2006 Huron Week 1

"Walleye 101" Trophy Hunt 2006 Week 1

Huron, Ohio Nov 3-6 2006

Week one of the third annual "Walleye 101 Trophy Hunt" would break last years record for number of fishermen, number of fish and largest fish ever caught. Launching out of Holiday Harbor Marina and based from the Huron Comfort Inn, 76 anglers in 32 different boats headed out to look for Lake Erie's monster fall walleye, including our youngest angler ever 7 year old Bobby Jirel who proved to be a great angler and a young man very attached to his lucky hat!

Many of us who fish have heard the saying "you should have been here yesterday". With perfect fall weather and water conditions the anglers who attended the first week of 2006 got to experience "yesterday" for 3 glorious days. Cold weather early in October brought fish into the Huron area earlier than usual and by the time we hit the water the huge population of big and hungry fall walleye were ready to be caught in record numbers.

All 3 days saw clear to partly cloudy skies, mild fall temperatures, light offshore winds and small waves-perfect conditions for controlling boat speed and lure depth. With fishing conditions almost perfect and lots of hungry fish under the boats, the stage was set for some of the best fishing I and almost everyone who attended had ever experienced.

Records for number of fish caught were set each day, and the new record may never be broken. The final count does not include fish that were caught and released-only fish that made up each anglers 6 fish limit. Our numbers were staggering-303 on Day 1, 387 on Day 2 and 394 on Day 3. If you add in all the fish that were caught after anglers had limits, it is safe to say that the group handled 400-450 fish EACH DAY!!!

Big fish were also the norm as several dozen fish near or over the magic 10 lb mark were caught each day. Honors for big fish each day were taken with fish closing in on 12 lbs! Day 1 winners Frank Bennett and Gary Kaschneider started the weekend off right with a 11 lb 9 oz beauty on Saturday. Day 2 saw a rarity in big fish contests-a tie! Using a tournament style balance beam that can distinguish the presence of 1/2 a business card, both Jon Kucher and Bill Berwick caught fish that would not move the bubble on the beam. Both fish weighed in right around 11lb 14 oz and neither was disappointed about splitting the big fish money! Day 3 saw a strange turn of events. The Lewandowski boys caught a fish weighing 11 lbs 9 oz, but did not enter the big fish pot, so Bill Berwick pulled back-to-back honors with a 11 lb 5 oz fish!

Among the many big fish caught were 25 personal best big fish with several anglers breaking their previous record each day! The biggest jump belonged to Frank Bennett whose 11 lb 9 oz big fish winner on Day 1 bested his former personal best of 3 lbs!!! Bobby Jirel got his first 10 lb walleye on Monday and I am sure his dad has yet to hear the end of it!

As usual the food was good too. Jim's Pizza Box came through with another great pizza party and the fish fry was one for the ages. Stan did his thing again, with his now WORLD FAMOUS cole slaw, and everyone pitched in to help with cleaning, preparing and frying fish and tater tots to feed the hungry crowd.

Read the article from the Tri-County Times

(click on a picture to enlarge)

Ty with a 10 lber	Jim with a few hogs	Lance and Mark make final preparations	Welcome!!!	The Raffle Table		What?	Jeff Malinowski's secret identity!
Jim and Gary get ready for Day 1	Chris and Josh	Helping each other-what the trip is about	Our oldest-Ray Wangler	Our Youngest-Bobby Jirel (7)	Bobby and his dad get ready for some great fishing	Ray shows off his new shirt	Here comes the Judge!!
Stan helps pass out the sweatshirts	Josh and Billy discuss strategy	What-no handlining??		I know I'm boring but come on!!	what's so funny?	Discussing the events of Day 1	The 3 stooges?
Recapping the great catch on Day 1	Ray and Herb head out with Jeff	Don't Fish Here!	Fish Here!!!	Ray with a nice one	Capt Wali with an "average" Erie walleye	A tie for big fish on Day 2	Jon Kucher and Bill Berwick battle for big fish honors on Day 2
Oh well! Twin 12lbers-not a bad tie!	Jeff Hewitt with some good runner up fish!	Jeff and Greg Monzo with an "average" limit	Brent Newman cleans his catch	Fillets!!!	Trimming off the bad stuff	Bubble, Bubble, Toil and Trouble!	Getting the fish ready
Ken Massingill with a good limit caught with Al Van Brocklin	Al's new personal best	Ken with 2 beautiful ladies!	Are you having fun Al??	Brian Pennington with a nice one!	Gary Seaton and Harvey Bruner had a pretty good trip!	Eric Haroldson and Bill Berwick	Billy Berwick (this is probably his dads fish!)
CATCHABLE fish	Cleepshaw	Here Fishy, Fishy, Fishy!	Eric with a good one	Gary and Bill strike again on "Little Red"	Bill with one of his many big ones!!	Everyone is mesmerized!	Mark Koch strikes Erie gold
2 more big ones!	2 good pieces of advice!!!	More catchable fish!	Another Day...	..Another set of 10's!	Ho Hum another 5 lber!	Please fish here!	Why you keeping the small ones?
A huge Erie Hog.	A great picture of a great fish!	Fry Daddy!	A guy could get used to this!!	More catchable fish and perfect use of the GPS.	Chris and Josh Lewandowski	Big smallies live in Erie too!	Steve Browning and Bobby Jirel with a full limit!
Larry and Gene set out for the day.	Fish On!	7 Yr old Bobby with a nice one!	Bobby ready to net his dad's fish	A real trophy!!	Are we having fun yet?	Steve with a beauty.	Bobby back to work
Look at that concentration!	Father and son get ready for a great day!	Whose got who?	Come on Bobby!	Larry Billings with a new personal best	Gene Reppuhn with a nice Erie eye	A pair to draw to!	Must be the hat!
A pretty good 2 man limit!	Lance, Mark and the gang clean fish	Cleaning fish	A pretty crowded place!	Herb Mackens with a beauty!	The "Fryers"	Lance and Mark discuss fry strategy!	Herb and Joe Gibson with some "average" fish.
Greg Monzo with a Day 3 beauty	Greg with 2 nice ones!	Another trophy from "Flaggage"	Jeff Hewitt with a true trophy!!	Just another 8 lber for Jeff	Greg and Jeff with a Day 3 limit.