LEWT series finale set for this weekend in Huron

The Lake Erie Walleye Trail will wrap up its four-tournament series this weekend in Huron by handing nearly $25,000 in total prize money, weather permitting.The LEWT championship is a two-day combined weight event scheduled across three days. It is scheduled to begin Friday and end Saturday afternoon, but Sunday is available if wind or rain wipes out one of the first two days."The determining factor is if we don't have wind to create an unsafe situation," LEWT tournament director Jeff Lash said. "It's those days that don't follow the forecast is when it gets funky."As long as we get in one day, it's a tournament. We prefer to have two days because it's our championship event."Lash said $16,200 will be paid out to the top nine teams, plus money for the biggest fish each day. In addition, $6,400 will be paid out in the Knockout Challenge, an NCAA tournament-style bracket that pits teams against each other during the series. The first three LEWT tourneys were sold out and weighed in 773 fish totaling 2,124 pounds. The big fish at those events weighed 11.20 pounds (April 6, Magee East), 10.43 pounds (May 18, Sandusky) and 9.71 pounds (May 19, Sandusky).The four tourneys are all held in the Western Basin early in the season."Our niche has been early and in the west," Lash said. "West and early works best for this circuit."The water open to fishing in this weekend's championship includes the Ohio waters of Lake Erie with the western boundary being the Michigan state line and the east boundary being the 82.00.00 line. Boats must be in by 3 p.m. each day and the weigh-in, which is open to the public, will be held in the parking lot of the boat launch in Huron, on the east bank of the Huron River. The awards ceremony will be held at about 4:30 p.m. on the second day of the tourney, which is sponsored by Erie Outfitters and hosted by the Western Basin Sportfishing Association.Last year's Team of the Year — Richard Wright and Tim Gunckel — is in seventh place in the current points standings, 16 behind leaders Jerome Dorlack and Nick Meisner (398 points), who won the LEWT opener at Magee East.The winning teams in Sandusky — Dustin Clark and Nate Allen and the father-son team of Gary and Alex Kisel — are in a three-way tie for second place, 14 points out of first place. The Vermilion team of Jason Zsebik and Tim Johnson is in sixth place with 382 points.Points are weighted to reward the top finishers at the two-day Huron event. For example, winners in the three previous tournaments received 200 points. The Huron winners will get 300. Plus, each team can throw out one result from the previous three tourneys."It ups the possibility of jumping some teams at the championship," Lash said. "You can't do well in the first three and stumble at the championship and win team of the year."The Knockout Challenge is down to four teams, including two "long shot" seeds. The final four matchups: No. 1-seeded Wright and Gunckel vs. No. 39-seeded Mike Robertson and Mike Tobias; and No. 11 Gary and Nicholas Zart vs. No. 38 Francis Ball and Paul Kerr.Last year, Chris Morris of Oregon, Ohio, and Thomas Nordyke of Newport, Mich., won in Huron by weighing 10 fish totaling 60.22 pounds over two days. The team of Chester Tabaczynski and Michelle Myers show off some of their catch at the LEWT tournament in Sandusky last month. The two anglers weighed in five walleye that totaled 16.80 pounds.The top three teams pose after the LEWT tournament in Sandusky on May 19. From left: Nick Meisner, James Dorlack, Dustin Clark, Nate Allen, Joe Whitten, Ron Rhodes. Clark and Allen won with a five-fish catch that weighed 36.47 pounds.The father-son team of Gary and Alex Kisel won the May 18 LEWT West Harbor tourney stop in Sandusky. Their five walleye weighed 39.87, including a 10.43-pounder that won big fish honors. Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament director Jeff Lash is hoping for good weather this weekend as the LEWT series championship is decided in Huron.