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The Lake Erie Grady White Owners Club
and Beaver Park Marina
Announce the Fall Perch Tournament
Results from Saturday, September 26th
Our tournament participants showed resiliency by fighting tough conditions to compete in our annual perch tournament. On Friday the day before the tournament, Lake Erie experienced gale force winds and a small craft advisory. It was touch and go on Friday but through constant communications between the event organizers and the NOAA weather reports, the fleet was able to sneak through a small favorable weather window and compete.
We had teams compete from the Islands of Lake Erie to the shores of Cleveland. Remember, you don’t have to fish off Lorain. All of Lake Erie is open to competitors.
The actual lake conditions were confused at best. The gale force winds from the prior day generated enough momentum with the water which caused surface waves to be 2 to 4 feet coming out of the east. The deeper lake currents were running west to east as the lake was rebalancing itself. On top of that the wind was out of the south. Not only was the water confused but so were the fish.
50% of the fleet did not catch one perch. These are unheard of results for a perch tournament. But we do have quite a collection of seasoned veterans that were able to come up the magic combination and turn in the 5 fish max for measuring. The results are as follows:
First Place: Justin Lopriore, 2002 222 Grady named Nettin Too It. 52.125 total inches. Justin also won largest perch at 11.5 inches
Second Place Al Michael, 2005 273 Grady named Tulanedock. 48.875 total inches
Third Place Mike Matheis, 2000 265 Express named Moondance, 46.875 total inches.
As always our events are never short of volunteers willing to pitch in and help out. Honorable mentions go out to Justin Lopriore and Jim Purdum for cooking the steaks. Once again they were fantastic! Also showing unbelievable servant leadership and dedication, Bill Jeancola gave his entire Saturday to shop and prepare the awards dinner. A special mention needs to go out the Bill Shaeffer and the entire Beaver Park Marina staff for the use of the facilities and the support of the club especially during these difficult times. As is the tradition, Bill donated all beverages and also gave merchandise that was used for door prizes. Lets remember this dedication and support as we look to service and maintain our vessels (also a new boat purchase here and there would not hurt either).
Thanks to all for the great sportsmanship and camaraderie that this club has a reputation for. We do this for fun and of course the bragging rights. Justin will once again have his name engraved on our champions plaque (this is the third time). We need to do something about this. Come everyone , practice. Attached is the group photo.
Stay tuned for next years events.
Mike Manion
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