BERLIN CENTER, Ohio -The Ohio Walleye Federation held its second tournament of the 2016 season on Sunday May 1st at Berlin Lake. Thirty teams scoured the water from the main lake through the river looking for the bites that would win $4500 in prize money.

The team of Kevin Kalinowski of Akron, Ohio and Michael Porter of Stow, Ohio had five key bites that netted them 1st place with a big bag weighing 19.73 lbs, including big fish of the day at 5.85 lbs. Michael Porter stated “Our four biggest fish of the day were caught in the first 20 minutes of the tournament in a 30 yard stretch of shoreline willows. We knew this bite would not last long”. In fact, the duo had to run between spots all day to fill their 5 bag limit, but their efforts earned them $2000 in prize money. Continue reading

The Harlan tournament on April 23-24 was far from normal.  On day one, the 40mph winds out of the Southeast put the fishermen to the test. The first place team Fiala and Norder caught 5 fish weighing 13.72lbs using live bait in 8-10 ft. of water west of the dock.

The remainder of the field that caught fish did so using a mix of fishing with live bait and trolling crankbaits.  In total, there were around 70 fish brought to the scale. The largest was a 8.63lb lunker caught by the Werner team.

Not much changed on day two except the wind died down.  About 70 fish were brought to the scales and day one leaders, Fiala and Norder, came out on top.  The largest fish was 6.44lbs caught by the team of Green and and Anderson.

Special thanks to the Navigators and the Island owners, as well as, everyone who helped at the meeting, with the food and at the weigh-in; couldn’t have done it without your support.

*** Reminder, this is my last year to run these tournaments.  I really don’t want to see a great club vanish; please let me know if you’re interested as it would be easier to learn the system now for next year.

Now a word about safety. A boat filled with water in the high winds and rolled over by the docks the first day.  They were our tournament anglers.  No one was hurt. But, there were reports the passengers might not have been wearing lifejackets.  We can`t police the lake all the time and with that cold water you would not last long.  So, use common sense and stay safe. I watched divers pull a young woman out of the water at Lake Mac back in the mid-70s. This could be any of us; just one mistake is all it takes. If you see something that doesn’t look right, say something.   We are the people that fish when the wind is blowing hard, so we need to help protect each other.