# Lake Erie Walleye Trail, Championship Review, June 6&7



## Lake Erie Walleye Trail (Jan 18, 2013)

Another tight finish, and a new team of the year champion is crowned at the Cabela’s, Crown Battery, Sharpnack Direct, Lake Erie Walleye Trail (LEWT) “Championship” tournament, hosted by FishHuronOhio.com

The final event of the 2015 season kicked off with many teams still within striking distance of the prestigious LEWT Team of the Year award. The two day championship event held at Huron Ohio would decide the 2015 battle for Lake Erie Walleye Supremacy!

However, Mother Nature intervened on Saturday morning when strong northeast winds forced cancellation of day one of the tournament. This set up a one day shootout on Sunday that would be contested under ideal weather conditions. At the end of the day Jason Kopf and Roger Riggs returned with a winning five fish bag weighing 47.03 pounds. Second place went to Dustin Clark and Adam Williams whose best five weighed in at 46.85 pounds. In the third spot was Jason Pelz and Chuck Oeder with 45.62 pounds. Only 1.41 pounds separated first from third place!

Jason Plant and Rod Weaver used a seventh place finish at the championship to capture the coveted 2015 LEWT Team of the Year title, and the huge trophies provided by Vic’s Sports Center in Kent that come with it. Smooth Moves is awarding our Team of the Year anglers a pair of Smooth Moves Ultra Suspension seats. Longtime club sponsor Erie Outfitters of Sheffield Village is also supplying embroidered Team of the Year jackets to each of our winning team members. Plant and Weaver also each won Navionics mapping chips and Vexilar sonar-phone units provided by Navionics.

The championship also had the final four bracket of the inaugural LEWT Knockout Challenge to be decided at Huron, This is a bracketed head to head elimination challenge starting with 32 teams that played out across the entire LEWT season with $6400 at stake for the final four teams. Taking the top prize and $3000 was Mike Robertson and Michael Tobias. First runner up winning $2000 was Mark Brumbaugh and Shawn Ritchie. Third place and $1000 went to Zak Jobes and Josh Wells, and in fourth collecting $400 was the team of Rob Lester and Rob Cline.

Shawn Ritchie and Dave Knieriemen caught the largest walleye of the tournament at 12.88 pounds to win the $530 first place Big Fish cash prize. Second place cash of $350 went to Kevin Hays and Glenn Reedy for an 11.39 pound walleye.

Kopf and Riggs also cashed in on the $150 Medina Plating Early Bird award that goes to the top finishing team that entered all four events before the Early Bird deadline.

LEWT sponsor Sharpnack Direct pays a cash prize to the highest finishing LEWT angler who owns a vehicle purchased from Sharpnack. Aaron Humbert collected this $150 cash award.

Navionics sponsored a SonarCharts event during the LEWT championship tournament. Participating teams were asked to set up sonar log recordings that are uploaded to Navionics. These recordings are used to make old charts that were made using obsolete surveys more accurate. A total of 10 SONAR-Phone T-box units and four Navionics mapping chips were given away to club members. These are some great prizes! 

The $50 J&J Roofing Loyalty cash was the last item given via random drawing to Scott and Cameron Hosier.

The top three teams in the Team of the Year race will receive bids to represent the WBSA/LEWT at the Cabela’s National Team Championship event in 2016, sponsored by The Walleye Federation.

213 walleye were brought to the scales that averaged 7.21 pounds. Teams mentioned fishing from Kelley’s Island clear over to Lorain. The winners used ReefRunner crank baits to pull their winning bag, while the rest of the teams reported using a mixed bag of crank baits and crawler harnesses.

The Western Basin Sportfishing Association (WBSA) is a social based club for anglers that fish in the Western and Central Basins of Lake Erie and its tributaries. The WBSA operates the popular LEWT tournament series on Lake Erie. Membership is open to anyone interested in fishing, no matter their location or skill level. Our goal is to present information in a manner that will help sustain and improve fishing in one of the greatest inland sport fisheries in the world. Scientific information, fishing techniques, locations and presentations are presented at our meetings by expert and knowledgeable speakers and tournament anglers from our group. These anglers are very open with techniques, and will help any member that is trying to learn new methods.

For a complete list of the tournament results, or for more information about the LEWT please visit www.wbsa.us You can also find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/wbsalewt

Please support our 2015 LEWT sponsors: Cabela’s, Crown Battery Systems, Sharpnack Direct in Willard, Medina Plating, Magee East Campground and Marina, Ranger Boats, Waldo Peppers Restaurant, Smooth Moves, Worldwide Marine Underwriters, Reef Runner Lures, Vic’s Sports Center, Erie Outfitters, Navionics, Rednek Outfitters, Hi-Way Bait Tackle and Lodging, Mepps, FishHuronOhio.com


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