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Allen, Wasilewski Overcome Tough Bite to Take Tappen Lake

Category: Tournament

 Jun 21st, 2005 by OutdoorsFIRST 

Modified Jun 21st, 2005 at 12:00 AM

Keep an even keel, even when the bite gets tough. That’s what John Allen from Mansfield, OH and Greg Wasilewski from Shelby, OH did, and it paid off to the tune of a $1400 first place check at Sunday’s Tappen Lake Tournament on the Ohio Region of the Grand National Walleye Cup (GNWC). Allen and Wasilewski worked Mack’s Lures small gold blades with a crawler harness and a nightcrawler, and their five saugeyes weighed 8.58 pounds. Second place and a check for $700 went to the team of Matt Davis from Marion, OH and Kelly Buchenroth from Kenton, OH with a four-fish weight of 7.48 pounds. They also took Cabela’s Big Fish Award of a $200 Cabela’s shopping spree and the $350 optional Big Fish Pot for their 3.81-pound saugeye. The team of Steve Sentz from Port Washington, OH and Joe Legget from New Philadelphia, OH earned the third place check of $550 with a three-fish weight of 6.54 pounds. According to GNWC Executive Director Bernie Barringer, it was a tough bite. “The bite was really off. We had two cold fronts come through this past week that dropped the water temperature by 16 degrees. Today was a beautiful day, but the bite was only starting to come back.” Allen noted that he and his partner enjoyed the competition of the Tappen Lake Tournament. “It was a real thrill to win the tournament,” said Allen. “We each had a boat here during pre-fishing, and spent the time trying different presentations.” Allen and Wasilewski spent their day working four to seven feet of water in the bay just off the dam and later by the islands. “We trolled with the small gold blades at .8 to .9 mph, because we wanted to get the blade to just wobble.” Davis and Buchenroth used the same presentation but felt that the red blade was a key for them. “We had 10 spots,” said Davis, “but we only had one fish by 1:15. Then we went back to our very first spot, and within 90 seconds we had the big fish.” They targeted areas where there were small pockets of gravel, a sort of transition from the mud to gravel. “We stuck with our game plan and found most of the fish to be in seven to nine feet of water.” In the battle for the Ohio Region’s Yamaha Outboards Team of the Year award, the team of Mike and Tom Defibaugh from Bellefontaine, OH used a 10th place finish at Tappen Lake to maintain an 11 point lead over the team of Chuck Sabatose from Brockport, PA and Rich Fike from Farmington, PA. The Yo So Close Award, provided by AMFYOYO, manufacturer of the innovative stowable folding landing net, went to the three teams just finishing out of the money. They include Mike and Tom Defibaugh from Bellefontaine, OH in 10th place; Larry Booghier from Lakeview, OH and John Grimm from Springfield, OH in 11th place; and Dale Grimm from Warren, OH and Sam Cappelli from Poland, OH in 12th place. Next up on the Ohio Region is the Lake Erie Tournament at Lorain on Saturday, July 16. For those interested in the final tournament, call 1-800-890-FISH (3474), or email the GNWC at [email protected]. GNWC Executive Director Bernie Barringer said, “I encourage people to check out our website at www.walleyecup.com. As we approach the end of the regular season, it’s interesting to see how the races are stacking up and what teams will make it into the Regional Championships.” Major national sponsors for the GNWC include Skeeter Boats, Yamaha Outboards, Lowrance Electronics, YoNet Folding Nets by AMFYOYO, Aqua-VU, Aqua Innovations, Cabela’s and UpNorthOutdoors.com. National championship sponsors are Towtector Shield and the FoodSource Lure Corporation.

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