Tournament teams at Sunset Bay State Park marina slips prepare for the Lake Erie Sunset Bay Walleye Shootout fishing tournament. More than $500,000 in cash and prizes are on the line.
Photo by Forrest Fisher
The biggest walleye fishing tournament of the year is coming up. The optional Pre-Fish event starts today as the first leg of the enormous “Sunset Bay Walleye Shootout.” The “Shootout” is the premier walleye tournament of the Great Lakes where amateurs and pros can compete together. Headquarters is on the sand near Cabana Sam’s at Sunset Beach.
To win big in any tournament, bass professionals lead the way by sharing their lessons in fishing gear and tournament preparation management.
They simply start early.
They do their homework days ahead of the event. They lubricate reels, check rods, line guides, replace worn fishing lines, check lures, hooks and leaders.
Walleye anglers have more than that to do. They need to check diving plane releases, downrigger gear, Fish Hawk batteries, planer board functions, knots from lead-core line to leader, assure no holes in the net, ready the cooler (no loose ice), top off fuel and oil reserves, VHF radio, battery capacity, reel drags and other tidbits of gear details that could fail with the biggest fish flopping back to the lake right at the boat.
Local outdoorsman Gary Huber brought some very large walleye to the boat while fishing Lake Erie near Dunkirk this past weekend.
Photo by Bob Rustowicz
That’s all the basic stuff. It’s much harder to play down emotions, keep your cool, and endure the tournament length.
Hydration is a primary key. Drink water and electrolytes that replenish your bodily systems for the sunny days that dehydrate anglers. Assure you have a good weight scale on board or a culling system. Just one/one-hundredth of an ounce can make a $25,000 difference in tournament payouts in this tournament.
Lastly, get enough sleep and know the rules inside and out.
A summary of the tournament events: The new “Pre-Fish Pot Thursday” venue (July 18) uses the “Fish Donkey App” allowing anglers to score their fish from their boat and monitor live updates. Cost to play is $100/boat and pays the top three spots with 100 percent payback. Final results for the Pre-Fish competition will be announced at the Captain’s meeting later that day at the Sunset Bay Beach Club beginning at 7 p.m. Look for exhibitors from Skeeter Boats, Yamaha motors, Okuma fishing gear, Garmin, Fish Hawk, Financial Trust, Camping World, Yaleye-Fish Lures, Off Shore Tackle, and others. The next day is “Big Fish Friday” with lines in at 6 a.m. and cooler drop no later than 4:30 p.m. This after-event will feature 40 prize packs drawn after the live weigh-in. The “Main Event” is Saturday (July 20) with a shotgun start at 7 a.m., return time at 3:30 p.m., and cooler drop by 4:30 p.m. The live stream “Weigh-In Show” will begin at 5:30 p.m. on the main stage. For the anglers that did well, the “Breakfast of Champions” will be on Sunday (July 21) at 10:30 a.m. through 12 noon. Awards and presentations begin at 11:45 a.m. including the new champion, largest fish, Big Fish Friday winners, the Calcutta winners and cash payouts.
In big money tournaments like this one, some say it’s best to remember the golden rule: Money can’t buy happiness, but it’s more comfortable to cry in a new boat than on a bicycle. Good luck one and all!
The premier live bait provider for the Walleye Shootout event is none other than Weekley’s Wholesale Bait at 3704 Big Tree Road in Hamburg (716-824-7184), a local bait provider for many of conservation club youth events. Jack Strawbrich at Weekley’s says, “We never run out of the world’s best nightcrawlers.”
Gotta love the outdoors!
Outdoors Calendar
July 18-21: Sunset Bay walleye Shootout, $500 entry, $500K prizes, 6 fish bag/ 1 day, INFO: Captain Don Ruppert, www.walleyeshootout.com.
July 20: Better-Half-Tour bass fishing tournament, Long Point Marina, $105 entry fee, visit: https://betterhalftour.com/.
July 27-28: Bart’s Cove Walleye Dual-2, Integrity Walleye Series (IWT-2), Dunkirk Harbor, 3 fish bag/ day, 2 days, INFO: Mark Mohr, 716-998-9871.
Aug. 2-4: 20th Annual Northern Chautauqua Conservation Club Walleye Tourney, $300 entry, Dunkirk Harbor, NCCC club weigh in each day, 3 fish bag/day, 3 days of fishing. Info and registration, contact Zen Olow, 716-640-2776.