Up North With Gary Talarico – July 2010

LOCATION: Port Clinton, Ohio
EVENT: Cabela’s Master Walleye Circuit Tournament

I pulled in to the parking lot of the Super 8 motel in Port Clinton. It was about 9pm, but it seemed unusually dark. Then it hit me. Right in the mouth, a flapping bug. Too late, a couple of juicy mayflies apparently caught a reflection off one of my cavities and attacked. I now can attest they DO NOT taste like chicken. The flying buggers were everywhere! I have never seen them so thick. I then had another thought. When the mayflies hatch, the fish gorge themselves. Not good for a fisherman.

LureSecure Pro's - Andrew Oleksiak & Brian Woodard



I was there to fun fish/pre-fish for the tournament with a couple of up and coming Team LureSecure pros, Brian Woodard and Andrew Oleksiak. They were bedding down at the same motel as I. Port Clinton area waters are legendary for walleye. It was my first time there. I checked in at the desk and returned to my truck to find it covered with mayflies.

I fought through them and grabbed my bags and laptop. As soon as I set the bags down I plugged in the computer and went to the NOAA site. NOOO! High winds and 3-5 foot waves predicted for the next day. I was bummed, but hopeful the weather guys were wrong!




Day 1: They weren’t. It was what the pro’s call a blow day. And blow it did, in more ways than one. I guess our duty on a blow day is to eat some Chinese, tie some crawler harnesses and eat some more. I followed their advice.

Day 2: The weather was better on this morning, so we hit the water, even though it was neither nice or comfy. Our plan was to search the Canadian waters around Pelee Island. The waves were down to 2-4 footers, with an occasional 6 footer from Mother Nature just to remind us who’s boss. After a couple of back jarring hours we arrived and set out the planer boards. It didn’t take long. It was a glorious walleye day. We caught ‘eyes all day, all between 2 and 10 pounds (OK, 9 1/2 pounds). The tourney was the next day, and we hoped the big ones would still be hungry and don’t move out.The ride back seemed much shorter.

Day 3: The weather was much better for fishing. Brian and Andrew were stoked with the memory of yesterday’s big ‘eyes. My back felt like somebody cracked me with a baseball bat. I hung out on the bed most of the day, waiting for the guys to get back. When they got in, I could tell by their faces it was a rough day. They weighed 5 ‘eyes for 26.51 pounds. That means they would need to weigh at least 40 pounds the next day to cash a tournament check.

Day 4: Again, I could tell by Brian’s face he wasn’t having a lot of fun. The final weigh-in was at 4PM. The boys weighed 5 fish again – for an amazing 26.51 pounds! Exactly the same as the day before! What are the odds?

My advice? Get to Port Clinton and do some walleye fishing!

FISH ON!

Gary