The eastern basin walleye fishery is jam-packed with walleye. Team #11 with Dan Hanley and Greg Stoos weighed in a nice box 3-fish, tipping the scales at 17.54 pounds, with a 6.50 kicker, said, “We pulled in more than 40 fish today, but no giants. Spinner/worm rigs worked best for us.”

Captain Chuck Pohlman and Team #49, fishing with Tim Duffy and Tom Kinmartin, made a stunning impression with their 3-fish box of 21.50 pounds, including a 6.95 lb, 6.26 lb and 8.79 lb kicker. This remarkable catch not only leads the derby for the heaviest box and the heaviest walleye but also sets the stage for a potential giant payday tomorrow if they can replicate their success. Chuck Pohlman, in his characteristic humility, remarked, “There are a lot of fish out there and they seem to like every lure.”

Most anglers shared that their best lure — the lure that caught the most fish was a Yaleye stickbait. Many of them shared that much, adding, “But I can’t tell you the secret color.” When asked why, they said that the lure box didn’t have a name yet, the lure color was that new. They might have been pulling my leg a bit.

Team #96, with Captain Rob Ebersole of Scary Good Sportfishing Charters, came to the scales with 19.83 lbs for second place on Day 1. Their box included a 6.91 lb kicker. The sunburned Ebersole said, “We ran board, riggers and dipsey divers, working various depths to find the fish in 60 to 95 feet of water. We ran the leadcore with four to seven colors and caught fish on most lines.” He admitted that most of their fish were caught on a Yaleye lure with a secret color. We might find out the color after weigh-in tomorrow.

Team #24 with Captain Derek Deszcz of Dunkirk, and teammates Pete Kalfas, left, and Dominic Bennice, right, brought 18.56 pounds to the scale with a 7.49-pound kicker, good for second place in the Big Fish battle. They caught all their fish between two downriggers and six lead core lines. Photo by Forrest Fisher

Third place, Team #79 with Dunkirk Captain Russ Tenamore was close behind Ebersole with a box of 19.80 lbs with a 7.31 lb kicker, good for 4th place in the Big Fish category.

Tenamore said, “We fished deep out near the line in 120-128 feet of water and caught most of our fish Yaleye stickbaits, focusing on 55 feet down most of the time.”

Fourth place was Team #7, “Erie Obsession” with Captain Mike Russell from Hamburg, with 19.15 lbs, including a 6.49 lb kicker. Fifth place was Team #5, Captain Ron Duliba with 18.97 lbs and a 6.62-pound kicker. From there, through the following nine places, there were all 18-pound-plus boxes.

In all, 93 teams weighed 274 walleyes for a total of 1,489.38 pounds, providing an average fish weight of 5.42 pounds and average weight per team of 15.35 pounds. That’s nearly perfect weigh station participation from every team.

Team #40, Team “Bent Rods” with Captain Mike Ebel, caught their 18.42-pound box using all spinner/worm rigs fishing between Cattaraugus Creek and Dunkirk with the wind at their back. Their 7.30 lb kicker is good for 5th place in the Big fish. The spinner/worm color? That’s a secret until tomorrow.

Team #24 with Captain Derek Deszcz and teammates Pete Kalfas and Dominic Bennice brought 18.56 pounds to the scale with a 7.49 lb kicker, good for second place in the Big Fish battle. They caught all their fish between 2 downriggers and six lead core lines. “About equal dispersion among the lines out,” said Deszcz, ” but the Yaleye sticks in any color were working today.”

Captain Dennis Packard with team #51 used Rapala Scatter Raps in 75-80 feet of water to bag a nice 17.64 lb box with an 8.79 lb big fish kicker. The humble Packard won the Big Fish Champion title at the Southtowns Walleye Tournament in June.

The colorful Rich Davenport is the derby “MC,” adding humor to each cooler, while sharing the weight of each fish brought to the scale. He brought excitement with such terms as “Look at that fish!” or “There’s a fat dandy walleye!” or “Nice box for you, team!”

Derby chairman Chris Surma was hands-on, removing each fish from the angler coolers, one at a time, then holding it high for Lucie Katta, who ran the metal detector on two sides of each fish, head to tail. Scale-master Kim Kalfas assured each fish met the minimum length rules; they all did, and moved each fish from Katta to the digital scale. The weight was recorded, then each fish was hole-punched in the gill plate by proficient fish-handler James Kalfas, Kim’s nephew. Each team had its fish tally officiated by technology weigh-master Dale “DJ” Lombardo. Then derby co-chairman Bonnie Zent, presided over the signature of each captain on every weigh slip for permanent records and handed a copy of the slip to every captain for their records. Zent is also the President of the Con Club Ladies Auxiliary.

The honor of the smallest fish that weighed 3.07 lbs — Team #39, Captain Riley Diate of Silver Creek. The perfect eater size! What a fun day full of high respect for each other and conservation of this incredible eastern basin Lake Erie resource. High thanks to the Northern Chautauqua Conservation Club for their efforts.

Interestingly, the near-shore temperature from Dunkirk to the state line had plummeted to the low 50s. The strong northeast wind pushed the surface water southwest, allowing colder, deeper water to upwell and mix, lowering the water temperature, reducing baitfish activity, and scattering walleye across many depths. Indeed, that can shut down the bite. Tough fishing can result. What to do? The competitors listed earlier gave us the answers. Their advice and lure choices are lessons to keep. Secret lure colors and fishing locations tomorrow. The leaders checked different water levels, staggered depths with dipsey divers, and used leadcore line or downriggers to cover more of the water column efficiently. Good luck, everybody!

Gotta love the outdoors.

Outdoors Calendar

Aug. 1-2: 20th Annual Northern Chautauqua Conservation Club Walleye Tourney – Dunkirk Harbor; 3 fish bag/day-2 days; Contact Chris Surma: csurmy@yahoo.com.

Aug. 4-5: VIP Lake Erie Experience, Meet/Greet Aug. 4 evening – by invitation only, https://comefishlakeerie.com. Info: ELECBA President: Capt. Jim Steel at 716-481-5348.

Aug. 7-8: Cabela’s National Walleye Tour Qualifier event, Dunkirk Harbor. Professional angler TV event. Weigh-in events are open to the public. Visit www.outdoorteamworks.com.

Aug. 15-16: Innovative Outdoors Walleye Challenge (Dunkirk), $500 entry, Jim Steel, 716-481-5348; https://innovative-outdoors.com/.