14th Annual Cabela’s National Team Championship Set For Kansas’ Milford Lake May 27-30

14th Annual Cabela’s National Team Championship
Set For Kansas’ Milford Lake May 27-30new-cabelas-ntc-blue-letters

Ponca City, Okla.—May 19, 2015—Walleye warriors from across North America will converge on Milford Lake, Kansas, May 27-30 to battle for top honors and high-stakes payouts in the 2015 Cabela’s National Team Championship.

Widely regarded as the walleye world’s premier grassroots championship, the Cabela’s NTC is comprised of teams that qualified through competition in local tournaments organized by walleye clubs sanctioned by The Walleye Federation.

The 2015 event on Milford Lake marks the 14th edition of the prestigious championship; 185 two-person teams will vie for ultimate bragging rights and more than $274,000 in cash and prizes. First prize is $30,000 in cash plus a $68,000 Evinrude E-Tec powered 620 Ranger boat. A second Ranger and E-Tec combo will be awarded through the Ranger Cup contingency, meaning the victors could take home more than $160,000 in cash and prizes.

In all, the Cabela’s NTC pays out $121,000 in cash to the top 50 teams, $14,600 in Cabela’s gift cards to the remainder of the field, and $1,000 in Cabela’s gift cards for big fish and big basket awards. In addition, the top 25 teams earn the title of “Cabela’s All-Americans” and received commemorative rings marking their achievement.

The entire field will compete the first two days on the 16,000-acre reservoir. Each team will be allowed to bring their best five fish to the scale each day. Competition will be fierce, as only the top 25 teams advance to the final round on day three.

Walleye fans are invited to cheer on their favorite teams when they take off from Milford Lake Marina each morning at 7 a.m., then watch the action unfold in person at the weigh-ins, which begin at 3 p.m. daily. Adding to the excitement, the event will be streamed live on the internet at cabelas.com/ntc and also filmed for national television, to air in early August on “Americana Outdoors” on NBC Sports, the Pursuit Channel and other regional networks. Exact dates and airtimes will be announced at walleyefederation.com.

A Kid’s Fishing Clinic will be held immediately following the day one weigh-in; youngsters will get to meet NTC competitors and the first 100 kids will receive free rod-and-reel combos courtesy of Cabela’s and The Walleye Federation.

Cabela’s NTC sponsors include Ranger Boats, Evinrude, Geico, Power-Pole and Pepsi. The Walleye Federation, based in Ponca City, Oklahoma, manages and produces the event, including the qualifying process. For details, visit walleyefederation.com, or call (580) 765-9031.

Big Bite At Berlin

The morning rains didn’t intimidate the 31 boat field in Walleye Madness Tournaments 2nd event at Berlin Lake. Participants were spread out throughout the lake using many different techniques to catch their five best walleye to bring up to the scales.

berlinFirst Place was captured by the team Sam Cappelli and Ted Jackson. Sam and Ted hauled a nice 18.05# bag. Sam and Ted also collected $150 Mercury Contingency Bonus with being the highest finishing boat equipped with a Mercury. Chris Durkin and Anthony Naples who brought 17.55# to the scales just edged out Nate Arnold and Bret Berkey who were right behind for a 3rd place finish with a 17.50# bag.
Durkin and Naples picked up the Lund Contingency worth $150 with being the highest finishing Lund Boat. Marion Erb and Robert Burkholder grabbed 4th place with a strong 16.90# bag. James Dean and Jeff Metzger rounded off the top 5. The $200 Buckeye Sports Center Big Fish Bonus went to the team of Ryan Cecil and Brock Stence with a monster 7.05# walleye.

Many teams reported catching their fish with jig and worm/minnow combos. Working the shorelines on both north and south ends of the lake. Pitching up into the willows in 1-8 foot of water seemed to hold the bigger fish. Teams trolling targeted suspended fish in 30-50 feet of water using #5 flicker shads. Trolling speeds up to 2.7 mph.

Walleye Madness Tournaments are sponsored by Buckeye Sports Center, Lund Boats and Mercury Marine. The series offers no-membership fee required 100% payout tournaments, plus $500 per event in sponsor bonuses. Cabela’s National Team Championship qualifying is provided by the series affiliation with the national organization The Walleye Federation.

Next up for Walleye Madness is our June 6th Lake Erie Cleveland event out of  Wildwood Park.

For more information contact:
Greg Bentz
Tournament Director-Walleye Madness Tornaments
(440) 390-8054
Info@walleyemadness.net
Walleyemadness.net

2015 Sandusky Review

Great weather and a convincing win at the Cabela’s, Crown Battery, Sharpnack Direct, Lake Erie Walleye Trail. (LEWT) The third straight sold out tournament of the 2015 season was the “Ole Pete” Memorial in honor of the memory of Don Peterson. Don was a long-time club member and competitor on the LEWT circuit. Don’s “Ole Pete’s Tackle” company was also a supporter of the Western Basin Sportfishing Association and the LEWT.

A full field of anglers thundered out of the Sandusky bay on a warm morning with light winds and cloudy skies, but a significant chance of thunderstorms throughout the day would keep all of the competitors wary of the skies. “We had some small cells pass by to the east and west throughout the day” commented LEWT tournament Director Jeff Lash. “But I was very pleased that we were able to safely hold our tournament and weigh-in without getting hit by
thunderstorms.”

