Open Water Bite at Lake Erie
By Steve Weisman
GNWC Publicity Director
Battling heat and humidity, the team of Jim Stedke from Wapakoneta, OH
and Steve Carlson from Clinton, OH brought in a 5-fish limit weight of 19.54
pounds to take the $1400 first place check at Sunday’s Lake Erie Tournament
on the Ohio Region of the Grand National Walleye Cup (GNWC).
This fourth and final regular season tournament for the Ohio Region was
hosted by Lorain, OH.
The winners also took Cabela’s Big Fish Award of a $200 Cabela’s
shopping spree and the $370 optional Big Fish Pot for their 6.5-pound
walleye.
Second place and a check for $700 went to the team of Wayne Jesionowski
and Gary Zart from Hinckley Twp, OH with a five-fish weight of 19.08 pounds.
The team of Scott Stecher and Larry Lambert from Marblehead, OH earned
the third place check of $550 with a five-fish weight of 17.76 pounds.
According to GNWC Tournament Director Lyle Heidenwith, the 42 competing
teams had to battle heat and humidity.
Stedke and Carlson used their pre-fishing game plan to take first place.
Stedke said, “We knew it was going to be an open water bite and that the
fish would be on ‘the bar’. The big decision was whether to run open water
harnesses or pull Reef Runners.”
Their decision to run 10-12 inch harnesses tipped with nightcrawlers
behind Luhr Jensen Jet Divers turned into the winning decision. Stedke and
Carlson worked 46-50 feet of water and targeted walleyes suspended about 30
feet down. “We let out line at different lengths, from 80 to 135 feet behind
the boat. We also used both dual willow leaf and single willow leaf blades
and pulled them at 1.6 mph,” added Stedke.
“A week ago, I would have said it would take over 35 pounds to win this
tournament, but these are open water fish, and the big fish moved. So, we
knew that there were not a lot of big fish on the bar. Our plan was to catch
our five 20-24 inch fish and then pull Reef Runners and search for the big
fish.”
The winners, though, felt with time running out in the afternoon that
they would stick with the open water spinners. That paid off because they
caught their 6.5-pound big fish with about an hour and a half to go in the
tournament.
“Another big key for us,” added Carlson, “was the blade itself. Erie
Outfitters in Sheffield, OH is making a new hammered copper willow blade and
then painting them the same colors of the popular Michigan spoons.”
Jesionowski and Zart also pulled open water harnesses behind both Luhr
Jensen Dipsy Divers and Jet Divers. According to Jesionowski, their plan was
to stick with their game plan and to make the proper adjustments as the day
wore on. They found their most active fish in 47 feet of water. “Our first
spot didn’t produce, so about 11:30 we moved and that’s when we began
catching our fish,” said Jesionowski.
They found the double willow blades to work best and after trying silver
and gold, found that copper was the key color.
Meanwhile, Stecker and Lambert went with a different presentation by
running both Reef Runners and Michigan Stinger Spoons behind Dipsy Divers.
“We ran Reef Runners to try to target the bigger fish and the spoons behind
the divers in order to run deeper,” said Lambert. “We caught a lot of fish,
but we just couldn’t catch the bigger fish like we did yesterday during
pre-fishing.”
In the battle for the Ohio Region’s Yamaha Outboards Team of the Year
award, the team of Mike and Tom Defibaugh from Bellefontaine, OH used a
fourth place finish to take the Team of the Year title with 24 points.
The Yo So Close Award, provided by AMFYOYO, manufacturer of the
innovative stowable folding landing net, went to the three teams just
finishing out of the money. They include Ken Abernathy and Nathan Marcini
from Ravenna, OH in 11th place; Scott Yarman from Vernon, OH and Tom Kemper
from Marion, OH in 12th place; and Dale Grimm from Warren, OH and Sam
Cappelli from Poland, OH.
With the regular season now over, GNWC Executive Director Barringer
talked about what is coming next for the Ohio Region. “The Ohio Championship
is up next. The top 30 teams in the region will now meet at CJ Brown on
August 20-21.”
For those interested in learning more about the GNWC, call
1-800-890-FISH (3474), or email the GNWC at [email protected].
GNWC Executive Director Bernie Barringer said, “I encourage people to
get on our website at http://www.walleyecup.com. With regional championships in all
seven regions, I think people will enjoy checking out the results of these
regional championships.”
Major national sponsors for the GNWC include Skeeter Boats, Yamaha
Outboards, Lowrance Electronics, YoNet Folding Nets by AMFYOYO, Aqua-VU,
Aqua Innovations, Cabela’s and UpNorthOutdoors.com. National championship
sponsors are Towtector Shield and the FoodSource Lure Corporation.