Allen, Wasilewski Overcome Tough Bite to Take Tappen Lake Tournament
By Steve Weisman
GNWC Publicity Director
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 info@walleyecup.com.
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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