FISHING: Father-son team wins another walleye tourney in Huron

HURON — Gary and Alex Kisel get good vibes whenever they head out to Lake Erie in their Ranger boat via the Huron River. The father-son team from Macedonia won the Lake Erie Walleye Trail stop in Huron on Saturday, weighing a five-fish bag that totaled 41.19 pounds. The Kisels won the LEWT season championship at the same venue in 2019. Like most of the teams in LEWT's third qualifier, the Kisels headed east toward Avon Point. They caught their first big walleye at about 10:30 a.m. and stayed busy for a few hours. "We stayed there all day," Gary Kisel said. "We pulled two big fish and throughout the day we were picking one after another." Alex Kisel, 24, said they started out using Bandits on one side of the boat and Reef Runners on the other before switching to all Bandits. "The morning started slow," Alex said. "We got our first big one at about 9:30 and put a program together and kept catching them. It was nonstop." The Kisels headed back to Huron in plenty of time for the weigh-in at 2:30 p.m. They were one of the first teams to weigh their bag. "We kind of left early. We were an hour ahead because we had our best five fish," Gary Kisel said. "We made a long run and didn't know about the weather coming back." The Kisels won the $7,772 first prize and also won $2,400 in a side pot plus $7,000 for using a Ranger boat. That brought their total to $17,172. The Kisels, who prefer fishing the shallow waters in the Western Basin, have been fishing together for years. They started out going after perch and now comprise one of the best teams on the lake. They estimated that they caught between 20 and 30 walleyes Saturday before keeping their best five. Their biggest walleye tipped the electronic scales at 9.44 pounds. "We've been fishing since I was a kid and got serious about walleyes about five years ago," Alex said. The tourney's biggest fish, weighing 9.63 pounds, was caught by Danny Alverson (Grafton) and Matt Bonkoski (Lorain). That was worth $1,460. They cashed in trolling Bandits and snap weights in the Vermilion area. They caught their big walleye at 11 a.m. "There was a little hootin' and hollerin' and high-fives," said Bonkoski, a Lorain police officer. "You get relaxed catching the same fish and that revives you." Alverson and Bonkoski caught an 11.84-pound walleye in the 2018 spring derby in Avon Lake. The team of Joe Gibson and Bryan Beck, which won the Sandusky LEWT tourney in April, finished second at 40.33 pounds. They won $5,486 on Gibson's birthday. Mike Miller and Bryan Fisher were third at 38.74. The teams of Ryan Buddie and Jason Kopf (36.86) and Thomas Nordyke Sr. and James Duvall (35.92) rounded out the top five. A total of 91 boats entered the tournament, which paid out the top 12 spots. One of the highlights at the weigh-in was the team of Gavin and Jordan Pongracz, ages 8 and 10. Their father, Gary, supervised the young anglers, who weighed five fish totaling 27.91 pounds, good for 23rd place. Tournament director Jason Fischer said the day marked the biggest standalone event in LEWT history. A pig roast and signup party for the Fall Brawl was held during the weigh-in. The next LEWT tourney is scheduled for June 11 in Lorain. There are three more qualifiers before the season championship (Sept. 30 and Oct. 1) in Cleveland.