2000 Lake Erie Walleye Tourney Wrapup

Lake Erie played host to many walleye tournaments this past season. Each year in the fall issue of Lake Erie Walleye Magazine we post summary results of selected tournaments. In the spring and summer issues, we post upcoming tournaments. If you know of a tournament on Lake Erie that you would like to see covered, call us at 1 800 347-4519. Send us results of your tournament along with some good photos and we'll make every effort to showcase your tournament.

The West Cleveland Walleye Association proved there are still a few walleyes swimming in lake Erie as Tim Nesselhauf of Sandusky, and teammates Dale and Kathy Lawrence won the club’s recent Fifth annual West Cleveland Open Walleye Tournament on Lake Erie held this past June 17th.

A total of 186 teams competed on the Fathers Day weekend for over $40,000.00 cdn. in cash and prizes in the
  "444 International Walleye Tournament". This was the 9th season the tournament was held in Port Colborne, and put together by the Port Colborne & District Conservation Club. The now famous "444" stands for 4 people(max) per team, 4 walleye weighed in per day, and 4 pairs of fishing poles. This year's winning team had 3 fishermen led by Ron Bosak of Port Colborne with Dan Campbell and Chuck Campbell who had brought in 62.67lbs of walleye over the 2 day tournament. This tournament has attracted numerous anglers from across Southern & Central Ontario, and upper New York State. Since the tournament's inception there has not been a single team that has dominated over the field, proving at this time of the year how tough it is to put together 2 good days of successful fishing on Lake Erie. The top 2 teams after Saturday’s weigh in were well down the list after the final tally was in on Sunday. You just don’t know what Lake Erie will throw at you. The Father's Day weekend this year was very wet and conditions on the lake were not extremely favorable, but most of the die hard fishermen and women stuck it out. This year's top five finishing teams were:

This year the Southtowns Walleye Tournament, chaired by Tom Marks, was held June 10th thru the 18th and once again anglers brought in some excellent fish. As anyone who fished any of the waters from the Western Basin to the Eastern Basin of Lake Erie in June knows the walleye were tough to find. The water warmed up late so the "bite" was slow, but if you put in the time and were willing to search and experiment with the presentation, you caught fish. We saw large fish caught off the breakwalls for the Buffalo Harbor, fish in shallow near-shore waters, and suspended fish in deep mid-lake haunts. There was no one special location to find walleye this year. Despite the cooler water and threats from storms, the catch was impressive. The total was down slightly from 1999 but we saw larger walleye and more of them.

The Southtowns Walleye Association is planning the 2001 Tournament for June 23rd to July 1st and the awards picnic on July 7th. Perfect timing for the kids just out of school and the walleye fattening up on all the bait moving out of the Niagara River into the lake. The walleye fishing has been outstanding from July to September with no signs of slowing as I write this so I expect we will see great fishing during the Tournament next year. The fish have gotten steadily larger the last several years and if the pattern holds we will set a record in 2001 for the largest walleye ever entered in our tournament. Thank you to everyone who helped and participated this year and I hope to see everyone on the Lake in 2001 trying to capture the record.

In 1999 the United States Fishing Association held 6 Team Walleye Tournaments on Lake Erie. Below is a table that summarizes the results.

April 1 Catawba Island Jim Stedke, $900.00 (USFA), Kevin Kohlrieser, $500.00 (BoatOhio)

May 20 Huron Jeff Becker, $695.00 (USFA), Bill Becker, $500.00 (BoatOhio)

August 19 Geneva Robert Hall, $655.00 (USFA), Randy Moffett, $500.00 (BoatOhio)

August 26 Fairport Harbor Jim Stedke, $615.00 (USFA ),Mark Brumbaugh, $500.00 (BoatOhio)

& 27 Jewell Hall, $315.00 (USFA ), William Roth, $200.00 (BoatOhio)

June 10 Lorain Jim Stedke, $795.00 (USFA ), Kevin Kohlreiser, $500.00 (BoatOhio)

June 11 Lorain Jon Ondo, $675.00 (USFA), Edward Ondo, $500.00 (BoatOhio)

The 1st Annual Scotty's Walleye Challenge was held in Port Colborne's Sugar Loaf Marina this Past July 21,22 & 23rd. The event was marked by an 83% full field. The 1000 boat tournament paid $16,400 to the winners along with a total payout to 15th place of $41,000. Teams entered 6 fish/day for 3 days with the total weight determining the winner. The local Marine Rescue Unit and Sportsman's club raised over $5,000. Top five finishers were.