Area saugeye fishermen are hooked on helping local family
Area fishermen brought in plenty of saugeye to Charm on Friday, May 31 as part of the annual Charm Merchant Saugeye Tournament. Teams went out to any of the 10 lakes in the Muskingum Watershed to try their luck and test their skills in landing the most or catching the largest saugeye.
“Did I ever tell you the story about the time I caught a fish this big?” said every angler ever, his or her hands spread wide, perhaps a tad or even two tads wider than the actual fish they caught.
Following the Charm Merchant Saugeye Tournament, now there will be an official photograph depicting the actual whoppers caught in one of the 10 Muskingum Watershed lakes for a contest designed to aid a local family facing medical expenses.
The annual event took place Friday, May 31, where participants could hit the lakes on their boats and throw out their lines, starting at 2 p.m. The only stipulation was they had to be back to Charm for the official weigh-in by 10 p.m. that night.
“Most of the boats had two or three people in them,” said Marty Hershberger, who headed up the event. “It’s just a fun time when fishermen can compete, but more importantly they can enjoy the camaraderie and fellowship while supporting a great cause.”
When the weigh-in was complete, Loren Miller had claimed the top prize with his 4.83-pound saugeye. There were plenty of others who were knocking on the door to that weight.
With a minimum of two fishermen per boat and as many as a team might want to squeeze in, participating teams could sign up at $30 a person and take a crack at reeling in the big saugeye that would snare them the top prize: a St. Croix Legend Tournament rod.
“We’ve been tweaking this event since it first started to try to make it better and better,” committee member Steve Yoder said. “We love the idea of giving area fishermen a chance to enjoy the competition and have a blast doing it.”
And do they tend to enhance their stories a bit when it comes to the one that got away?
“Oh, maybe a little bit,” Yoder said with a laugh. “Embellishing a story a little bit is a fisherman’s rite of passage.”
While the competition is part of the joy of the event, so too is having all of the anglers come back to Charm and talk about their experiences. As most people already know, those who fish do enjoy bragging up their catch of the day, and many stories were shared as participants gathered for the 10 p.m. weigh-in.
People actually began showing up at 9 p.m. in Charm for food including hamburgers, fries, homemade ice cream and drinks.
Hershberger said most of the competing fishermen aren’t the kind who want to catch and tell, so to speak. He said there is no bragging, just a lot of fish tales being told.
“This is a group of people who share a passion for fishing,” Hershberger said. “They love to come together and share stories and see how the others did. It is really a fun community-building event.”
According to Hershberger, the idea for the saugeye event came from Yoder. The idea was fairly simple: create a day of fishing in which people could form teams and visit any of the Muskingum Watershed lakes to catch as many saugeye as possible.
“I’ve actually seen tournament fundraisers like this that have been for walleye up on Lake Erie, so we kind of just adapted that format and incorporated that into what we needed for a saugeye tournament,” Hershberger said.
Hershberger said saugeye is the fish of choice because the hybrid of sauger and walleye is not easily caught, but it is a commonly sought-after fish in this area, and fishermen enjoy the challenge the fish provides.
“There are other tournaments around like this, but there really isn’t anything around here of this magnitude,” Hershberger said.
Close to 100 people gathered for the weigh-in and watched as they determined a winning team.
The funds raised from this year’s event went to the Reuben Keim family. Keim suffered a farming accident recently and is facing growing medical bills that include a Life Flight trip.
“It was exciting to see so many people showing this kind of care and support for others in our community,” Hershberger said. “What an incredible day of fishing and fun. We knew a lot of people around here love to fish in the Muskingum Watershed lakes, so we felt it was a fun way to not only encourage them to do so, but they supported a local family in need at the same time.”
While Miller’s catch was nice, it pales compared to last year’s winner, which weighed in at 6.03 pounds and measured 26 1/2 inches long.
Hershberger said for the contest they scored by weight and measured them out too because a lot of fishermen can relate to the length more than the weight.
The saugeye challenge was definitely a winning formula, and just like a true fisherman’s story, it continues to grow and grow.
“Everyone really looked forward to doing it again this year,” Hershberger said. “We’d love to see it grow into something even bigger.”
With area families in need being the ultimate winners of this contest, this fisherman’s tale will hopefully continue to grow larger each passing year.