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Wounded Heroe's fishing report

2.3K views 27 replies 20 participants last post by  thegrump1  
#1 ·
I had the pleasure of volunteering to take out the Heroe's for the fifth year in a row. The soldier assigned to my boat had been through hell and back and continues to deal with "issues". We took advantage of the flat lake on Thursday and ran to the weather buoy. We managed ten walleyes with 8 of the ten over 5 pounds. 3 oz back 50-75 was the ticket for us. Mostly plain gold hammered colorado's at about 1.5-1.7.

Friday was a blow day but Saturday turned out to be a great day weather wise. We ran back out to the buoy. It was a parking lot so I stayed off a ways from the pack. We ran the same program with 3 oz and managed 7 walleyes, with 6 going over 5 pounds and the biggest was 8 pounds. Never really had any nice hooks/marks either day. It was like the fish just came outta nowhere. It sounded like a slow pick and we were grateful for the fish we got.

My guy had a blast as he's never caught a walleye before, The Kentucky Wounded Heroe's is a great bunch of guys and gals and I salute them as well as the other captain's that volunteered their time.

http://www.kentuckywoundedheroes.net/

http://www.walleyesforwoundedheroes.com/
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#2 ·
Good job Mike! We left after boxing 3 nice fish plus 3 shorts. We also dropped 3 that were solid pullbacks....my guy had never seen a walleye before either and was pretty excited to the extent that he thought it was a race to get them to the boat! We ran south and fished some marks between there and the Huron dump, Cedar point dump, and Kellys Shoal and never got another keeper. Great time, awesome people, and they are so kind and grateful. The highlights for me were when Chris got a 31" fish, and when I got to meet and talk with Ernest West, a Korean war vet and Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. Google his name and read his story....you will be amazed. Love all those guys and am truly grateful for their service!
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#8 ·
The guy's stay at Ted's Cottages, at least this year and last. Most of the volunteer captains that have trailerable boats launch at Mazurick's. Some Captains are actual charter captains and the heroes assigned to them are dropped off at their respective marinas.

The date is always around the last weekend in June. Bookmark the links I provided for more info.
 
#6 ·
Mike, great job and way to take advantage of the weather on Thursday too. I'm sure the soldier assigned to you is happy it worked out that way. Special thanks to you and all the other volunteers for your efforts and to those servicemen and women who sacrifice so much for us and their Country.
 
#11 ·
Great job Captains! I love to see stories about other giving back to those who served. Glad to see it happening right here close to home.

I'm an OIF x3 vet myself, 8 years USMC infantry. I hope to be confident enough in my fish catching ability to take out some vets in the upcoming years.
 
#13 ·
I was in the cabin with Ernie and thanks should go to Bobby who brought him. He has a big heart and went above and beyond to make it happen. Ernie was a character I enjoyed his sense of humor.

Ferd, Joe and their staff did a great job organizing everything for over 100 vets and many volunteers spending days at the lake. We had 2 great days of fishing and even with Friday being called off the vets had a great time on put in bay and they all had pics to prove it. They also made arrangements for some to bow fish and the back bays didn't disappoint them with a fish oh carp killed and even 2 fish killed with one shot. I think pittsburgh mike's boat still has carp slim dripping out.
 
#14 ·
This was my first time doing the Lake Erie Wounded Warriors event. My first mate Syclone and I were blest with the company of Rick. We started out by the buoy and took two within the first 20 minutes, then it slowed down...a lot! Next pass was a couple farm animals and we probably worked the area too long. Decided to move towards the NE side of Kelly's which before I got where I was headed I marked a school and set up. Ended up picking 4 more up for a total of 6. Had a great time and cannot wait to do it again!
 
#15 ·
The carp slime is now gone from my boat, but more importantly, my hero was happy. He didn't think anyone would take him bowfishing....I said it was his day and if that's what he wanted, we'll go. After an hour and a half in the harbor, he shot 6 fish. A 10 lb common carp, 2 gold fish with 1 shot, and several other variety of carp that I do not know anything about. But, I can report the carp are in the bay and were taken with a 60 lb PSE at about 15 yards. He then said let's go do your type of fishing.

Given the limited amount of time we had left, a trip to the bouy was out of the question....so we trolled the east side of Kelly's on some marks I found the day before. Sure enough we boated 3 eyes on bandits and DDHJ's 75 back unassisted. One was a fish O. My hero was happy, and I was happy being part of it.. Bottom line, he got 2 FO's in the same day. He didn't make me want to take up bow fishing for carp though

This is a great event and I would encourage anyone able to participate to do so to the extent they can. These heroes took one for us....Literally. To participate they must be purple heart recipients or be an emergency responder (PD, FD, etc.) and have been injured in the line of duty. All we are doing is allowing them to join us in something we like to do for 3 days, not much of a give back considering what they've experienced.

Joe and Ferd run a first class event where everyone feels comfortable, and the community backs this event to the max. Magee East is a huge supporter with great food and I'm humbled to be a small part.
 
