CONNEAUT LAKE —
CONNEAUT LAKE — Chuck Papinchak of Cochranton didn’t care that it was only 25 degrees on Conneaut Lake and he hadn’t caught a fish for hours.
He’d already landed a whopper earlier in the morning — a 47-inch muskellunge that weighed 30 pounds — during Saturday’s one-day ice fishing tournament on Conneaut Lake.
“It’s a beautiful day — you just can’t beat it,” veteran fisherman Papinchak said of why he still was out fishing. His lunker muskie was caught about 7:15 a.m. — 15 minutes into the tournament.
While many others may have stopped fishing and bragged about such a large catch, Papinchak didn’t. He kept a watchful eye on the fishing line he was bobbing up and down through a 12-inch-deep hole in the ice as he answered questions.
“I’m after a 50-incher,” he said with sly grin.
Papinchak’s fish was big, but it was nosed out of first place in the muskie category by a half-inch in Saturday’s tournament run by VanTassel’s Timberland Bait Shop.
“If I didn’t already have two or three on the wall (at home) I might have been tempted to keep it,” Papinchak said of his big catch. He has a history catching good-sized muskies in tournaments.
In 2010’s two-day ice fishing tournament on Canadohta Lake, he landed a 49-inch, 33 1/2-pound muskie, and helped friend Gordon Coon haul in a 46-inch, 28-pound muskie in Canadohta’s 2009 tournament.
Papinchak was quick to point out he had help Saturday morning in landing his big muskie from fishing buddies Rob Wasser of Warren, Ohio, and Gerald Smith of Harmonsburg.
Wasser used a gaff to help pull the muskie up through the hole in the ice, but not without incident that resulted in some bloodshed for him. Wasser’s his right thumb got caught on one of the muskie’s razor-sharp teeth as he attempted to remove the hook from its mouth and run a stringer through the hole made by the hook.
“It was a team effort, but my DNA is all over the different parts of the ice,” he said with a laugh.
Papinchak’s muskie later was measured by tournament director Jerry VanTassel and then released back into the cold depths of the lake.
VanTassel was extremely pleased with Saturday’s turnout for the one-day tournament — getting 186 fishermen.
“I thought if I got 125 to 150 I’d be happy since this is the first year,” he said. “We were lucky with the weather being good for ice fishing.”
Fishermen like Papinchak, Wasser, Smith and VanTassel say catch-and-release is very important aspect of fishing — especially for the larger species like muskellunge and northern pike.
“They don’t have a chance to grow big if they don’t go back in,” Papinchak said.
Keith Gushard can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at kgushard@meadvilletribune.com.
A two-day ice fishing tournament is scheduled on Canadohta Lake Feb. 19 and 20.
-More information: Call VanTassel’s Timberland Bait Shop (814) 694-3474 or visit timberlandbait.com.
Winners
Winners in Saturday’s one-day ice fishing tournament on Conneaut Lake were:
Muskellunge — Terry Miller of Union City, 47 1/2 inches, 25 1/2 pounds, $500 prize.
Northern Pike — Travis Dieter of Fairview, 36 1/4 inches, 11 pounds 12 ounces, $325 prize.
Walleye — None.
Perch — Aaron Shilling of Harmonsburg, 12 1/2 inches, 1 pound, $50 prize.
Crappie — Jason Archer of Titusville, 8 inches, $50 prize.
Crappie — Jason Archer
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