With 153 teams fishing the Sunset Bay Walleye Shootout last weekend, congratulations to Limit-Takers Sportfishing who did well, finishing in fourth place for a $3,500 payday. Team members, from left, include: Captain Brayden Kneer, Tyler Ptak, Colton Kneer and Tristen Phillips. Submitted Photo

When a brand-new charter captain, Brayden Kneer, enters the largest one-day international walleye fishing tournament in North America to finish in fourth place competing with 153 other fishing teams, it’s time to listen and learn when the captain speaks.

Limit-Takers Sportfishing fished the Sunset Bay Walleye Shoot Out to finish in fourth place in the main event with a 35.73-pound box for their six-fish box.

“Our program consisted of six planner board lines with Yaleye Fish Lures, divers with Pirate Reno Rockers, and a downrigger that took fish on both stickbaits and spoons,” Kneer said.

The Reno Rockers are a 3-inch stickbait with a jointed tail section adorned with a tiny willow leaf blade that mimics a baitfish with wobble and flash. They cost under $10 at Fish USA and are available in various colors.

In the shootout tournament events, Friday last weekend was Big Fish Friday — a one-fish event that paid the top three finishers, and Saturday was the main event fishing day that paid the top 15 finishers.

“On Big Fish Friday, we came out of Dunkirk and pointed straight into the strong north winds,” Kneer said. “We pushed the Grady out about 12 miles northeast of the harbor and we set up near the U.S./Canada border to make a straight line troll with the waves. We quickly found that with the strong winds that the thermocline had pushed very deep and was over 80 feet down. Thanks to our Fish Hawk Electronics we capitalized and decided to pull one of our diver rods and set a second downrigger.”

The Fish Hawk device measures water temperature and current flow (in miles per hour) at depth. This allows the fishermen to vary the boat speed to obtain the best speed for lure action and presentation.

“We pulled the vast majority of our “box fish” from down deep on our divers and downriggers,” Kneer said. “We ended Friday without a kicker fish to weigh for the show, but we had found a very good class of fish and were confident for the Saturday main event. Come Saturday, we blasted out of Sunset Bay alongside 153 boats and pointed the Grady right towards our spot from the previous day. After setting up and putting four 26-27 inch walleyes in the boat quickly, the bigger fish became a little tougher to pull down in that deep column of the water. We decided to pull our deep leadcore line rigs and switch them out for some shallower cores, searching for different level fish. We were quickly rewarded with another wave of very nice fish for the box.

“Around 12:30 we had a great box but did not have a big kicker fish yet,” Kneer added. “We all put our heads together and opted to pull gear and make a run to some shallow water structure in hopes of finding that one big kicker fish that would set our box apart from the others.”

“It is amazing how many fish are exactly the same size, we call them cooky-cutter walleye,” tournament manager Don Ruppert said on stage.

“We got the gear deployed, and among the first four fish in, we got a beautiful 28 ½-inch walleye to the boat,” Kneer said. “A short while later we were fortunate enough to pull another nice fish measuring 28 inches. We knew that we had a great box at that point. We fished until about 2:50, pulled gear, and made the run into Sunset Bay for the weigh-in. A big thank you to everyone who supports us during these tournaments. We had an absolute blast and are already looking forward to next year.”

Congrats to these young guys. Visit https://limittakersportfishing.com/ to fish with Kneer.

The eastern basin of Lake Erie along the Chautauqua County shoreline continues to be a bustling hub of activity. Next up is the 20th annual Northern Chautauqua Conservation Club Walleye Tourney from Dunkirk Harbor with a three-fish bag/per day for two days, Aug. 1-2. Contact Chris Surma at csurmy@yahoo.com. The captain’s meeting is July 31 at the NCCC clubhouse.

Gotta love the Lake Erie outdoors.

CALENDAR

July 24: Erie County Federation of Sportsmen, Monthly Meeting, 7 p.m., Niagara River Station, 355 East River Road, Grand Island, Info: 716-775-5931.

July 26-27: NYS Archery Shooters Association Federation Championship, Bear Lake Rod & Gun. Info: Rudy Abersold, 716-397-9717.

Aug. 1-3: Region 9 Youth Archery and Sportsman’s Camp, Elma Conservation Club, 600 Creek Road, Elma; for kids 12-15 years old. Info: Don Trzepacz, 716-863-4774.

Aug 1-3: 20th annual Northern Chautauqua Conservation Club Walleye Tourney — Dunkirk Harbor; three-fish bag/per day, two days; Contact Chris Surma: csurmy@yahoo.com. Captains meeting, July 31 at NCCC.