HURON — Bryan and Mike Miller captured the Lake Erie Walleye Trail Championship on Saturday at the Huron Municipal Boat Ramp on the Huron River, while the father-son duo of Gary and Nicholas Zart took home the trophy for the LEWT Team of the Year.
The Zarts, from North Ridgeville and Vermilion, won the rescheduled Fairport Harbor LEWT event on Friday with a limit of five walleye weighing 39.19 pounds, anchored by an impressive 9.15-pound walleye. That was the key to their dominant season on the LEWT trail and Team of the Year honors that earned $14,250.
It was a swan song for Gary Zart, a veteran Lake Erie fishing guide. “I’m getting a little too old to be spending long hours and braving rough waters to compete in tournaments,” he said. “Nicholas is a young pro who has been our spark this year with his awesome forward facing sonar techniques, and he can handle the rough waters we experienced this year with his Ranger 622 tournament boat.”
Steve Hendricks and Brian Ulmer were second (34.51 pounds) on Friday, with Tyler Berthold and Joe Gibson (32.97 pounds) finishing third. Runners up in the TOY were Ryan Buddie and Jason Kopf — who won the LEWT Championship and TOY the last two years — followed by Hendricks and Ulmer.
Mike Miller, of Medina, and partner Bryan Miller, of Windham, started slow on Saturday in the LEWT Championship, struggling to catch walleye on a windy, wave-tossed morning. “We weren’t catching our target fish, but by early afternoon we finally found the schools of walleye we needed and weighed in five that hit the scales at 33.70 pounds,” said Mike Miller. They took home a $17,380 check.
Nick and Ed Olesky (33.26 pounds) were close behind, with veteran Rodger Riggs and Khaden Berry, one of the youngest anglers in the LEWT trail, finishing third with 32.02 pounds. The consistent Zarts grabbed fourth.
Steelhead, walleye and bass, oh my!
The cooler weather has lured walleye and steelhead trout to the near-shore waters along Lake Erie, joining smallmouth bass in their typical shallow, rocky autumn haunts. Comfortable water temperatures in the mid-60s, and hordes of small gizzard shad, have had all three game fish feasting in 15 to 25 feet of water.
Anglers trolling small diving plugs that include Berkley Flicker Minnows, small Bandits and shallow-running stick baits have been consistently scoring on all three three species of fish in the same waters along the Central Basin shoreline of Lake Erie.
The steelhead are also being caught during the day by shore anglers casting heavy spoons like the KO Wobbler and Little Cleo, as well Blue Fox Vibrax spinners.
At night, when walleye use their exceptional night vision to cruise the shoreline and feed, anglers casting jerk baits from shoreline piers and break walls have been the hot topic, with some catching limits of six fish. Berkley’s Finisher and Ripfish lures are making waves lately with after-dark shore anglers.
Walleye derbies begin
Friday is the deadline to enter Lake Erie’s Fall Brawl and Walleye Slam fishing derbies. Both derbies begin Saturday and run through Nov. 30. Online entries will close tonight at lakeeriefallbrawl.com and walleyeslam.com.
Erie Outfitters in Sheffield Lake, the weigh-in station for the Walleye Slam, is taking entries Friday.
Rains finally in forecast
Friday’s southerly winds will make for warmer weather and good fishing heading into the weekend, but that will change quickly. Northerly winds are moving in Saturday night, bringing heavy showers and rough waters. With steelhead trout staging to run the Lake Erie tributaries, foiled right now because of low water in drought-stricken waterways, only a small percentage of trout have been moving up the Northeast Ohio rivers and streams.
The possibility of heavy rains this weekend have been good news for steelhead anglers.
“Sunday’s rains and some showers forecasted for next week would make for a good start to the steelhead season,” said Dan Pribanic at Chagrin River Outfitters in Chagrin Falls. “The most recent strains of steelhead trout released by the Ohio Division of Wildlife in recent years the Northeast Ohio rivers seem to have resulted in big, aggressive steelhead coming back to our rivers.
“Our fishing guides at Chagrin River Outfitters have focused on smallmouth bass and northern pike lately, just waiting for rains to bring the first big push of trout and some quality steelheading.”
Largemouth bass move shallow
As the nights become cooler, largemouth bass have moved to the shallow waters to feed and the bass fishing has perked up on the inland lakes around Northern Ohio. Pymatuning, Turkeyfoot and Mud lakes in the Portage Lakes Chain, Mosquito Lake and East Harbor and West Harbor off Lake Erie are reporting good catches of largemouth bass.
Casting shallow-running diving plugs has been a good bet, as well as spinnerbaits, buzz baits and topwater lures such as the Rebel Pop-R and Heddon Zara Spook.
The boat ramps at Mogadore Reservoir, a top bass lake east of Akron, have been closed for dam renovations.
Autumn is also crappie fishing time all around Ohio, with Mosquito, Berlin and Pymatuning lakes leading the way in Northeast Ohio. Anglers finding the schools of small shad that crappie feed on are targeting deeper water structure by vertically jiggling small spoons, casting little minnow baits and suspending crappie rigs baited with live minnows.
If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation. By using this site, you consent to our User Agreement and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our Privacy Policy.