2023 Ohio Walleye Federation Qualifier #4 Chautauqua Lake

2023 Ohio Walleye Federation

Qualifier #4 Chautauqua Lake

 

The OWF just concluded and their 4th and final qualifier of the 2023 season on June 11th. Teams traveled an hour or so from the Ohio line to the state of NY and to the shores of Chautauqua Lake. This is the OWF’s second year at Chautauqua and if the fishing and bags keep improving like they have from year one to two, it’s going to be exciting in the future.

With this being only the second time, the club has been to Chautauqua the pre-fishing appeared to be inconsistent but steady. Many teams that we talked to were catching fish just not a lot of them and not many in the same spot. With the club traveling to NY, we also had some local teams that seemed to be on a little bit more consistent bite. Chautauqua Lake is a 17,000-acre natural lake with over 40 miles of shoreline to cover so local knowledge would help.

Every team that was willing to give up any information on Sunday morning before takeoff was all talking about the overall size structure of the fish that were being caught, and the majority of teams were targeting fish on the weedy shoreline edges. A few teams were really excited by the size of the fish that they were catching on a jigging rod. The common theme amongst competitors was it was going to take more than 20 pounds to win the event and that was creating a buzz amongst the 30 teams getting ready to take off.

It definitely took more than 20 pounds to win the event, as the always consistent OWF team of Bobby Honaker and Kevin Kalinowski brought home the win. They weighed in a whopping 24.37 pounds and won the event by almost 5 pounds! With winning the event Bobby and Kevin took home $ 2,100 and also moved to 2nd place in the overall team of the year race. Bobby and Kevin were doing what has won them a lot of money in the OWF, Bobby jigging with a jig and half a nightcrawler in the front of the boat. Kevin casting a crank bait in the back of the boat. Bobby said during weigh-ins that they were targeting a specific weed edge shoreline. He was catching the bigger fish, but Kevin was putting more numbers in the boat with his crankbait.

In 2nd place was the local team of Al Cornell and Judd Bohall with a 5 fish limit weighing in at 19.61, anchored by a tournament big of fish of 7.20 pounds. 2nd place paid out $1100 and then big fish was good for another $400 on top. The team reported catching all of their fish rip jigging soft plastics in the thickest nastiest weeds you could find.

3rd place was the team of Norman Wickline and Brian Spada weighing a tournament limit of 5 fish for 19.44 pounds barely missing out on 2nd place. For 3rd place the team will be taking back to Ohio $900. They told the crowd gathered that all of their fish were caught on weed edges using hair jigs.

In 4th place with 5 fish for 17.82 pounds was Kevin and Phil Hind. Kevin and Phil won $700. They reported that they caught all of their fish in scattered weeds rip jigging plastics and blade baits.  

Rounding out the top 5 and also winning the very coveted NTC side pot for the 2024 National Team Championship in Lorain was the team of Steve Booher and Mike Schmidt. Steve and Mike are always a top team when it comes to fishing in the weeds and their 5 fish weighed in at 17.77 pounds good for $500. Steve reported that the fish were caught on hard weed edges with jig and plastics and also a jig and crawler.

Chautauqua was also the final event in the season long Team Walleye Wars. Winning the Walleye Wars was the team of Rick Mulraney and Mitch Shipman. With the win they are in line to get an automatic bid for the 2024 Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s National Team Championship in Lorain. 2nd place went to James Roberts and Dave Jenco. The winner of the 3rd and 4th place match in the Walleye Wars was David Hoisington and Dan Uber taking the win over Jim Leigh and Shane Doughty.

Our next event will be our championship on Pymatuning Lake June 24th and 25th. In order to be eligible to fish in the Championship you must have fished in 1 qualifier with the club. We will also have NTC side pots both days of the Championship.

The Ohio Walleye Federation would like to thank our title sponsor Erie Marine Sales for all of the support that they provide to us. If it weren’t for them, we wouldn’t be able to provide 100% payout at all tournaments.

For additional information or to sign up for an event please check us out on Facebook – Ohio Walleye Federation or on our website; www.ohiowalleyefederation.com.

 

 

2023 Colorado Walleye Trail April, May, June Results

2023 Nebraska Walleye Association Calamus Reservoir Results

 

A whopping 105lbs, 10 oz of Green Bay walleye propels Rohloff and Busse to over $125,000 in cash and prizes in their wire to wire win.

A whopping 105lbs, 10 oz of Green Bay walleye propels Rohloff and
Busse to over $125,000 in cash and prizes in their wire to wire win

Marinette, WI – June 4th , 2023 – One variable that cannot be changed when planning a event, no
matter the location, is the weather, it always comes into play. Traveling to the Great Lakes for a
tournament means the possibility of some wind and waves that must be planned for. Fortunately,
for this field of 278 teams from 18 states across the country that earned a spot in the 2023 Bass
Pro Shops and Cabela’s National Team Championship (NTC) in Marinette, WI, mother-mature
played nice most of the week allowing nearly perfect boating conditions allowing angler to scour
every inch of the Bay of Green Bay looking for walleye and boy did they see some walleyes.

