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New Winners and a New Record for the LEWT

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Monday, 05 May 2008

The Western Basin Sportfishing Association (WBSA) and Lake Erie Walleye Trail (LEWT) held the Evinrude E TEC – Starcraft Marine second event of 2008 on Saturday May 3rd at Lakevue Marina brought to you by Sharpnack Ford. The weather presented some challenges with showers and wind most of the day and the full field of 43 teams were greeted in the morning with coffee and donuts from West Marine.

Long time LEWT competitors Mike and Shane Solomey of Demotte and Wheatfield IN brought in a tournament limit of five walleye weighing 34.06 lbs to capture their first LEWT win. The winning team stayed on the SE side of Kelly’s and kept working a small area to catch the top basket. Finishing second for the second time this year was the team of Scott Geitgey of Canton and Tim Calvert of Port Clinton with five fish weighing 33.8 lbs. They reported catching close to 50 fish for the day on their way to second place. Thomas Sibert of Sandusky and Tom Sibert of Castalia brought in 33.66 lbs. for their five fish to wrap up third place.

In the race for the Cranberry Creek Marina Big Fish award the Siberts blew the field away and set a new LEWT record with their 14 lb winning big fish. It is fitting for the fish to be a new record as it turned out to be a valuable one. In addition to the money and a free Cranberry Creek Ramp Pass the father and son team also captured the Medina Plating bonus of $250 for winning the big fish award with a fish over 9 lbs. and a free mount of the monster fish from Jims Taxidermy of Port Clinton. Tom Sibert, while still in shock after the weigh in, commented “That fish made my year.” Coming in second in the big fish race with a 10.62 lb walleye was Mike Miller of Brunswick and Dave Frey of Avon Lake. “After 5 straight weeks of tournaments in the Port Clinton area with various organizations it was good to see someone from the LEWT bring in the biggest single fish weighed for all those events” commented WBSA President Marc Hudson.

In the team of the year race there are some familiar names towards the top of the list but at the top is the team of Geitgey and Calvert on the strength of their back to back second place finishes. Two time defending champions Travis and David Hartman are in second with Michael Bohm and Bob Kaisk in third. The Siberts currently hold the fourth position while the Solomey brothers used the points from their win to move into the top five. 30 points currently separate the top 5 but it is anyone’s race to win since teams do get to drop one of the first four events and the South Shore Marine Championship is worth extra points as the final event of 2008.

There were a total of 181 fish brought to the scales weighing an average of 4.92 lbs. The top few teams caught their fish on spinners in a variety of colors at from approximately 15 foot deep to the bottom. Some of the teams cashing checks also caught their fish on Reef Runners fished 80 to 100 foot behind the boards. Most teams reported fishing north of Kelly’s, Middle Island and around North Bass Island.

Here is the remaining schedule for the LEWT and spots remain for Geneva and Lorain.
May 31st – Catawba State Park “Crown Battery LEWT”
June 28th – Geneva State Park “Migration Open”
August 2nd – Lorain “South Shore Marine Championship”

For more information about the LEWT you can visit www.wbsa.us Listed below are the 2008 LEWT sponsors: Starcraft Marine, Evinrude E-TEC(BRP), South Shore Marine, West Marine, Reef Runner Lures, Cranberry Creek Marina, Vics Sports Center, Crown Battery, Sportsmans Outpost, Erie Outfitters, Ole Pete's Tackle, Yant Beef Jerky, Navionics, www.OhioGamefishing.com, Buckeye Rod Maker, Michigan Stinger Spoons, Sharpnack II Chevrolet, Jim’s Taxidermy, Sharpnack Ford, Cisco Fishing Systems, LPG Fishing Systems and Rich’s Hook Line and Sinker.

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