Here’s the ‘Full Scoop’ on how the top-finishing pros at the last National Walleye Tour event on Lake Erie (out of Dunkirk, NY) caught 'em better than the rest. 🎯 Little details and specifics you won’t find anywhere else – big thx to our friend Brett Carlson for helping to track 'em down. Now, here we go!

In 2022, when John Hoyer won the National Walleye Tour Championship on Lake Erie by ripping swimbaits through eelgrass, it was an eye-opening and unconventional development. Last April, when Hoyer again claimed a Lake Erie trophy by casting, this time on the famed Western Basin in relentless winds, it was stunning. In 2025, casting is now the expected winning technique, even on Erie, but the latest victor wasn’t supposed to be an NWT newcomer.

David Hoisington, a 37-yr-old rookie, is fishing his first NWT season with fellow Pennsylvania pro Andy Travis. While the two occasionally fun fish and fill up the freezer with Erie’s plentiful walleyes, Hoisington has never tournament fished the Walleye Capital of the World.

> David: “I really enjoy Lake Erie, and right now, it’s absolutely full of walleyes, but it’s not my home tournament water,” said the Warren, PA pro. “Generally when I fish Erie I go to Barcelona, but on Thursday, the week before the tournament, the lake completely turned over, and it was a ghost town. Whatever advantage I had, I completely lost.”

Hoisington, an entrepreneur who owns several roofing and gutter businesses, then ventured east to Buffalo, near the U.S. - Canadian line. 

> “I was catching a few fish, but it was rough. Overall, I was just disappointed and bummed. I’m driving along and all of a sudden my screen was loaded with bait. At first I thought something was wrong with my graph. I marked it, even though I didn’t really see any walleyes in that bait.”

Practice continued down an uneventful path until Tuesday, when he reconnected with the bait pod.  

> “I was driving 38 mph and all of a sudden my screen lit up again in the exact same spot. I put my ActiveTarget down and finally looked around. I called Andy (Travis) and before I even made a cast, we talked about having the spot.”

Hoisington’s first cast was a 7.7-lber. Fish No. 2 was nearly a 7-lber, and his third cast resulted in a solid 5-lber. At that point, it was time to lay off.

> “From there, I tried to find another big bait ball, but it didn’t happen. I checked it again Wednesday, and it was maybe half as much bait, but the walleyes were still there. I knew that was where I was going, but I was worried it was getting worse.”

With his motor bogging down, Hoisington traveled 24 miles northeast the first morning of the tournament, settling approximately 3 miles south of the elbow on the Canadian line.

> “At first, I panicked because I couldn’t see my jig, but it was just that my transducer had come loose. Once I got it straightened, I got dialed in fast. I set the hook on my first bite as hard as I could, and that thing didn’t hardly move. We weighed it, and it said 8.1 lbs, and my scale was running light all week.”

Hoisington then proceeded to catch a 6.7-lber. Soon after, he broke off a good fish. 

> “I stayed on that fish even after breaking off. Eventually I caught it again, and the jig was still in its mouth. We got away with a mistake. At that point, we knew it was going to be our day. That fish was over 7 lbs.”

At 12:30, Hoisington figured he had 34 or 35 lbs. He mentally decided he had to leave at 1 pm with the motor problems in the back of his mind. 

> “Then I saw another big mark. I was working it, but it wasn’t going. I tried different angles and different distances, but it wouldn't go. I threw out a #9 Jigging Rap – popping it harder than I normally would. I got it fired up, and it started chasing, but it still wouldn’t hit. I went back to the jig and dropped it right down to its nose. It turned straight up and grabbed it. It was 29.5” and weighed 7.99 on my scale.”

On day 2, Hoisington’s outboard was running better after a fuel filter replacement, but still not quite right. The conditions were blustery, and when he arrived in his area, there was even less bait. 

> “Everything was more difficult, but I just had the mentality of staying positive and having fun. My first fish was a 6.5-lber, and a half hour later I caught another 6.5-lber.”

In this no-cull event, anglers could keep 8 and weigh their best 5 fish. 

> “Then I caught and threw back a 5.4 and a 5.6. Then I caught another 6.5-lber, so I had three. Then the bite died. I eventually caught another 5-lber, and I boxed it. At 1 pm I boxed a 4.9, and I’m glad I did because those were the only five I caught. From then on, I could only find 3-lbers. I really thought I left the door open with only 28 or 29 pounds.”

