Published: June 02, 2008 11:21 pm      

HILTS: Crazy fishing week ends with successful pro-am

It was a week like no other week when it comes to fishing competitions and fishing fun on Lake Ontario. And, the fishing was good — scary good — as local anglers competed in the friendly Spring Salmon Spectacular Buffalo Sabres Alumni fishing outing last Thursday. Friday, it was the Don Johannes and Pete DeAngelo Memorial fishing derbies keeping some 80 teams busy during the day. And the intense angling action was culminated with the 24th Annual Skip Hartman Memorial Lake Ontario Pro-Am Salmon Team Tournament out of Wilson and Olcott, presented by Maui Jim sunglasses and AES Somerset on Saturday and Sunday.

The Pro-Am tournament went off without a hitch as 88 teams from around the northeast, Canada, Michigan, and even one from England (no, they didn’t bring their own boat with them) competed for the two-day extravaganza. Cold Steel/A-Tom-Mik Fly was the team to beat in the Professional Division after day one and they held on to win the tourney with a two day total of 494.49 points based on 10 points a fish and a point a pound. Pros were allowed to keep up to 12 fish for weigh in. The team was led by Capt. Tom Burke of Altmar. Also on his team was A-Tom-Mik fly owner Tom Allen, one of the sponsors for the tournament. Second place went to the A-Tom-Mik Meatheads team led by Bill Hawkins of Orangeville, Ontario, with a score of 468.88 points.

In the Amateur Division, it was a new team on the scene that accomplished the same rare feat that Cold Steel did — win the Division after leading the first day. Rock-N-Reel, a team from Pennsylvania led by Ralph Eades of North East, set the pace among the amateurs with a total score of 247.39 points. They beat out runner-up Ball Draggers led by Jeremy Botting of Lockport by less than 17 points. Amateurs were allowed to weigh in six fish each day.

As we mentioned, the fishing was good. It was good all week. In fact, it forced the tournament committee to change their normal weigh-in procedure and open the scales up at 10 a.m. instead of noon. And many of the teams actually arrived earlier to get in line to weigh fish at the 10 a.m. mark. Weigh master Connie Adams-Meesig of Lewiston, filling the shoes of long time weigh master Tom Danaher, had her work cut out for her but she came through in fine fashion. So how good was the fishing? The total catch in 2007 was 5,795 pounds of salmon and trout. That total this past weekend was 9,392 pounds! Pretty impressive to say the least and it helped to show that the many pen projects along the lakeshore must be working.

We mentioned that there was a team from England and they had a great showing by placing 16th overall, fishing with Capt. Mike Waterhouse of Waterport. Gerry and Ray Davies, frequent visitors to these states, put together a team of able-bodied anglers to compete in both the Niagara and Orleans County Pro-Ams (Orleans County’s event is June 7-8). Included in their team was Jon Watson and his seven-year-old son Kenny; Wayne Hunt and his 15-year-old son, Connor; and Andy Priest. What an experience for the kids as they get to see some of the finest fishing competitions on the Great Lakes, competing for some great prizes. All told, there was over $70,000 in cash and prizes up for grabs in events associated with the tournament.

Back to the tournament to recognize some more of the winners. Third place went to Reel Pleasure led by Don Harris of Middleport with a score of 444.95; fourth was Cortland Machine/A-Tom-Mik, with James Samia of Cortland leading the way at 239.71; fifth place was Salmon Bound and Bob Buck of Sodus with 438.09; sixth place was King Fisher and Shaun Curry of Rochester with 427.88; Rich Hajecki of Rochester and his Yankee Troller team placed seventh; eighth place was Sunrise II, led by Bob Stevens of Medina with 422.86; ninth place went to Kevin Jerge of Gasport and his Primetime/A-Tom-Mik team out of Wilson with 422.83; 10th place was the Striker squad led by Eric Marcinkowski of Syracuse with 419.23 points.

In the Amateur Division, third place went to the Wizzard team led by Larry Goehring of Spraggs, Pa., with 228.33; fourth was Lit-L Bit Cra-Z and Todd Choate of Gasport with 227.95; fifth place was Trophy Teasers and the Bill Heller contingent from Hopewell, N.J., with 226.77; Screamer/A-Tom-Mik led by Joe Nogick of Peckville, Pa., was sixth with 224.40; seventh went to Team Spoonfed and Glen Gervais of West Springfield, Mass.; eighth was Lucky Strike and Nick Shelden of Horseheads with 222.65; ninth was the This Is It team (named after team leader Mike Geiger of Wellsboro, Pa., after his wife told him that this was the last boat he would ever purchase) with 218.51; 10th place was My Turn and Pete Kelly of Akron with 218.27 points.

Big fish for the tournament was a 25.68 pound king reeled in by the Ol’ Jammer team led by Jim Evarts of Olcott.

Next up on the tournament circuit is the Orleans County event this coming weekend. We’ll have a full report for you next week. If you want to follow along, you can do so at www.lakeontarioproam.com.

Johannes Tourney a winner

For the last seven years, the Don Johannes Memorial Fishing Derby was a friendly competition that a handful of boats used to get in as they practiced for the Pro-Am fishing competition. Money went for prizes and a Ransomville Ambulance Fund. This year, that competition was taken up to the next level by adding the Pete DeAngelo Memorial Three-fish Tournament to the mix and upping the ante to $100 per boat. And in addition to the Ransomville Fire Company ambulance pot, the Olcott Fire Company was also added to the list of benefactors.

The total competition became a huge success this year, with 80 teams competing for nearly $10,000 in cash and prizes. There were several ways to win: biggest fish or the best three fish for the day, plain and simple. The rules were simple, too. First place big fish went to Shaun Curry and the King Fisher team out of Rochester, with a 24.02-pound king salmon. They also placed second overall in the three fish contest, earning $2,250 in the process. Second place big fish was Dave Siegfried of Holley and his Tracker team. Third place went to Mike Engle of Hilton with his Reel Drag team. Engle’s team also placed third in the three fish contest. Winner in the three fish event was Bud Marsh and his Alibi team won with a total weigh of 57.80 pounds. It could have been the team from England, 7 Brits and a Gerry, however.

Capt. Mike Waterhouse, who was fishing with the Englishmen, failed to register the team into the one day event. They ended up catching three fish that weighed over 57 pounds on their hand-held scale. The memory is usually the second thing that goes — I don’t remember what the first thing is.

Wildlife Festival is Saturday

Don’t forget that the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service will be holding their annual Fish and Wildlife Festival on Saturday at Hyde Park. The day kicks off with a kids fishing contest on Hyde Park Lake and you’ll want to arrive around 7:30 a.m. to register if you want to participate. There will be a ton of prizes for the kids and no one should walk away empty handed. If you have any questions on the event, give FWS a call at 691-5456.

Bill Hilts Jr. is the outdoor sports specialist with the Niagara Tourism and Convention Corporation. Contact him at bhiltsjr69@cs.com.