| | 2007 LEWT Anglers bring in good weights despite tough conditions
The Western Basin Sportfishing Association (WBSA) held the first event of the Starcraft Marine/Evinrude E-TEC Lake Erie Walleye Trail (LEWT) at Fenwick Marina Sunday April 1st. The blow from Thursday and into Friday left the water dirty in most areas of the lake but even under these tough conditions, and with a building wind through out the day, the LEWT anglers showed their skills by bringing fish to the scales. The teams were greeted before take off with coffee and donuts provided by West Marine and also received a snack bag for later in the day from Yant Beef Jerky.
Coming in with a limit weighing 28.26 lbs. to out distance the rest of the field was the team of Rob Cline of Nova and Dick Chicoine of Port Clinton. They caught their fish pulling crank baits around the reef area. Kevin Michnicki and Frank Zubel both of North Royalton brought 4 fish to the scales that totaled 17.82 pulling Renowsky lures in the reef area also. Chris Clemons of Marblehead and Dick Biro of Lakeside used a combination of jigging and trolling to bring in a limit of fish weighing 16.34 lbs. Rounding out the top five were Mike Miller of Lakewood and Virgil Tent of Cleveland with 2 fish for 15.16 lbs good for 4th and in 5th place Mike Robertson of Potsdam and Joe Horstman of Findlay with 3 fish weighing 14.5 lbs.
The chase for the Cranberry Creek Marina Big Fish award saw a tight finish as the team of Michnicki and Zubel edged out Robertson and Horstman by .14 of a lb to take the top spot with a walleye weighing 8.68 lbs. They earned $500 cash, a free mount from Jims Taxidermy in Port Clinton and a season ramp pass for Cranberry Creek Marina. Michnicki stated “We were running the deep Renowsky in Perch color and making slow, wide turns to get our fish to bite. The big fish came in the morning right after we got set up.” Robertson and Horstman caught the $260 second place big fish weighing 8.54 lb fish on a Purple Demon Reef Runner.
Most of the teams were fishing around the reef complex pulling Reef Runner, Renowsky and other stickbaits. The most popular areas were Niagara Reef, D can and C can area. The colors used were a wide variety from dark purples to chrome and blue that the winners were pulling. Most of the teams also talked about trolling in the 1.0 to 1.4 range and a change from most years at this time was that the majority of the fish caught trolling were deeper then usual. In addition to paying out over $5500 in prize money there was also over $1,200 in merchandise handed out from our sponsors. A special thanks goes out to Fenwick Marina for the use of their excellent facilities, to West Marine for providing refreshments to everyone at the weigh in and to Jims Taxidermy for donating the free mount.
The Gander Mountain Early Bird award of a $500 gift card was awarded to one lucky team by random drawing. When things are going good they tend to continue as the winners of the tournament, Cline and Chicoine, also won the drawing and added it to their take for the day.
“We were glad to see the first event fill up as early as it did and appreciate the anglers coming out to support our tournament series. It is looking like we will have a full field for the May 5th event at Lakevue Marina so teams should get registered early for that event also” commented WBSA President Marc Hudson.
There are spots available for the remaining LEWT events in 2007. For more information about the LEWT you can visit www.wbsa.us The LEWT is sponsored by Starcraft Marine, Evinrude E-TEC(BRP), West Marine, Reef Runner Lures, Cranberry Creek Marina, Gander Mountain, Sportsmans Outpost, Erie Outfitters, Ole Pete's Tackle, Maxed Out Enterprises, Yant Beef Jerky, Navionics, Renosky Lures, www.OhioGamefishing.com , Buckeye Rod Maker, Michigan Stinger Spoons, Sharpnack II Chevrolet, Fisherman’s Wharf, Jim’s Taxidermy, Dixie’s Crafts, Cisco Fishing Systems, Lakeland Products Group, Rich’s Hook Line and Sinker, and Dave’s Bait.
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