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Lake Erie ROCKS! 
That was the best walleye fishing I've ever done in my life. Where else are 6 pound fish considered "another small one"? In the tournaments I fish a 6 pounder is a huge one! What a fishery. I can't wait until next year.

First stop - Sportsman's Outpost in Vermillion. Gotta talk to "Den"! He knows what is going on out in the big pond and he's not afraid to give out the info. It's a must stop for anyone going to Lake Erie. Thanks Denny, Mary and Don for all the support and help to make the Get Together as much fun and successful as it was.

The Sportsman's Outpost is located at 4340 Liberty Ave  -  Vermillion, Ohio. Phone 440.967.4000   Or you can usually get in touch with him on the Walleye Central message board. He'll tell ya what he knows.

On the Big Pond with Team Bob
It started with Bob Keeney ( Just Look'n ) and Bob Kuehl on Friday morning. They were nice enough to invite Cindy, Sheila and I to fish with them for the day, and what a day it turned out to be. We were trolling Reef Runners on the big skis about 4 miles out from Huron. My favorite colors were Fried Chicken and Fruit Loops ( I just like the sounds of them ) but others were working too. We were on them right from the start and Just Look'n kept us on them all day. It was virtually non stop action! We caught 25 fish weighing between 8 and 11.8 pounds that day. We all made the 10 pound club. The girls worked just as hard as anyone. There were times we had 2 or 3 huge fish on at once. I can't remember how many doubles and triples we had, the fishing was that good.

It's been a long time since anyone gave me netting lessons, but I got some that day. There is a little gimmick Bob Keeney uses that I've never seen. He uses an OffShore Release on his net handle and clips the bottom of the net to it. That way the net is always under the fish and doesn't get washed in front of the basket by the boat speed. Neat little tip I picked up there. 

After a full day of fishing Cindy, Sheila and I left for the Fish Fry / Raffle and the Charter Captains became the crew, we left them to clean all the fish. Sorry 'bout that fellas, but I appreciate everything, I owe ya one.

The Gull Motel was fish cleaning headquarters. I can't imagine the number of fillets that came from the cleaning table, mind boggling amounts to say the least. It was a small community of people there every afternoon. All the fillets were going to the fish fry. This was shaping up to be one huge cookout.

The Fish Fry / Raffle
What can I say about that? I want to thank all the cooks for the hard work they did keeping the 150+ people fed. At one time I counted over 50 people at the fryers, breading, cooking, running the full platters inside and bringing the empty ones out for more. We used the "Official Breading of Walleye Central" for the first time there and I must say I loved it. Cajun flavor was the best! We'll have some of it for sale on the site just in case you didn't win it at the raffle. I know I came home empty handed.

There was assembly line production going on out there. Official breaders handed ready to fry fish to the crew of fryers who handed them to the runners to take inside.  The table was never empty, it was a thing of beauty and the eating was tongue slapping good.

While this was going on Bruce DeShano was inside tuning up OffShore boards for free. Replacing screws, springs or whatever needed work. To tell the truth, not too many boards needed work, those things are bullet proof. He did have the new releases for sale there. Fireline won't come through those. If you don't have them yet, contact Bruce at: http://www.offshoretackle.com. Thanks for chipping in buddy.

The raffle turned into much more than I expected. Several companies and individuals donated products to be given away. Pradco, Galyans, Bait Rigs Tackle, Reef Runner Lures, Pinpoint, GlydeRide Seats, Gary Engberg Outdoors, Lund Boats, Dennys Marine, AFK Lures, Stinger Spoons, PA's Lures, Carls Boat Launch  (he paid for the room we used, so be sure to thank  him when you launch) and Walleye Central all chipped in to make the raffle a success. 

Diawa Line Counter reels, St. Croix rods, Shakespeare Rods, Handheld Marine Radios, Lowrance electronics, lures, hats, fishing line, more lures, more hats...more rods.... more of everything. Thanks to everyone that contributed this year. I think everyone enjoyed it, I know I loved giving it away. Especially to the kids..... one little fella won 4 trolling rods. What a prize! Sheila Ryan won the Handheld Marine radio and she let everyone know about it too! I think I got too excited, I won a 6 pack of Reef Runner lures and I ended up raffling them away... what was I thinking? Next year we'll have to let someone else do it, I got carried away!

Bragging Rights 
I was teamed up with Rick LaCourse for the outing and he was giving me lessons too. Geez, here I think I'm a qualified walleye fisherman and I find out that I don't know everything. You gotta imagine that was a blow to my ego....I'm not used to getting instructions but when I get them I listen and I learned alot from him. But I ain't gonna tell ya what I learned, it's top secret stuff. People pay for that kind of information.

We were on fish immediately. Small ones ( 6-8 pounders ) all day. We never did get what we needed to compete with Bruce DeShano and Mary. We weighed in 31 pounds even on day one, Team DeShano weighed in over 40 pounds with 4 fish. That still amazes me.

After awhile Bigfoot was just pulling in those "small" 7 pounders without a net, just cranked them in over the transom of his Ranger like nothing..... I'm thinking "Get the Net" it's a 7 pounder!

We had a lot of fun together and I really enjoyed his company, thanks Big Fella for everything you did for me and Walleye Central that weekend. You Da Man! I mean where else can a person sit down with his feet propped on the livewell lid and leisurely crank in 6 to 8 pound walleyes? My tournament partners would throw me out of the boat if I tried that with them.

My wife (Cindy) was teamed up with Sheila Ryan. Day one they were in Busy B with Captain Ric and they did a great job from what I hear. Ric made them do all the work, the rigging, the reeling and the netting. Atta Boy Ric. Thanks for taking them out, I know you made a special trip down to Huron for that and I appreciate it very much. Day two they were in the familiar surroundings of the Just Look'N with Bob Keeney and Bob Kuehl.  The girls had a blast that weekend. Cindy is still sore from reeling in walleyes but she never said she was tired of it. That's a good girl.

Weigh In went pretty smooth. Judy LaCourse was very helpful, I couldn't have done it without you Judy, thanks for the laughs and all the help. Oh yea, special thanks for the lunches you brought us. Lifesaver material there.

Final Day weigh in was noticeably slow. Several contestants decided to just stay out and fish (Bigfoot and I wanted to do that too but we couldn't). Next year we'll just do a one day outing for Bragging Rights. That way we can fish as long as we want to on Sunday. We live and learn. 

The team of Daniels/Daniels took Bragging Rights with a total weight of 71.40 pounds with 8 fish.

Second place went to Rhodes/Gilliam with 68.87 pounds and third place was Lambert/Loeckel with 67.22 pounds. Huge weights! 

Big Fish Day One went to Greg Lorenz with 11.49 lbs.
Big Fish Day Two went to Roger Gilliam with 11.42 lbs.

The rest of the results can be found at: http://www.walleyecentral.com/2001_wcresults.htm 

I want to thank everyone that contributed, everyone that helped and everyone that attended this years Get Together. I hope everyone enjoyed it as much as I did and we'll do it again next year. Special thanks go to the Huron Boat Basin for letting us hold the function at their facilities. Thanks Guys !

More pictures are located at: http://www.walleyecentral.com/huron2000/pics.htm

Send your pictures and stories to me and I'll get them online to share with the rest of the truly fanatic walleye fishermen out there.

Scott and Cindy Golden