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2008 Trophy Hunt

Port Clinton, Ohio

April 24-27

Day 1 dawned with scattered sunshine and very fishable weather for the 80 anglers who fished the 1st Trophy Hunt of 2008.  Most headed out from Mazurik's launch in Marblehead and headed for the North side of Kelley's Island.  The fishing was not fast, but the boats who paid attention to small details were able to catch limits of fish that were reluctant to bite.  Spinners behind inline weights seemed to be the best presentation, and the fish were in very distinct spots, which made exact boat control a must to be successful.  The crews of Freedom, Sunfish, Reel Anxious, Red Ranger, One Fish, Little Red, Maple Bay and Billy Billy were able to keep their boats in the right place and all caught a boat limit.  At the end of the day 11 year old Joe Terbrack, on his first Lake Erie walleye trip, had caught the big fish, a beautiful walleye just short of 10 lbs.  Brian Pennington and Rich Pugsley captained their boats to prizes offered by Traxstech, Freeway Sports Center and Ranger Boats.  A total of 162 fish were caught-not a huge number for a group of this size-but the average size of the fish caught was impressive.

Day 2 dawned ugly with high winds and big waves-not quite as bad as the picture above but close!   Most boats headed out in the morning, but most were back at the hotel by noon, licking their wounds from a Lake Erie whipping.  Those who stayed out found fishing the same as Day 1 with exact boat and speed control being critical to fishing success.  The crews of Althea 3 and  Heaven's Door were able to troll up a boat limit and Burning Desire made a smart play and jigged up a limit of smaller males on the reefs close to Catawba Island.  The weather brought the catch total down, but again the average size of the fish was impressive.  Big fish for Day 2, was caught by Brian Pennington and Jeff Zeek aboard Red Ranger.  They only put 2 fish in the boat on Day 2 but one of them was a 12.75 lb monster!  Red Ranger was fishing the north side of the Kelley's Island reef and had also caught some good fish on Day 1.  Brian Yergin and Team Toucan took home the Freeway Sports special award, a $50 gift certificate for the largest fish caught in a boat purchased from Freeway.  As always the fish fry was great and Stan's cole slaw stole the show again!

Day 3 was a little nicer, but the wind still blew more than we had hoped for.  Several boats launched from the Huron River and fished on a school of fish that mark Van Kampen and the Killer B's had found on Friday close to shore near Cedar Point.  The area was more protected than the Kelley's Island area and made for more comfortable fishing.  A total of 113 walleye were caught on Sunday and another great Trophy Hunt was in the books.

A special thanks to all who made this trip a success:  The whole Walleye 101 staff, Brian Yergin and gang for doing the food, Mike Hengstebeck and Rob Bernheisel for taking care of the fish cleaning station, Dave and Pat Dufresne along with Ryan Babcock who helped clean the fish for the fish fry, all the folks at Microtel, and everyone who pitched in-there is no way to thank everyone enough and no way these trips happen without everyone pitching in-THANK YOU TO ALL!!!!

Sponsor support on this trip was the best it has been.  Traxstech, Freeway Sports and Ranger Boats all donated prizes for the anglers. 

(click on a picture to enlarge)