned in the afternoon to Gordon Turner Park, where the “Big Tent” hosted both entertainment and the weigh-ins.  

It doesn't matter if you’re from Cheboygan, the Presque Isle area, the Upper Peninsula or out of state, the tournament has received rave reviews from just about everywhere over the years.  

“It’s been tremendous feedback,” Dobrowolski said. “We’ve had so many people that have fished here for the first time, actually, that own businesses out of town that has become one of our sponsors. We’ve got like 80 sponsors and we’ve had a couple boats from last year that fished in our tournament, and this year we received their entry fee, plus we received their sponsor check. They just said it’s fun and well run. We give a lot of stuff away to the captains before the tournament. We give them four meal tickets, which (the Cheboygan) Eagles put on a meal that’s on a Friday night, that’s to the captains and it’s totally open to the public. We always want to make sure that the public knows it’s open to them, and a lot of them don’t know that. We’ve got barbeque chicken, ribs, the potatoes and all the fixings to go with it, and then we do the 50-50 raffles, and also, we have huge other raffle items that people donate. We do not buy anything for this tournament, it is all 100 percent donated from sponsors.  

“We’ve got over $5,000 in raffle prizes that we’re going to be giving away.” 

The tournament features different divisions, including the Boat Division, Largest Salmon, Largest Lake Trout and many others.  

Dobrowolski added there will be one key new addition for this year's event.  

“Actually, one big thing that’s added in for this year is that Maple Bay Marine, they stepped up to the plate and gave us $1,000 for the Largest Walleye this year,” Dobrowolski said. “Obviously, they sell all kinds of boats, but they sell a lot of walleye boats and that, and they just figured that they’re going to throw that out there and so we’ll get some walleye boats. We take in walleye every year, we weigh in walleye every year, but they just wanted to make it really inviting to the walleye fishermen.” 

While festivities begin on Friday evening, the actual event will take place with a 6 a.m. shotgun start on Saturday morning. The anglers are scheduled to return at 2 p.m. and will have their fish weighed in at the “Big Tent” at Gordon Turner Park at 3 p.m. 

As for entertainment, Billy Jewell and Charlie Reager will once again provide music during Friday’s dinner at the “Big Tent” from 5-8 p.m., then will be back at noon on Saturday to entertain all the way until the weigh-in.  

The festivities have consistently brought in big crowds of people, and Dobrowolski expects it to be no different this year.  

“I love to hear that because one big thing that we do – and we belong to the (Cheboygan) Trail Blazers that takes care of the trails, and that’s what we’re a part of – and our No. 1 goal is to bring people into the community,” Dobrowolski said. “That’s one thing we love to see, is these out-of-town people that fish for the first time and then they come back. Actually, before they leave, they say, ‘We’ll see you next year. You have a very well-run tournament, and we have a lot of fun.’ We’ve got the band, Billy Jewell and Charlie Reager, they put on a show Friday and Saturday, MC’ing for the tournament, and they just make it so much fun.” 

For the event to be a great success each summer, teamwork has been key for the committee and others involved. Dobrowolski lauded those helpers for their hard work, dedication and commitment. 

“I can’t praise all of our volunteers enough,” Dobrowolski said. “We’ve got these guys that have been with me since day one, that take care of the coolers on and off the boats, and I mean we’re talking these guys, a lot of them are in their 60's and they are still doing it – and they just love it. We’re now getting a lot of fun people involved, which these younger kids are helping us now on stage with the coolers and the weigh-in and everything, and they love it, too.  

“It’s coming all the way around. We’ve got the older guys that are still in it, but they’re teaching all these younger guys now.”