When he went to bag his fish, Hoisington thought they looked bigger. When the scale officially read 32 lbs, 2 oz, he thought, “You’ve got to be kidding me.”

All 10 of his weigh fish came on a Widow Maker tungsten jig with a full nightcrawler. On day 1, he used a 3/4-oz jig, and on day 2 he up-sized to the 1-oz. His main line was 8-lb Sufix Revolve (lime) with a 12-lb Seaguar InvizX fluorocarbon leader. His rods were 6’ 8” and 7’ 3” St. Croix Legends (Tournament Walleye) with medium power and extra-fast action. For reels, he used size-30 Abu Garcia Revo Rockets.

> “I think the key to winning this tournament was fishing with patience. I would sit there and examine this 6- or 7-lber to make sure it was the fish I wanted to cast at. I don’t know how many times I looked at a 5 and moved on. I think it’s just me knowing what these fish look like on ActiveTarget. I wasn’t going 100 mph, I was making big, sweeping circles in the area. I was imitating how these big fish moved and behaved.”

His cadence likewise followed suit. Hoisington would cast either 5’ behind the fish or right on its head. 

> “All I’m doing is leaving that worm right in front of his head. There’s no snapping. If it won’t eat it, it’s just a very slow reel with barely any pops. I was just trying to keep that worm right in front of its face so it gets the scent.”

While the water was 60’ deep, the fish were suspended below the bait, which he believed was emerald shiners. Most of his bites came 60’ to 80’ from the boat.

> “The bait was loaded from 10’ down to 30’. I’ve never seen more bait on Erie. The big walleyes were down near the thermocline between 40’ and 50’. I had to get down on them quickly.“

After a remarkable 37-lb bag on day 2, Hoisington finished the 2-day event with 69 lbs 2 oz. In what was predicted to be a razor tight tournament, his margin of victory was over 2 lbs.

> “I’ve been so blessed in my life, but this, by far, is the best. A win, especially after what happened to Barcelona, wasn’t even on my radar. That it happened in Dunkirk where my friends and family could attend is just amazing. I can’t accurately describe it. I would honestly take an NWT title over winning the lottery. My boat can sink, my house can burn down, but you can’t take this memory from me. It just means so much to me.”

Duane ‘Dewey’ Hjelm continues to put together one of the most consistent and remarkable seasons in NWT history. As he headed east to Lake Erie, he didn’t even bring trolling gear on what has long been known as the best trolling fishery in the country. 

> “You want to put the most fish in the boat, go ahead and troll,” said the 2022 AOY. “But if you want to catch the 5 biggest fish, you don’t make a cast unless you know it’s a big fish. All the advancements in forward-facing sonar eliminate the guesswork.”

When Hjelm started poking around in Erie’s 30-40’ range, he found an abundance of sheepshead. When he went deeper, he right away started seeing walleyes.

> “That first night of practice I caught a 32-incher. That fish was actually sitting in a cloud of smelt on the bottom. From there on, I just drove around and tried to identify where the smelt was. By midweek we eventually figured that out. From there, we knew the big walleyes were just going to be around that general area.”

That general area was 15 miles northeast of Dunkirk.

> “The fish were swimming to the east. The more productive deeper water was 60-80’. Where they positioned depended on the thermocline. Sometimes it was 40’, and sometimes it was 70’. The best zone was typically 30’ to 50’ down. The smelt are sitting below the thermocline, and the walleyes are sitting at or above it. When they want to feed, they go down into the smelt, and then come right back up.”

When the tournament started, Hjelm went to work with a VMC RedLine Series Tungsten Swimbait Jig and a 3.5” Rapala CrushCity Mooch Minnow in the “ghost morning dawn” color:

> “My No. 1 bait was the Mooch Minnow. Ghost Morning Dawn is a pinkish white color that I had so much confidence in this week. At times, I literally felt like I could catch every fish I graphed. If they rejected the Mooch more than 2 or 3 times, I would follow up with the same jig and a crawler. But over 70% of my fish came from the Mooch Minnow.”

Hjelm used both the 1/2- and 3/4-oz jigs with a 3/0 hook, with the heavier jigs coming in handy as the wind increased. He also had a #9 Rapala Jigging Rap tied on just in case.

