Pennsylvania is a sleeper state for hosting both great walleye anglers as well as exceptional walleye fishing.
Outside of Lake Erie, most of the best walleye fishing in the country is in the upper midwest. Nonetheless, walleye fishermen who have grown into the sport by fishing the Allegheny Reservoir have had to learn to catch walleyes on one of the most challenging bodies of water in the country.
The challenge of catching Allegheny walleyes makes for some tough-minded, highly skilled fisherman. Many anglers agree that if you can consistently catch walleyes on the Allegheny, then you can catch them anywhere.
For Pennsylvania walleye fishermen, opening day is just a couple weeks away.
Local anglers Chad Yohe and Grant Smith, both of Bradford, have been preparing for months to participate in Cabela’s National Team Walleye Championship on Lake Erie in Lorain, Ohio, May 9 to 11.
Yohe and Smith are just two of several teams of anglers from the area competing in the championship event, having qualified by competing in both the Willow Creek Sportsman’s Club Kinzua Cup Circuit as well as the Kinzua Outdoors Circuit. These are both amateur walleye circuits that hold several events on the Allegheny Reservoir each year. The top finishers in each circuit are awarded opportunities to fish in the Cabela’s National Team Championship.
Cabela’s NTC showcases many of the best walleye anglers in the country. You have to be a great fisherman to qualify for the Cabela’s Championship, but you don’t have to be a professional. Many of the participants qualify by fishing other small amateur circuits throughout the country.
There is a great deal of preparation to fish in a tournament like this, especially when it comes to tactics and strategy. Having success on a new body of water takes months of game planning. “The day we found out the location of where the championship was going to be held, we started preparing,” said Yohe. “We’ve been studying maps, watching YouTube videos as well as looking at past tournament history in that area.
“The Allegheny Reservoir guys always do well in the Cabela’s Championship,” Yohe added. “This body of water teaches you everything. It is so challenging here. It makes you a complete and versatile walleye angler. This place teaches you to be good anywhere.”
There will likely be at least 300 teams competing in the Cabela’s Championship. Yohe and Smith are planning to stay and strategize with 12 other local anglers competing.
“We will work together to break the lake down,” Yohe noted. “First, we want to develop a program where we are catching high numbers of fish, consistently. Then, we hope to target bigger fish.”
Lake Erie is one of largest bodies of water in the country. The lake covers more than 6 million acres of ground with depths over 200 feet. Open water trolling is usually the key to catching walleyes on Lake Erie. However, the western basin is fairly shallow with walleyes commonly being found in around 30 feet of water.
“With advanced, forward-facing sonar, and the western basin holding similar water levels to what we fish in on Kinzua, we are hoping to get away from open water trolling and target bigger individual fish,” said Yohe. “There is a tournament going on up there right now and we are paying attention to what tactics the anglers are using to be successful.”
The top 25 teams earn awards with the winning team earning major cash prizes as well as a brand new boat.
“I think we have some local anglers that will make the top 25,” Yohe declared. “It’s so hard to win an event like this because you can’t make a mistake and you need a little luck on your side to catch some bigger fish. But the anglers we have from this area are all capable of making it happen.”
