Weather wise, Sunday turned out to be the best timeframe to fish, but unfortunately, it was also the shortest. Lots of anglers showed up at the weigh station with their fish. None of the walleye were 9 pounds or over, much to the delight of Team 57, led by Bob Graeber, who caught a 9.26-pound walleye on Friday, which held on to become the heaviest walleye of the tournament. In fact, Graeber’s fish was the only 9 pounder weighed during all three days. The second-heaviest walleye weighed 8.85 pounds, caught by Team 100’s Robert Spoon.

Third place was taken by a local fisherman Henry Smith (Team 98) at 8.84 pounds. Another former Con Club winner Team 10, led by Gene Strianese, took the second-heaviest walleye on Sunday and moved into the fourth spot with an 8.83-pound walleye caught by Gene’s son, David Strianese.

Bob Rustowicz, who had the heavy box on Friday, finished with the seventh place walleye weighing 8.60 pounds, followed by last year’s winner Jim Opeil, with an 8.59 pound entry. Brian Mills took ninth with an 8.44 fish while Kevin Oliver grabbed the 10th spot with an 8.42 pound fish. Henry Smith was so close with an 8.41 pounder as he landed in 11th and Michael Ponosny took 12th place with an 8.28 pounder, which was the same weight for Daryll MacNeil, who shared the same sized winnings. The same thing occurred with the final two places as Steve Ball and Jim Stoll both ended up with fish weighing 8.14 pounds for the 14th and 15th final positions.

Team 66, led by Joe Jemiolo III, entered the heaviest three-fish total box on Sunday weighing 23.31 pounds. Henry Smith weighed in at 19.45 pounds assisted by an 8.84 pounder. David Beyers was third with 18.92 pounds followed by Mike Bielicki with 18.84 pounds. Team 86’s Robert Oram weighed in 11.76 pounds on Sunday, the 20th heaviest box of the day, but coupled with his Friday and Saturday total weights, his team took the heaviest total weight of nine walleye for three days, ending up with 46.26 pounds.

David Beyers ended up in second place with a nine-fish, three-day total weight of 39.39 pounds and local angler Henry Smith finished third with a total weight of 39.28 pounds. Brian Mills, who finished in second place on Friday, and opted not to fish on Saturday, had a strong showing on Sunday of 16.98 pounds to take the fifth place at 38.67 and Cody Allen the Southtowns Walleye Slugger, fishing with his grandfather, Don Mullen, entered fish all three days for a nine fish total weight of 37.75 pounds and the final spot.

Forty-four teams chose not to enter any fish for all three days. This columnist got to fish Friday and Sunday with Brian Deverell aboard Brian’s new Starcraft, and managed to boat 23 keepers and finish in the 30th spot. The tournament was well run due to the dedication and efforts of the Chairman Zen Olow and an outstanding supporting cast of sponsors, board members, club members, Ladies Auxiliary and youngsters, who all contributed to make this another successful event. The weigh-in station went smoothly and we can anticipate some changes in next years event. The city of Dunkirk can be proud of this event, which draws fishermen from around New York, Canada and Pennsylvania. It’s a well run, fun event and we can look forward to more of the same in the future. Hopefully the weather will co-operate!