{"id":246963,"date":"2026-07-19T00:54:43","date_gmt":"2026-07-19T00:54:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/246963\/"},"modified":"2026-07-19T00:54:43","modified_gmt":"2026-07-19T00:54:43","slug":"reelin-for-a-reason-a-big-hit-in-lorain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/246963\/","title":{"rendered":"Reelin&#8217; for a Reason a big hit in Lorain"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The inaugural Reelin\u2019 for a Reason Women\u2019s Charity Walleye Tournament saw 19 teams participate July 18 for the largest walleye caught.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was pretty sporty out there, but these ladies toughed it out,\u201d said event organizer Jacki Jakacki.<\/p>\n<p>Lake Erie was kicking up some rough waves as the morning event got off to a start, she added.<\/p>\n<p>Second-place finisher Becky Sambunjak said, \u201cI\u2019m happy, but I really wanted that big fish.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The first-place winner, Heather Zsebik, knew she had a big walleye on her line as she was fighting to bring it in the boat, captained by Brian Zarembski as part of Team Erie Marine Sales.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI knew it was going to be a big one because it was hard to real in. It was so exciting,\u201d said Zsebik.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was fun,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>Zsebik\u2019s walleye weighed in at 7.74 pounds.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI think it\u2019s pretty cool,\u201d said Lorain Mayor Jack Bradley who attended the event.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt was not only a good time, but for a good cause,\u201d Bradley said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLorain is considered the Walleye Capital of the World and I think we proved that today,\u201d Bradley added.<\/p>\n<p>The event began at 6 a.m. at the Lorain Harbor Boat Club, located at 108 Alabama Ave., in Lorain.<\/p>\n<p>The women competed for trophies, cash prizes and bragging rights, while raising funds for survivors of domestic and sexual violence in northern Ohio.<\/p>\n<p>Teams of up to four women competed for the heaviest five-fish limit.<\/p>\n<p>Men were welcome on the boat as captains and first mates, handling the navigation and gear, but every fish that was counted had to be reeled in by a woman.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis really meant a lot to me,\u201d said another competitor, Stephanie Murphy, who\u2019s also a survivor of domestic violence.<\/p>\n<p>The money raised from registrations and donations will be split evenly between two organizations, the Lorain County Safe Harbor (Genesis House) and the Cleveland Rape Crisis Center.<\/p>\n<p>Together, the organizations provide emergency shelter, 24\/7 crisis support, legal advocacy and counseling for survivors and their families.<\/p>\n<p>A portion of donated fish went to the Church of the Redeemer in Lorain, where volunteers will prepare the catch to help feed local families.<\/p>\n<p>The competition featured trophies for first, second and third place, plus a Biggest Fish Cash Prize sponsored by Church Tackle Co.<\/p>\n<p>After the weigh-in, the competitors and their teams visited over a lakeside cookout at the Lorain Harbor Boat Club featuring live music and raffles.<\/p>\n<p>Sponsors included Church Tackle Co. and RE\/MAX Above &amp; Beyond.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"lazyautosizes lazyload\" alt=\"Brian Zarembski sorts through a cooler full of freshly caught Walleye July 18 at Reelin\\' for a Reason. Heather Chapin--The Morning Journal\" width=\"741\" height=\"784\" data- src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/7577da20-fb0e-44c0-b2e0-d2de5d8014b1.jpg\" data-attachment-id=\"1817893\" \/>Brian Zarembski sorts through a cooler full of freshly caught Walleye July 18 at Reelin&#8217; for a Reason. Heather Chapin&#8211;The Morning Journal<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The inaugural Reelin\u2019 for a Reason Women\u2019s Charity Walleye Tournament saw 19 teams participate July 18 for the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246964,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[105649,136,138,137,105647,22676,105650,105648,105644,105645,23033,105646],"class_list":["post-246963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-erie","tag-domestic-violence-shelters","tag-erie","tag-erie-headlines","tag-erie-news","tag-heather-zsebik","tag-lorain","tag-lorain-county-safe-harbor-genesis-house-and-the-cleveland-rape-crisis-center","tag-lorain-harbor-boat-club","tag-reelin-for-a-reason","tag-reelin-for-a-reason-womens-charity-walleye-tournament","tag-walleye","tag-women-fishing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246963","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246963"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246963\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246964"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246963"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246963"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246963"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}