Day one of the 8th Annual Northern Chautauqua Conservation Club walleye derby was "Shake & Bake on the Lake" with temperatures soaring near 90 degree's and shifting winds making for some interesting navigation at times.
The Con Club weigh station opened at 1 p.m., and a handful of participants arrived with some nice boxes of walleye. Ed Ruge led the big fish division for nearly an hour, before being toppled by a 10.09-pound walleye weighed in by Bill and Jill Beiger.
Bill did the old Bass Master trick of saving the best for last when he weighed in first a 2-pound fish, then a 5-pounder and finally their whopper. Beiger confessed to luring in their Hawg on five colors of lead core line towing a blue & yellow Renosky flat lined behind the boat because he noticed they were marking fish high or closer to the surface. Don and Tim Colf fishing with Scott Gibbons brought in a heavy 9.78-pound walleye while fishing out of Barcelona using mostly lead core line and green renosky stick baits, but got knocked out of the top three for the day when Karl Pospesel, Myah and Nathan Greene came to the scales with a fish that weighed 10-pounds even. That fish was caught due North off the down riggers in 91 feet of water at 2 p.m.
Article Photos
OBSERVER?Photo by Gene Pauszek
Pictured from left are Mike Schmitt, Rick Owen and Dennis Alguire. The trio are seen holding walleye weighing 8.87, 9.01 and 9.30 pounds, leading day one of the 8th Annual Northern Chautauqua Conservation Club Walleye Derby with a three-fish total weight of 27.18 pounds.
Most of the anglers reported getting their biggest fish of the day and the majority of their fish early in the morning, usually on leadcore and renosky stick baits.
Gene Strianese, who's name is easy to remember, having been in the winners circle almost every year, had an exceptional day on the water with the down riggers accounting for releases by 19 walleye, five steelhead and two sheephead. Gene who often used to team up with his buddy Dennis Alguire put together a three-fish total weigh of 26.39 pounds - good for third place in the $30 and $100 calcuttas while fishing with Richard Snyder Jr. and Dan Salansky. Their fish weighed 9.25, 8.75 and 8.39 pounds apiece. Dennis Alguire, fishing with Mike Schmitt and Rick Owen, boated walleye weighing 9.30, 9.01 and 8.87 pounds for a first place total of 27.18 pounds for day one. Another annual visitor to the winner's circle was The Recovery Room team of captain Paul Soper Jr., Tom Kolassa and Ed Wicks. Their team weighed in a three-fish total of 26.42 pounds good for the second place calcuttas. In descending order for the rest of the top 10 places for day one were some more familiar names: Jim Tunney, Jim Dolly Sr., David Levan, Don Ruppert, Dan Korzenski, Gary Olsen Jr. and Donald Mulle.
The big walleye of the day award went to the team of Tom Hare, "Chip" Rammacher and Julius Phelan for their 10.89 walleye. That fish will probably win more money because it will hold up in the top 15 heaviest walleye of the three-day derby. Their fish took a renosky presented off a dipsey diver in 75 to 80 feet of water due North of Dunkirk.
Some interesting observations: Those anglers who fished out of Sturgeon Point on Friday came to the scales with markedly smaller sized fish. Anglers fishing out of that port but on the Canadian side were reporting getting into heavier fish, but that area is excluded in this derby. Eleven out of 100 entered teams in this year's event chose not to weigh in any fish. The anglers weighing in the fish in the 10-pound range had trouble finding two other heavier fish for a three-fish total in the 20 pound range. The Big fish of the day is a wild card for all the anglers,however to have any hopes of putting together a winning three day total weight prize , the anglers would need to be averaging over 20 pounds per day. After day one there are a lot of teams in that range so it may go down to the ounce. Two fish were "devil fish" weighing in at 666, while one weighed in at 777 and another just missed the triple digits weighing 887. Saturday's weather forecast is supposed to be even hotter so expect some more shake and bake on the lake. Weigh in on Saturday is from 1 -6 p.m. only at the Con Club. The public is invited!
The big walleye of the day award went to the team of Tom Hare, "Chip" Rammacher and Julius Phelan for their 10.89 walleye. That fish will probably win more money because it will hold up in the top 15 heaviest walleye of the three-day derby. Their fish took a renosky presented off a dipsey diver in 75 to 80 feet of water due North of Dunkirk.
Some interesting observations: Those anglers who fished out of Sturgeon Point on Friday came to the scales with markedly smaller sized fish. Anglers fishing out of that port but on the Canadian side were reporting getting into heavier fish, but that area is excluded in this derby. Eleven out of 100 entered teams in this year's event chose not to weigh in any fish. The anglers weighing in the fish in the 10-pound range had trouble finding two other heavier fish for a three-fish total in the 20 pound range. The Big fish of the day is a wild card for all the anglers,however to have any hopes of putting together a winning three day total weight prize , the anglers would need to be averaging over 20 pounds per day. After day one there are a lot of teams in that range so it may go down to the ounce. Two fish were "devil fish" weighing in at 666, while one weighed in at 777 and another just missed the triple digits weighing 887. Saturday's weather forecast is supposed to be even hotter so expect some more shake and bake on the lake. Weigh in on Saturday is from 1 -6 p.m. only at the Con Club. The public is invited!
