It was obvious while at the mandatory rules meeting Friday night  that our Great Lake was not going to behave.  With the tournament headquarters adjacent to the beach, the wind quickly whipped the area into sandblaster-like conditions. 

"The wind was blowing so hard, that I had to jump up on one of the competitors truck and stick my head through the open window.   Don't mind me, I said, just trying to get out of the
wind," says Tournament staffer Robin Kidd.

Saturday morning proved what every competitor feared, a postponement. 
"In the interest of everyones safety, the postponement was our only choice," says tournament assistant Denny Sharrone. USFA Lake Erie Team Walleye rules state that a tournament cannot be started while a USCG small craft advisory is in effect.

Most of the contestants returned to their hotel rooms to wait out the "blow day" in comfort.  Several of the "die hard" competitors went 55 miles south to Berlin Reservoir to tangle with
some walleye.

Sunday morning led to more dissappointment.  What appeared to be dead calm conditions at the hotels, became 15=20mph NE winds which held the SCA intact.  Tournament Director Dave Kidd made the decision to hold the tournament start until the SCA was lifted.  The field waited for 1 and 1/2 hours before the go ahead signal was given.  The tournament commenced at 9:00AM with the 1-3 foot waves making for a comfortable day of fishing.

At the 5:00pm weigh-in, it was Steve Jager and Jack Wachs of Mentor, Ohio standing in the top honors wit a 5-fish limit weighing 35.60 pounds.  The duo ran their planer boards way out to the side of the boat and bunched 2 dipseys with crawler harnesses in between the board and boat on either side.  Their effort netted them $755.00 + a $600.00 LEMTA bonus + $100.00 for winning the OPtion 20 pool.

Second place was earned by the father/son team of Bill and Jeff Becker of Groveport, Ohio with a catch of 33.43 pounds.  The team ran Storm Thundersticks to troll up their limit which
included the big fish award winning 'eye of 8.60# for $230.00 with the additional prize money of $455.00 and the $200.00 LEMTA bonus.

Third place was taken by Rich Verbic and Jon Ondo with a catch weighing 26.23 pounds, earning them $355.00.

Fourth was taken by another father/son team.  James and Matt Esser of Lorain, Ohio earned their award with a limit of 'eyes weighing 25.72 pounds for $255.00.

Merchandise prizes were awarded to the teams finishing in 5th.-10th. place.

The next and final qualifying event will be held Saturday June 24th. at Geneva State Park just off of State Rt. 534 in Geneva, Ohio.

The registration and rules meeting will be held on Friday June 23rd., 4-7pm at the same location.

Our 1999 circuit sponsors include:

Lake Erie Marine Trades Association, United States Fishing Association, Ranger Boats, Diehard Marine, Levi-Garrett/Kodiak, Johnson/Evinrude Outboards, Fle-fly Manufacturing, Rays Custom Tackle, Kustom Kreations, Reef Runner Fishing Lures, Church Tackle, Stamina Quality Components, Cisco Rod Holders, Akro-Mils, Snagaway Lure Retrievers,
Aqua-VU, and Pinpoint Positioning Systems.