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Rod, Gun & Game: It’s walleye tournament season on Lake Erie and the fishing is EASY


With thousands of dollars on the prize awards table across several fishing tournaments conducted by different groups over the summer, Lake Erie walleye anglers have been sharpening their hooks with hopes of landing a big fish or two and heading to the bank. The fishing has been really good for smaller fish from 19 to 24 inches, but the mambo jumbo big walleye are more scarce this year. Not

Walleye fishing in Lake Erie has never been better, Captain Jim Klein, local inventor of the Eye-Fish spinner rig has proof.

sure why. Not to say the big fish are not there, but catching a giant walleye over 8 to 10 pounds has been more difficult this year than in other years. Example: The Southtowns Walleye Association Tournament is among the longest-running amateur walleye fishing contests in the entire country. They usually pay out the top 200 places for the heaviest fish weighed in that must be a minimum of 26-inches long to enter the scale. This year they only paid out to 146 places because while anglers caught many daily bag limits – thousands of walleye, there were not that many fish over 26 inches caught. It’s a conservation practice thing by Southtowns Walleye tournament officials that have had this rule in the books since the tournament started way back when, more than 35 years ago. You know, catch and release the little guys. Good rule. The cool caveat for this tournament is that over the 9 days, only the one biggest fish wins. Other tournaments have 3-fish weigh-in bags for one or two or more days. But in the Southtowns Walleye Tourney, anybody with a bit of luck can win because only one big fish will win the biggest cash prize.   

That’s how it was for Rory Hryckowian, who fooled an 11.65-pound walleye while fishing at night off Buffalo. He was trolling a gold/black Storm Thunderstick off 3-colors of lead core down the NY-Ontario border of Lake Erie in 50-60 feet of water when the big fish hit. That one big fish won him first place and $22,000! Second place went to Gordy Anderson with a 10.90 fish taken on a Renosky stickbait fished behind 4-colors of lead core, good for $14,000. The third place cash of $2,250 went to Joe Mecca with a 10.65-pound walleye fooled with a purple color Bay Rat stickbait fished off a diving plane. Cash payouts of $1,000 to $50 were awarded in cash-descending order to 146th place, but the bigger fish, like the three top winners, were hard to find. Congrats to everyone who fished that tournament. The little fish are there too, as many anglers filled their coolers and freezers over the 9-day derby. PS: the smaller fish taste much better than the big ones! 

Retired charter captain, Bob Rustowicz, with a nice walleye caught during the Sunset bay Walleye Shootout event this past weekend.

Another tournament, the Sunset Bay Walleye Shootout, just finished this past weekend with 140 teams working hard to cash in for top prizes. Each team consists of a four-man roster with competing teams who visit Chautauqua County from many parts of the country. Big fish Friday was won by Daron Baron of the Fishin’ Tradition team. The Saturday competition contest winners will be announced shortly for that one. This contest is unique because considerable prize money comes into play for a one-day competition event with over $500,000 in cash and prizes to the top scoring teams. That kind of prize package brings in anglers from faraway places. There’s a waiting list for this tournament. Contact Captain Don Rupert at 716-435-4137 to learn more.

Just ahead, the two-day Bart’s Cove Dual Walleye Tournament will be held from Dunkirk Harbor on July 30-31; contact Mark Mohr at 716-998-9871 for info. The Chautauqua County Conservation Club will have their popular “Con-Club” walleye tournament from Aug. 5-7; contact Zen Olow at 716-640-2776 for information. Then the exciting Innovative Outdoors Walleye Challenge will run on Aug. 19-20 from Dunkirk harbor; contact Captain Jim Steel for info at 716-481-5348. 

Then the biggest for last with the Bass Pro/Cabela’s National Team Walleye Championship set for Dunkirk from Aug. 24-26, with national TV coverage. 

If you fish, know that we live in a fantastic place to score some fun on the water with a rod and reel. For all of you non-tournament anglers, the many boxed-out walleye limits coming in every day these last few weeks are mind-boggling. There are so many walleyes here right now! Anglers need to simply “run the fence,” that’s the term for fishing the NY-Ontario border line on Lake Erie in depths of 45 to 60 feet. The same action occurs from Cattaraugus Creek at Sunset Bay to the NY-PA line in 50’-60’ water depth. That depth is only about one to two miles from shore. A simple spinner and worm will fool most smaller and tastier walleye, but the earlier stickbaits also work well. Use any method to get your bait down to within 10 feet of the bottom. The charter folks use three-way swivel set-ups with a heavy sinker off a 2-foot leader and 6-foot leader to a simple spinner and worm. They troll fish between 1.5 to 2.5 mph and limit out in short order. That’s six fish per angler (walleye), often fishing with four customers on board. There’s a lot of walleye here right now!  

Across the country, consider that 52.4 million Americans are fishing in 2021, including 3.7 million first-timers. Consider that women composed 37 percent of fishing participation, the highest level on record. Over half of the participants tried fishing thanks to an invitation from their friends or family. Some 78 percent of all anglers associated fishing with spending quality time with family or friends. Fishing is fun, bottom line. Get out there, nature is calling you.  

Wishing everyone healthy and safe fun at home and in the outdoors! God bless America.

Outdoors Calendar: (Area Code 716)

July 21 – Southtowns Walleye Association, monthly meeting, 5895 Southwestern Blvd., Hamburg, 7 p.m. start, visit: www.southtowns walleye.com.  

July 27 – Orvis Fly Tying class, 4545 Transit Road, Williamsville, 4-6 p.m., call 716-276-7200 for info and registration. 

July 27 – Sun Life Marina Bass Open, Buffalo Harbor weekly bass competition, $40/boat, biggest three fish, register at Buffalo Harbor State Park boat launch. 

July 28 – Erie County Federation of Sportsmen, monthly meeting, 6:30 p.m., Niagara River Station, 355 East River Road, Grand Island. Open to the public. Info: www.ecfsc.org.

July 30-31 – Bart’s Cove Walleye Dual Tournament, Dunkirk, info – Mark Mohr: 998-9871.

Aug. 5-7 – Con Club Walleye Tournament, Dunkirk, contact Zen Olow for info: 640-2776.   

NOTE: Submit Calendar items to nugdor@yahoo.com at least 2-weeks in advance. 

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