For rods, he used the 6’ 9”, medium power, fast action 13 Fishing Myth with the Mooch Minnow. With the crawler, he used the 7’ 1” Myth, also with medium power and fast action. His spinning reels were also from 13 Fishing. For line, he used 10-lb Sufix Revolve (lime), with a 6-foot, 12-lb Sufix Advance Fluorocarbon leader.

> “With the Mooch Minnow, you can be so much more efficient casting to moving targets. It’s hard to do that with a crawler. Oftentimes, there were groups of 5 to 10 walleyes. The little ones were the most aggressive. At times, I would just not set the hook and let them spit the bait out and eventually the bigger ones would get it.”

Hjelm described the bite as much more power-fishing based as opposed to the previous finesse event in Alpena.

> “These things were not boat shy, but I would still cast 70’ to 80’ away, just because of how fast the current moves west to east. It just gave my bait enough time to get down to them. From there, I’m always moving that bait. It’s a game of take away. They locked in on that thing from so far, then I would give it a roll or pop with short twitches. To say that this bite was insane is an understatement. It was the funnest bite I’ve ever experienced.”

Coming into the event, Hjelm planned to keep his first 5 walleyes that were 5.8 lbs or larger. On day 2, he caught a 9-lber that anchored his 33-lb 14-oz day and launched him from 6th to 2nd. His official weight was 66 lbs 12 oz.

> “In this one, I was honestly okay taking 2nd. To get beat by pounds instead of ounces, it’s not as painful. I felt like I fished the perfect tournament. David had a crazy couple of days. How do you beat 37 lbs?”

Hjelm will head to Green Bay for the year-end championship with a 23-point advantage in the AOY race.

> “I have a decent lead, but Kevin (McQuoid) and Austin (Tomasek) are right there if I slip up. I still have to go to Green Bay and catch them.”

Btw I also want to give big props to Dewey on always taking the time to make a kiddo's day. 🙌

Brandon Witkowski, the 31-yr-old fishing his first full NWT season, took 3rd place with a 2-day weight of 64 lbs 5 oz. Not only did Witkowski notch his first tour-level top-10, he also qualified for the year-end championship.

> “I got there a week before the tournament,” said the Saginaw, MI pro. “I started out in the Buffalo area near the mouth of the Niagara River, but it was inconsistent and full of sheepshead. So Austin and I slid back. We ended up fishing 15 miles northeast of Dunkirk.”

Witkowski described the area as a huge, structureless basin. The benefit was that the fish were holding tight because of bait – smelt towards the bottom and baby perch higher up.

> “We were fishing 70’ to 90’ of water. 90% of the fish were between 45’ to 50’, right where the thermocline was. Every once in a while we would see one in 10’ to 30’. They were easier to catch, but generally not as big. With those deep ones, we would instantly fizz them. We had a ton of ice in the livewell, and we used G-Juice and were pumping in water the whole time.”

Witkowski’s presentation was about as simple as possible, which was by design.

> “I strictly ran a 1-oz Berkley Fusion19 Swimbait Jig with a 4/0 hook. My bait was a 4” Z-Man Scented JerkShadZ in smelt color. You could have caught them on just about anything, but the hook-up ratio was great, which made it more efficient. And the plastic is so durable...I think I used one bait each day.”

His jigs were tied to an 8-foot, 15-lb leader of Trilene 100% Fluorocarbon. His main line was 10-lb Sufix 832 in high-vis green. His line was spooled to 2000 series Lews Custom Pro spinning reels. For rods, he opted for Elite Rods Black Series. His model of choice was the 7’ 1” with medium-light power and extra-fast action.

> “I would cast 10’ or 15’ beyond them while they were 60’ from the boat. Most of the time they would see it while it was falling. Once they were engaged and swimming at it, then I would immediately reel away, like I was playing keep away. They would then swim faster and go right to it. Sometimes I would give it a quick pop, but it was mostly a good, steady reel. I describe it as a lake-trout bite.”

Congrats man! Earned it. 💥 #hardware

National Professional Anglers Assoc.

MN-FISH

Target Walleye LLC

422 Laurel Street

P.O. BOX 541

Brainerd, MN 56401

 (218) 824 5026