Along with light winds, high skies, and lack of precipitation, another variable came in to play
that many anglers found both challenging and intriguing at the same time. These conditions for
days on end made for some of the clearest water conditions you’ll ever see on the waters of
Green Bay allowing anglers to actually see “pods” of walleye, lots of walleye, that simply would
not bite. For some, watching walleyes follow their bait for yards without striking was very
frustrating but also allowed for a learning experience not often seen first-hand with the naked
eye. The fish are there, they just would not bite.

Scott Rohloff (Watertown, WI) and Lance Busse (Freedom, WI) traveled far and wide across the
bay and finally learned what it takes to trigger the big, shallow walleyes to eat. On day 1 they
decided to target walleyes about as far away as their Mercury powered Ranger boat would take
them into big Bay De Noc. A 70-mile run one way and 70 miles back to Marinette was a gamble
but it paid off with day one big basket of 5 fish for 39lbs 10oz. A basket of fish like that also
forced them to take the same gamble and “make the run” on day 2 which rewarded them with
33lbs-11oz. Their two-day tournament limit sat at 73-05 an easily kept them in first place going
into the All-American Top-25 third and final day of the NTC.

Scott and Lance learned that because the fish were very finicky, they needed to change things up
slightly to catch them. Rohloff said, “It seemed like most other teams we saw were targeting the
top of rock piles and boulders. The fish were there but they wouldn’t commit for us so we
pushed just off the structure and made casts around the edges from a distance in deeper water in

10-15 feet. I think that with these fish being so tight-lipped around the boats in shallow water
with flat conditions our decision to push into deeper water onto the transitions from rock to sand
made the difference.” “We kept it simple. Purple hair-jigs caught all of our fish.”

All-American Top 25

There is a reason why the All-American Top 25 teams, all 50 anglers who make it to the final-
day earn custom made rings signifying their accomplishment. It is very hard to get to the final
day the stakes are high and every decision counts big. On day three, the All-American Top-25
teams were greeted with the wind that some were looking for to help the fishing conditions. With
a steady breeze from the north, teams had to make some decisions on how far they were willing
to travel. After about 10-miles of travel toward their tried-and-true spot that had gotten them into
the number one spot up in Big Bay De Noc, Rohloff and Busse had to make the decision that that
with the extra wind and slower travel they wouldn’t be able to make it there and back with
enough time to catch their fish they had go to plan B and fish “memories” near Cedar River. It
was a hard decision calling a last minute audible but it proved to be the right decision. With
spinning rods in hand, the Wisconsin team rose to the top in a field of the best grass roots
walleye club anglers from across the nation and managed to post another large bag of 32lbs-
05oz. pushing their three-day total weight to 105-10 lbs. This monster bag rewarded them with a
huge pay-day totaling over $125,000 that included a brand-new Ranger 620 Pro with Mercury
250hp ProXS, $25,000 cash, $8,000 Ranger Cup Bonus, $250 BPS/Cabela’s gift card for the
day-1 biggest basket, coveted 1st place trophies, event jerseys, and All-American Rings.

Here is a look at how the rest of the top five teams finished:

2nd Christopher Bartsch and Mario Nanna 84-13, $10,000 cash

3rd Steve Labs and Luke Cieslewicz 80-13, $8,000 cash

4th Andrew and Jacob Hugo 80-08, $6,000

5th Josh and Don Wiesner 79-13, $5,000 cash

The total payout in cash and prizes for the 2023 Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s National Team
Championship was $276,910.64. Nearly 333% total payback on entries in cash and prizes was
awarded to teams from 18 states. The largest sack during the championship was 40-15 lbs. wascaught by Jake Becker and Tyler Mueller earning day 2 big basket award of $250 gift card from
Mercury Outboards. The heaviest walleye was caught on day 1 was a 10-03 walleye caught by
James Miron and Jacob Lanning earning them a $250 gift card from Bass Pro Shop s and
Cabela’s. Day 2 big fish was 11-3 walleye earning a $250 Bass Pro Shops gift card from The
Walleye Federation for John Gillman and Kal Ustishen.

The staff and anglers would like to thank the “Fish City”, Marinette, WI for rolling out the red
carpet this past week. The out-pouring of support from the city, its workers, citizens, the Moose
Lodge and other volunteers proved vital in making an event of this magnitude go off without a
hitch. Thank you for the support!

Walleye Federation clubs across the country can now look ahead at 2024. The announcement has
been made that the 2024 Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s NTC is headed to the south shores of Lake
Erie out of Lorain, OH in May 2024!

The Walleye Federation, based in Ponca City, Oklahoma, manages the qualifying process via
TWF sanctioned walleye clubs all across the US and Canada and co-produces the event
alongside the Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s Marketing Sponsorship Team. Qualifying is going on
now, for details on how to earn a spot in the 2024 Bass Pro Shops and Cabela’s NTC or to get
your walleye club signed up, visit walleyefederation.com, or call (580)765-9031

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