OBSERVER Photo by Gene Pauszek From left: Silver Creek brothers Ron Jr. and Jeff Kucinski, Team ”Got Glizdas” were the grand prize winners of the 34th annual Southtowns Walleye Association Tournament. Their walleye weighed an impressive 11.7 pounds.

The temperature has been hot lately and the walleye and perch fishing on Lake Erie has been “on fire!” to borrow a phrase from my friend Skip Bianco at Hogan’s Hut/Stow. Anglers have been reporting limit catches of walleye when heading west towards the Brocton Shoals. Starting out in 60 feet of water out of Barcelona has been productive too by some reports. The only negative report is that it has been hard to find the trophy or tournament size walleye in the 8-pound range and up. The winners of the Southtowns Walleye Association 34th annual tournament were announced last Saturday at the club located at 5895 Southwestern Boulevard, Hamburg, and there were a hand full of fish in the 11+ pound range that were entered. The grand prize winners were two brothers Ron Jr. and Jeff Kucinski of Silver Creek, who caught an 11.77 pound walleye on the last Saturday of the tournament. The brothers were fishing out of their 24-foot aluminum North River Sea Hawk off the Canadian side. They were fishing in 40 to 60 feet of water, trolling with a rapala scatter rap, straight back behind the boat, (no planner boards. They would troll and stall the motor to cause the lure to dig, then flutter back up. They caught the fish around 12:30 p.m. weighed in at the “Cat” at 2 p.m. then went back to the Erie Basin marina. Both brothers were polygraphed and passed and both were in the optional Calcuttas. They won a “pile” of money and prizes. *The tournament committee informed us that next year the top 25 entries will all be polygraphed, “Good rules make for a good tournament!” The Kucinskis call their team, “Got Glizdas” Anglers can expect to find walleye straight out of Dunkirk or the Cat in 60 to 65 feet of water. Employ 3 or 5 colors of lead core line as the fish are high. Orange color stick baits and worm harnesses work well and black and purple harnesses work good, down deep. Small spoons on the down riggers will also produce. Thursday is the last day to sign up for Razor’s Big Dawg Walleye tournament. See calendar for details. Yellow perch fishing has been good lately too. Monday anglers reported finding active perch off Dunkirk in 35 feet of water. Cattaraugus Creek has also been good. Live golden shiners are the ticket. The walleye action has picked back up on Chautauqua Lake. Troll the weedine. Perch has been tough lately but silver bass and white perch have been taken by the bucket-full, according to “Skip”. Bass are hanging around under the floating docks.

Again, thank you for the acts of sympathy, in regards to the death of Mom (Ann Pauszek). In addition the Outdoor community lost a great friend, and talented writer this week when Outdoor writer Will Elliot passed away suddenly. A wonderful person, skilled word smith, and an accomplished fisherman and hunter, Will, was a legend in his own time. He will be missed and remembered as he embarks on his final Safari.

Calendar: The Southtowns Walleye Assoc. will be holding their FREE Catch & Release Kid’s Fishing derby on July 14 at the Chestnut Ridge Park, Orchard Park, New York at Shelter No. 10. Open to kids 15 years of age and younger (register by July 1). Bring your own tackle. Sign in starts at 7 a.m. Fish from 8-11 a.m. with continuous weigh-in. At noon, there will be a Sahlens hot dog lunch with FREE soda anytime. Coffee, milk, donuts or juice from 7:30-10 a.m. Presentation of awards and prizes and drawings start at noon. ALL kids will receive a FREE gift grab bag. For information contact the SWA office at 649-8202, Dennis at 861-5687, or Doug at 930-5858. eepurl.com/dp97JD or contact Chairman/ Captain Jim Steel at 716-481-5348.

Southtowns Walleye Association will be holding their monthly meeting on Thursday July 9th staring at 7:30 p.m. at their club in Hamburg. Open to the public.

July 7 is the next walleye tournament with the Lake Erie Big Dawg Walleye Tournament. This is a one day five walleye day. Optional Big Fish Friday is on July 6. Unlimited boat field with two to five anglers per boat. $500 entry fee. 100% pay back. Call Mark Mohr for details at 998-9871 or go to rayzorbigdawg.com. Deadline for sign-ups will be Thursday, July 5. The weigh-in will be at Rookies located at Lake Shore Drive East, across from the Clarion Hotel. All coolers must be in line by a 4 p.m. deadline!

There will be a pistol training course at the Northern Chautauqua Conservation Club on Sunday, July 8 from 2:30-7:30 p.m. There is a fee of $80 for this course. For information or registration contact Gary Dudek at 366-3397.

July 21 is the eighth annual Sunset Bay Shoot Out. This event is full. Contact Captain Don Ruppert at 435-4137 or go to walleyeshootout.com.

August 3, 4, and 5 are the dates for the Northern Chautauqua Conservation Club walleye derby. A three day tourney, with three walleye per day allowed entry. Two to four angers per boat.

August 25 is the Innovative Outdoors walleye Challenge out of Dunkirk. A one day tournament with optional Big Fish Friday on August 24. Limited to 65 boats with the registration deadline on August 1. Contact Jim Steel at 481-5348 or go to lakeeriewalleyetournament.com.

The Children of the Stream Youth Fly Fishing Program will be starting its 18th year of providing weekly free fly tying and fly fishing classes to both youths and adults in our area. Note that classes will SWITCH from Wednesday evenings from 7 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. to Tuesday evenings at the Costello Community Room (P84) in the new addition to the Rockefeller Arts Center at SUNY Fredonia. You do not need any prior experience to attend these classes, and the course is geared towards ages 10 and older. For more information contact Alberto Rey at 410-7003 or alberto@albertorey.com.

If your club or organization is holding a hunter safety training/trapping course or a turkey shoot or any other outdoors event, and would like to see it posted in the calendar, send information to the OBSERVER, 10 East Second Street, Dunkirk, NY 14048, or call the sports department at 366-3000 ext. 5 after 6 p.m.

Note: If you have a big game fishing or trapping success story you would like to share, call 366-1772, or 467-2079 and leave a name, phone number and a time you can be reached. You can also call 366-3000, ext. 5, after 6 p.m. or email sports@observertoday.com