IMG_1776With a margin of nearly nine pounds over second place, Zak Jobes and Josh Wells pulled away from their competition with five walleye weighing 48.75 pounds for the win, and a check for $3300. Second place went to Randy Eyre and Corey Miller with five fish and 39.95 pounds, Dave Frey and Lonnie Hanchosky took the third place with five fish weighing 38.48 pounds.

Derek and Fischer Wilkes landed a 10.58 pound walleye to win the Big Fish cash award of $640. Joshua Pugh and Tyler Bethold took second place Big Fish and $400 with a 10.44 pound walleye.

IMG_1779Jobes and Wells also won the Medina Plating Early Bird award worth another $150 that goes to the top finishing team that entered all four events before the Early Bird deadline.

LEWT supporter Sharpnack Direct offers a cash prize to the highest finishing LEWT angler who owns a vehicle purchased from Sharpnack. Randy Eyre took home the $150 cash award for the second straight tournament.

Many LEWT anglers donated their catch to the club. These fish were cleaned and this will result in more much needed fish being donated to the Second Harvest Food Bank.

Jobes and Wells caught their winning bag near Lorain using reefrunners. Good catches were also reported off Kelley’s Island shoal and north of Huron. Several teams also did well using worm harnesses but had to work their way through a lot of junk fish. A total of 250 walleye were brought to the scales, with the average weight being 6.38 pounds.

The final four teams have been set in the $6400 LEWT Knockout Challenge. At day one of the championship at Huron it will be Mike Robertson & Michael Tobias versus Zak Jobes & Josh Wells for a spot in the final day. The other spot will be a battle between Mark Brumbaugh & Shawn Ritchie versus Rob Lester & Robert Cline. On day two the finalists will battle for the $3000 top prize. Second place will pay $2000, third $1000, and fourth $400.

Complete Results

The battle for Lake Erie Walleye Supremacy and the prestigious LEWT Team of the Year award has defending 2014 TOY champions Randy Eyre and Corey Miller holding a narrow four point lead over Sandusky winners Zak Jobes and Josh Wells. Lurking just eight points back are the Lakevue tournament winners Paul Holzheimer and Bill Miller. Realistically, any team in the top ten could win it depending on how they finish up at Huron.

The remaining 2015 LEWT schedule is as follows: June 6&7 –Huron- City Ramp – “FishHuronOhio.com LEWT Championship”

The Western Basin Sportfishing Association (WBSA) is a social based club for anglers that fish in the Western and Central Basins of Lake Erie and its tributaries. The WBSA operates the popular LEWT tournament series on Lake Erie. Membership is open to anyone interested in fishing, no matter their location or skill level. Our goal is to present information in a manner that will help sustain and improve fishing in one of the greatest inland sport fisheries in the world. Scientific information, fishing techniques, locations and presentations are presented at our meetings by expert and knowledgeable speakers and tournament anglers from our group. These anglers are very open with techniques, and will help any member that is trying to learn new methods.

For a complete list of the tournament results, or for more information about the LEWT please visit www.wbsa.us You can also find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/wbsalewt

Please support our 2015 LEWT sponsors: Cabela’s, Crown Battery Systems, Sharpnack Direct in Willard, Medina Plating, Magee East Campground and Marina, Ranger Boats, Waldo Peppers Restaurant, Smooth Moves, Worldwide Marine Underwriters, Reef Runner Lures, Vic’s Sports Center, Erie Outfitters, Navionics, Rednek Outfitters, Hi-Way Bait Tackle and Lodging, Mepps, FishHuronOhio.com

Ohio Walleye Federation on Pymatuning Lake

The Ohio walleye Federation held it’s Second event if the year on Pymatuning Lake on May 3rd. Anglers had a beautiful day on Sunday with temperatures making it into the 70s and a reported water temp of 59 degrees. This is the second year in a row that the Ohio Walleye Federation held a tournament on this monster body of water. One thing that makes this lake difficult to fish is the motor restriction so competitors needed to be strategic when finding and deciding to go after their fish. We had some anglers go as far as the dam and others go to the north which in either case could have been an hr ride depending on the boat. Most anglers reported having a great prefish day on Saturday with the day of the tournament being a totally different story. No wind played a role in these post spawn giants being tight lipped, but regardless of the conditions the team of Eric Williams and his son David finished in 1st Place bringing in another big bag out of this lake having a total weight of 15.16lbs. They reported trolling leadcore tight to the bottom and planer boards pulling perch color shad raps in 15-20 fow targeting breaks and humps. 2nd place was the team of Drotar and Bowen weighing in at 12.78lbs they were also trolling in the deeper water pulling a variety of shad imitation crankbaits. Other teams finishing in the money were Cappelli /Jackson in 3rd with 12.62, Metzger/ Dean weighing in 4th with 12.18, Erb/Beurkholder in 5th with 12.12. Bringing in the big fish of the day was the team of Naples/Durkin landing a 5.84lb giant, who reported using jigs in shallow water. Most of the tournament field was targeting 15-20 fow trolling boards and leadcore using shad style baits at a speed of 1.8 – 2.2 mph. The 3rd event if the year will be held in a couple weeks on Berlin Lake on May 16th.

Complete Results