#17 ·
I only fished the event Saturday. Went to the buoy ran a spread of 2 reefs , 2 bandits, 2 dips with harnesess. Had 2 26"s within 15 minutes ( both on reefs). Then worked for a LONG time to get one little 20 incher on a dip. Everyone seemed to be going to American Eagle and the guys asked to go. As we were going east toward Kellys shoal the screen lit up ( remember there were no marks at the WB). I put all crawlers and 2 oz out. Started picking up some junk,perch, small ones, keepers ( wish we would of had more time to fish this spot). We ended with 6 keepers. Lynch did get his personal best 30 and 1/2.
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#20 ·
I wanna give a big shout out to Eric (MageeEast) for having his company cater the dinner for everyone on Wednesday evening. The food was OUTSTANDING! Brined/marinated walleye grilled over applewood fire was over the top! A plethora of palate pleasing side dishes were fantastic as well. Eric went to a LOT of trouble and expense and I thank him for all his hard work.
 
#24 · (Edited)
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Mike we are glad everyone enjoyed the meal. I bounced the idea off our innovation chef Jim Lombardi, who is an Air Force vet himself, about 5 months ago and we sat down and made a plan. He and his assistant would prepare all the sides the day before and "all" I had to do was come up with 125# of walleye fillets and a way to grill them over an open fire. And oh by the way.....the fish had to be scaled and skin on.

I started fishing early May and with the help of Denny Lantzy (who also volunteered as a captain), Kelly, and a couple other friends, I delivered 127# to Jim on June 17th. I bought a Bear Paw power scaler and it made cleaning the fish a lot easier! I also de-pinned the fillets so when Jim got them they were brine ready. He did a great job of preparing all the sides and coming up with a fantastic brine. My son and I designed and fabricated the stainless steel racks we cooked the fish on and used a home made fire pit that is an old section of tomato flume we already had here outside the old homestead.

The final touch was the cookies....we put out a company wide email to our employees asking for volunteers to bake cookies. Not sure if everyone saw the cookie table but they came through with 800 cookies!!! We brought brown lunch bags so each hero could take a bag full with them. Nice touch! I posted a picture of the Chef Jim and the crew that prepared and served the meal. Some are family, some are Hirzel Canning (Dei Fratelli) employees, and some are wonderful friends. Good work team!

It all came together and we are thrilled to have been able to do that for the group. Joe Stelzer and Ferd Lohman are tireless in their efforts for this event every year and deserve a ton of kudos! Great job by everyone and again, many thanks to all the veterans for their service to this great country!
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#22 ·
I stayed west with my guys. 2 on Thurs and the second guy got on the right bus Sat. A ton of small ones and 20 FO shitheads.

Sat. got set up around L and had good marks. Put 1 in the boat right away and another board fired.as it sank under water he said Damn he knew already. We got it to the boat and netted big ole sheephead. My buddy was running the net for me and as my hero was trying to remove the rattle tot it poked him in the finger. He reached to pull it out and the fish flopped again and drove it in deep.
After a trip to the hospital with him we got back at 1 and heard they got to stay to 3. Back out we headed. He got extended time because I was taking him back. We got him another 5 in that time.

He was in the AF like me and my Buddy that came down from Syracuse to first mate for me. We had a blast sharing stories. He plans on coming up with the family camping and we are getting together again when he does.

I told him he comes up for a wounded heros event and gets wounded and I'm sorry I didn't have a purple heart for that but did give him the purple fire tiger Tot he hooked himself with minus the other hook.

Thanks to Eric and Magee East for letting keep my boat there again. It was a blast to meet Erine funny guy. It made my year to meet a CMH winner like him

My guys love your walleye on the wall Eric. Their mouths were hanging open
 
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#25 ·
Eric,

Awesome effort by you and all involved to make memories for some very deserving folks! It's hard work, fun, and rewarding all at the same time to give back to those who haved served our great nation!

I hope to be more involved going forward, and challenge anyone who has not had the chance yet to give it a try.
 
#28 ·
I had the pleasure of volunteering to take out the Heroe's for the fifth year in a row. The soldier assigned to my boat had been through hell and back and continues to deal with "issues". We took advantage of the flat lake on Thursday and ran to the weather buoy. We managed ten walleyes with 8 of the ten over 5 pounds. 3 oz back 50-75 was the ticket for us. Mostly plain gold hammered colorado's at about 1.5-1.7.

Friday was a blow day but Saturday turned out to be a great day weather wise. We ran back out to the buoy. It was a parking lot so I stayed off a ways from the pack. We ran the same program with 3 oz and managed 7 walleyes, with 6 going over 5 pounds and the biggest was 8 pounds. Never really had any nice hooks/marks either day. It was like the fish just came outta nowhere. It sounded like a slow pick and we were grateful for the fish we got.

My guy had a blast as he's never caught a walleye before, The Kentucky Wounded Heroe's is a great bunch of guys and gals and I salute them as well as the other captain's that volunteered their time.

http://www.kentuckywoundedheroes.net/

http://www.walleyesforwoundedheroes.com/ View attachment 213311 View attachment 213312 View attachment 213311
This was the second year taking our heroes fishing for my brother and I and we will definitely be back next year. .It's always humbling to hear the vet's stories about their experiences on the battle field, how they were wounded and how they cope today. Most amazing to me is that I never heard one word of regret regarding their decision to join the military despite the difficulties many of them deal with every day. Hero just does not seem to be a big enough word to describe these special people.