Lots of five fish limits at the Cabela’s, Crown Battery, Sharpnack Direct, Lake Erie Walleye Trail Sandusky tournament. (LEWT) The third tournament of the 2014 season was hosted by Hi-Way Bait, Tackle & Lodging.

After days of rain and unstable weather conditions, tournament morning was more of the same with chilly temperatures and of course, more rain. “I’m very happy to have our third straight sold out tournament this season” commented LEWT tournament Director Joe Yingling. “We have a great group of competitors; some of the best sticks on Lake Erie are here fishing with us today.”

Scott Geitgey and Jason Kopf brought a monster bag of five fish to the scales weighing 44.98 pounds for the win. Second place went to Dustin Clark and Adam Williams with five fish weighing in at 36.13 pounds, Cody Feathers and Aaron Depinet took the third position with five fish weighing 35.68 pounds.

Phil Ames and Hal Cassidy caught a huge 10.83 pound walleye to win the Big Fish cash award. Geitgey and Kopf collected the second place cash with a 9.83 pound walleye.

Dustin Clark and Adam Williams won the Medina Plating Early Bird award that goes to the top finishing team that entered all four events before the Early Bird deadline.

LEWT title sponsor Sharpnack Direct offers a cash prize to the highest finishing LEWT angler who owns a vehicle purchased from Sharpnack. Randy Cline took home the $150 cash award.

Jason Kopf will also receive $500 from Ranger Boats for winning a LEWT tournament under the Ranger Cup rewards program.

Team #24, James Moes and David Gahn took home the $100 cash for the Don “Ole Pete” Peterson Memorial Award. Eric and Freddie Wampler won the $50 J&J Roofing loyalty cash.

Finally, a huge thank you to tournament host Hi-Way Bait, Tackle and Lodging for providing dozens of pizzas for our anglers and spectators at the weigh in!

Geitgey and Kopf used crawler harness rigs east of Kelley’s Island to pull their winning fish.. Most of the teams that cashed checks reported using crawler harnesses, with a couple using deep diving crankbaits. A total of 241 walleye were brought to the scales by 50 teams, with the average weight being 5.47 pounds.

The remaining 2014 LEWT schedule is as follows: June 7th and 8th –Huron- City Ramp – “Erie Outfitters LEWT Championship”

The WBSA is a social based club for anglers that fish in the Western and Central Basins of Lake Erie and its tributaries. 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 more information about the LEWT you can visit www.wbsa.us

Please support our 2014 LEWT sponsors: Cabela’s, Crown Battery Systems, Sharpnack Direct in Willard, Magee East Campground and Marina, Medina Plating, 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.

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The Ohio Walleye Federation held its second tournament of 2014 on Pymatuning Lake on May 4^th.  This was the first time the Ohio Walleye Federation has hosted a tournament on Pymatuning since its inception in 2010.  Most OWF anglers had not fished Pymatuning in years and some had never fished it leaving anglers excited and unsure of what to expect.  When the scales closed the results were beyond everyones expectations with the team of Sammy Cappelli and Ted Jackson taking top honors bringing in a 5 fish limit of 23.42lbs breaking the OWF record for heaviest 1 days basket on the ILC.  Cappelli and Jackson were trolling leadcore and Reef Runner minirips targeting breaks in 10-15ft of water.   Robert Burkholder and Marion Erb took 2nd place with 20.26lbs trolling leadcore and crankbaits in 17-22ft of water.  Other teams placing in the money included Allshouse/Hilty in 3rd with 17.9lbs, James/Momirov in 4^th with 16.6lbs  and Drotar/Bowen in 5^th with 15.84lbs.   Big fish went to the team of Allshouse/Hilty with a 7.22lb giant caught on a Berkley Flickershad.  Most of the tournament field was trolling shad imitating crankbaits 1.7-2.3mph  in 14-20ft.   The next OWF Inland Lake Circuit tournament will he held on Lake Milton on May 18^th.

More details and complete results can be found at www.FishOWF.com

Thanks to our Sponsors:  Ravenna Marine, Fin, Feather and Fur, Vic’s Sports Center, Kerr’s Automotive, World Wide Marine, Canyon Coolers, Reef Runner Fishing Lures, Haines Marine, Traxstech Fishing System, B & B Tangle Free Bait Boxes, Cisco Fishing System, Kames Sports, Fish Usa, Rednek Outfitters, Church Tackle Co., Erie Outfitters and Rodmakers Shop.

Challenging fishing started the day for the 80 anglers entered in the Walleye Madness Tournaments Mosquito Lake event in north east Ohio on April 27^th. A full 40 boat tournament field held high hopes of capturing the spotlight along with their share of the 100% tournament payout and sponsor contingency bonuses. The tournament also featured a Cabela’s NTC side pot with 15 teams in contention to win a paid entry and bonuses to the 2015 Cabela’s National Team Championship.

First place was earned by Chris Duffus and Collin Hill with a 13.00 # five fish tournament limit that also captured first place in the Cabela’s NTC side pot. Second place went to David Conant and Scott Geitgey with 12.70 # that simultaneously captured the Mercury Marine Bonus and the WT6 contingency Bonus.  Third place was awarded to Bret Berkey and Nate Arnold. Fourth place was captured by Rico Mixon and Marina Leydiker, with Sam Cappelli and Ted Jackson rounding out the top five teams for the event. The Lund Boats Bonus was awarded to Amanda Yackmack and Joe Yackmack and the Buckeye Sports Center Big Fish bonus went to Chad Fenstermaker and Thomas Brenkert.

Water temperatures hovered around 54 degrees and the primary bite consisted of trolling shad style crankbaits on leadcore line along with tactics targeting suspended fish. The first place team of Chris Duffus and Collin Hill concentrated their efforts north of the causeway in 8 to 13 feet of water. After losing a big fish early, they stayed with their primary pattern while the majority of the field moved south to deeper water.  The final hour of the event was a hot bite flurry of doubles and triples with several teams racing the clock to upgrade their catch right up to the last available minute of fishing time.

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 $700 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 on the Walleye Madness Tournaments schedule is the June 28^th Lake Erie event out of Geneva State Park.  For more information please visit www.walleyemadness.net.

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