Reel lake dilemmas
A great walleye fishery faces questions on future
Photo provided by Forrest Fisher Chuck Pohlman and the Catch-The-Best Charters team provided a perfect example. Fishing alongside teammates Tom Kinmartin and Tim Duffy, countless hours of scouting paid dividends on tournament day.
Photo by Chuck Pohlman A total of 147 teams competed in the annual tournament, chasing the heaviest six-fish box while also taking aim at the largest individual walleye. Take off prior to the start of fishing was busy.
Photo provided by Forrest Fisher Chuck Pohlman and the Catch-The-Best Charters team provided a perfect example. Fishing alongside teammates Tom Kinmartin and Tim Duffy, countless hours of scouting paid dividends on tournament day.
Photo by Chuck Pohlman A total of 147 teams competed in the annual tournament, chasing the heaviest six-fish box while also taking aim at the largest individual walleye. Take off prior to the start of fishing was busy.
Trending
The numbers from this year’s Sunset Bay Walleye Shootout in Hanover tell two stories about Lake Erie. One celebrates perhaps the greatest naturally sustained walleye fishery in North America. The other raises a question that fisheries managers and anglers alike will be watching closely in the years ahead.
A total of 147 teams competed in the annual tournament, chasing the heaviest six-fish box while also taking aim at the largest individual walleye. Tournament rules required every fish in a team’s six-fish box to measure at least 24 inches--well above New York’s 15-inch minimum legal size for keeping walleyes on Lake Erie.
That single rule, a new rule for 2026, eliminated more than half the field at the final weigh-in, probably disappointing many teams.
With an estimated 85 million walleyes swimming in Lake Erie, most concentrated in the eastern basin right now, finding six fish over 24 inches is no simple task. Trolling is the only legal tournament method, meaning success depends on preparation, teamwork, and the ability to solve a constantly changing puzzle of water temperature, baitfish, currents, and fish movement.
The anglers who consistently rise to the top are the ones who never stop adapting.
Chuck Pohlman and the Catch-The-Best Charters team provided a perfect example. Fishing alongside teammates Tom Kinmartin and Tim Duffy, countless hours of scouting paid dividends on tournament day. Their spread covered nearly every level of the water column, running lead-core lines from three to eight colors, some enhanced with snap weights, along with Dipsy Divers and a downrigger pulling a mix of stickbaits and spoons.
Their biggest reward for them came east of Point Abino in 55 feet of water using a size 13 purple Rapala Husky Jerk, running on four colors of lead core off an outside planer board, produced the tournament’s third-largest walleye. The fish earned $1,150 for third largest walleye and second place in the Big Eye Calcutta, good for much more.
While Pohlman admitted the team came up just short in the race for the biggest six-fish box, he was quick to credit his teammates for putting in the work that made the catch possible.
He also tipped his hat to tournament director Don Ruppert, the Wave Tamer team, and the many volunteers who continue to produce what many anglers consider Lake Erie’s premier walleye tournament.
Events like the Sunset Bay Shootout remind us that success isn’t measured only by winning. It’s about preparation, confidence in your teammates, and making the right decisions when opportunities are few.
Yet the tournament also highlights an interesting trend.
Twenty-five years ago, 12-pound walleyes weren’t unheard of in tournament weigh-ins. Today, they’re exceptionally rare. The lake is full of fish, but truly giant fish seem harder to find. That’s not necessarily a sign of trouble--strong year classes have produced tremendous numbers of younger walleyes--but it does prompt an interesting question.
Can Lake Erie’s incredible abundance continue if the forage base, dominated largely by emerald shiners and young baitfish, can’t keep pace with so many hungry predators? Or are today’s smaller average tournament fish simply the result of an unusually crowded population waiting for the next generation of giants to emerge?
No one knows the answer yet, and fisheries biologists continue to monitor both predator and prey populations closely. For now, Lake Erie remains one of the world’s premier walleye destinations, capable of producing remarkable catches and unforgettable tournaments.
The Sunset Bay Shootout proved that once again, in a lake teeming with millions of walleyes, catching one of the biggest still requires experience, teamwork, and just enough magic to separate champions from the rest of the field.
This weekend, the 21st annual Northern Chautauqua Conservation Club walleye tournament is next up in the walleye contest fishing events from the New York shoreline. Good luck to all.
Gotta love the outdoors.