Lake Erie Team Walleye Catawba Tournament

[ETT]

Jim Stedke (yea that's me) and Kevin Kohlrieser won the 2000 Catawba Erie event with a 5 fish limit weighing 47plus pounds. 2nd place was 46plus pounds (sorry missed the names). 33 teams fished. All the top placing teams where trolling. There's a typical situation of mostly post spawn females exiting the reef areas to the north and east. I would not be afraid to fish anywhere from E can to C can or even arond the north end of the firing range over to B can. Most productive lures where Reef Runners, Rip sticks, Deep Husky Jerks and Deep Rouges. Fish are spread out from 6' to 20' down over 24 - 28' of water. We purposly did not run lures at 1 depth. Trolling speed was .5 - .8 from the wheel, and 1.0 - 1.3 on the GPS. Best colors had some gold and/or green on them. Fried Chicken Reef Runner back only 30' is one set up that fired regularly. We entered a spawned out female that weighed 12.3 pounds, but big fish was 13.26 caught by Hal Cassidy. NOW IS THE TIME TO GET THAT 10 POUNDER FOR THE WALL. Things will be TOTALLY different in 3 weeks for the PWT. Go get em, have fun & be SAFE. Thanks to Dave & Robin Kidd for a first rate event.

[JustLookN]

Congrats Jim, cant wait to get on the big water again myself.Will be down there alot after Detroit river tourney mid April....see ya..Bob

[Juls_WI]

Congratulations Jim!!! Sounds like you had a great day..;-)

I can't wait to get down there..only 12 more days to go!!!

Juls

[Dan]

Hey Jim, nice to meet ya, sorry for addressing you as ETT, lol, thanks for the tips.
I learned a big lesson after 3 hours of jigging its a trolling situation right now, once we started trolling we hooked up too, Jigging can be more fun, but catching big fish is good too.
Next year I'll be a trolling fool.
Back to jigging the Detroit River
Good Fishing
Dan

[ETT]

Dan, there are those who think that should be my handle "Trollin fool" . Really I just love to catch big walleyes, come up with a better way than trolling and I'll be there. Talk to you soon. Jim

[Den]

Congrats Jim,it sounds as though you had fun again, but thats the way it is supposed to be. good luck in the up and coming tourneys. Also congrats to Hal Cassidy with a big fish. go get-em guys, the bite has started, you just gotta find them. good luck and good fishin.
Den

[Getreel]

Hey did anyone else see the nice mention in Fri's Plain Dealer. Darcy says Dennis Braun Caugh 45 Muskies of 30 In or better with 15 surpasing the Ohio Huskie Muskie standard of 42In in 1999! I guess Denny is also a Muskie nut. Way to go Denny!

[Eyeman_IN]

Jim,
Congratulations on the win. Sure would have been nice to have been out there to, Saturday !!After what I saw on Friday there is alot of fish out there. I guess it just wasn't ment to be for me this year . Keep after them,there is still a bunch out there !!! When I get the boat running again. I'll try and come over there and help you out some. Wouldn't want you to hurt yourself having to crank in all them big fish :-) !!!
Tight lines,
Eyeman IN

[Pete[Oh]]

Congrats Jim, hope you got your boat all in order.
Wish i could have fished with you Friday but thats the way things go.Maybe some other time.
Pete

[Dave Kidd]

Congratulations Jim & Kevin and to all the teams that placed in the first event of the season.

Press release will be finished and posted in the AM, arms are still sore from weighing all those heavy baskets.

[Sundance Kid]

Jim,
Once again, congrats to you and your partner on 1st Place. By the way, I also owe a special thanks to my partner Ray Moore for tying on that Deep Thunderstick(ran high)which caught our big fish of the day. 13.24Lbs....The new USFA record.
If we hadn't switched programs when the wind quit, we would haver been up at the top with you. Next year!
Remember.......TEAMWORK MAKES THE DREAM WORK!

[Den]

Thank you, i have been at it for a long time too, just like the walleye. good luck and good fishin.
Den

[FreeByrd]

Jim,
Congratulations on the win! I should have followed my instincts and trolled boards in that area. I gave in to the desire of my guests to go jig FISHING this weekend - caught more smallmouth than eyes. At least I know I had the right idea... Next trip will be trolling so we CATCH some of those big eyes.
Steve

[Den]

Freebird, stop and think, that is 2 years in a row that the big fish in this tournament have been taken by trolling, thats something to consider when fishing the last of march and early april. good luck and good fishin.
Den

[Lima Eye Guy]

Way to go Jim & Kevin!! Whoa that's over a 9&1/2 pound average. Good job.