CLEVELAND, Ohio -- With two days left in the 2019 Lake Erie Walleye Fall Brawl, James Atkinson caught the biggest fish in -- and won a $100,000 Warrior boat.
This was the 30-year-old Streetsboro resident’s first attempt in the Brawl, an annual fishing derby with more than 8,000 anglers. He grew up in Slavic Village fishing inland lakes and only attempted Lake Erie this last year.
But he was fishing on Black Friday morning, about 1.5 miles off the East 72nd Street Marina in Cleveland. A north wind was blowing, and the chop was hitting his 18-foot boat as he and his friend Matt Bunch trolled. For 45 minutes, they didn’t catch a thing.
Then he hooked a 12.395-pound, 31.5-inch beast on a lure he painted himself two days before.
“I soon as I started reeling I could tell, without even seeing it, that it was something huge,” Atkinson said in a phone interview Thursday. “Then it finally broke the surface. I had a big net. And it was bigger than the net.”
Bunch netted the walleye, and they drove as quickly as they could to Erie Outfitters, to weigh the fish for the Fall Brawl.
“Never in our wildest dream did we think it was the top 5. We knew it would be top 10,” Atkinson said. “I walked in, they lost their minds.”
The Brawl began 2010, with 50 guys who threw a couple bucks in a pot. Now the massive endeavor, which ran Oct. 18 through Dec. 1, has dozens of sponsors, events and a food drive. There’s a kids division, a scholarship contest and all sorts of bonus prizes from sponsors. And the event expects to raise $5,000-$7,000 to donate to police organizations.
The premise is simple. Pay $30 to register in the Brawl and fish any time in the Ohio waters of Lake Erie -- off the shore or a boat -- during the contest. Bring any walleye you catch to Erie Outfitters in Sheffield Lake to weigh. The biggest fish wins.
Last year, Clarence Mitchell Jr. won the Fall Brawl, hooking a 13.7-pound tank, with a pink and purple Bandit lure, near the Cleveland Water intake crib. In 2017, the winner was a 14.97-pounder near the East 72nd Street Marina.
The event creates draws visitors from around the country and creates camaraderie for anglers who brave the cold, hoping to catch the big winner.
There was an outpouring of support for Earnest James, a Clevelander competing in the Brawl, who drowned while fishing Lake Erie last month.
Friends and family crowded into Lake Erie Outfitters on the last night of the Brawl, posing for photos with their fish. Owner Craig Lewis pulled a 28-hour shift and served food all night.
“It was nice,” Lewis said. “They will probably show up on some Christmas cards. People are really into it.”
One reason, of course, is in hopes of snagging one of two boats: the tricked-out Warrior V208,powered by an Evinrude 300HP G2 motor, atop a custom EZ Loader trailer, and a 2019 HewesCraft 210 Sea Runner, worth about $75,000, for second place.
Both come ready to fish, down to the rods.
David Troyer with a 12.09-pound walleye, won the Hewescraft.
The winner of the kids division receives $500, second place $400, and so on.
The Brawl will host an awards dinner, with a food drive, on Friday. But anglers are already talking about next year. Lewis is hoping for 10,000 participants.
For more Lake Erie news, follow RocktheLake on Facebook.
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