Tournament anglers head out, bag walleye

With the winds calm, the skies blue and the waves gentle, Lorain again hosted walleye hunters hoping to net fish that could score money and prices.

With winds whipping up the surface of Lake Erie, the Cabela’s Masters Walleye Circuit Team Walleye Tournament called a safety day off the water on May 4, the scheduled start date of the tournament.

The weather May 5 was much more pleasant as 62 teams of two anglers per boat headed out to hook the five biggest walleye they could find.

The fish are measured by weight and some boats were bringing in walleye topping seven, eight and nine pounds apiece.

“I think things went fantastic,” said said Jeff Kelm, Cabela’s Masters Walleye Circuit master of ceremonies. “To have multiple 40-pound bags — my prediction was 60 pounds to win. We could blow that out of the

water.”

After one day of fishing, the top five teams all brought in five fish topping 40 pounds. The day one leaders were Ali Shakoor of Dearborn Heights, Mich., and

Brian Zarembski of Avon Lake, who had 44 pounds, 10 ounces, of walleye.

Fishing teammates Carl Hatala of Alpena, Mich., and Brad Smyth of Oxford, Mich., were the first to cross

the stage to weigh in their walleye.

It was their first time fishing out of Lorain, but they said they have made previous fishing trips to Ohio.

The weather day made for a nice day off, but the weather May 5 was too nice.

“Way too nice,” Smyth said.

“When it’s high pressure and flat, sunny, fish aren’t really cool with it,” he said about the weather system over Lake Erie for that day. Choppy water moves the boat, which makes the bait more active as well, Smyth said.

The pair said they definitely would continue their hunt on May 6.

Along with his basket of fish, angler Larry Rhoads of Oregonia brought a thankyou list for his wife and mother for bringing up the family’s three children to experience their first weigh-in.

Rhoads’ father and brother came up to pre-fish for a week.

RICHARD PAYERCHIN — THE MORNING JOURNAL Adam Karolak, left, of Lorain, helps angler Larry Rhoads of Oregonia with his basket of walleye as Rhoads’ daughter, Harper, 4, looks on, in the first day of weigh-in for the Cabela’s Masters Walleye Circuit tournament in Lorain on May 5. It was the...

RICHARD PAYERCHIN — THE MORNING JOURNAL Fishing teammates Carl Hatala of Alpena, Mich., and Brad Smyth of Oxford, Mich., show off a walleye within a walleye after the weigh-in for the first day of the Cabela’s Masters Walleye Circuit Team Walleye Tournament held in Lorain May 5, 2018. The...