Grant Smith of Bradford, Pennsylvania, took a strong fifth place with a 63-pound, 11-ounce total.

Western New York local favorite, Craig Sleeman of Fairport, New York, also shined in Dunkirk when he posted 32 pounds, 12 ounces on Day 1 and landed in 11th place.

Additionally, local New York and Pennsylvania anglers including Dylan Nussbaum of St. Marys, Pennsylvania, Charlie Klaus of New York, Shawn Disney of Bradford, Pennsylvania, Tom Slawatyki of Elma, New York, and Ron Kozub of Hamburg, New York, all were actively engaged, though finishing further back on Day 1 in Dunkirk.

The NWT Championship will run today through Saturday, at Bay of Green Bay, Marinette, Wisconsin. Specifically, the venue is in Menekaunee Harbor, on Ogden Street in Marinette. The championship will host the top 40 walleye anglers, who will compete over three days at this prestigious championship event. The competition will be fierce, with anglers vying for the top spot based on their cumulative performance over the three days. To reach the finals, a field of well over 100 anglers needed to accumulate points to finish in the top 40 places among the entire field of pro anglers. The 2025 NWT season was structured with walleye competitions on April 24-25 on Lake Sharpe, in Pierre, South Dakota; then May 22-23 on the Mississippi River in La Crosse, Wisconsin; then July 10-11 on Lake Huron in Alpena, Michigan; and finally, here in Dunkirk on Aug. 7-8, on Lake Erie.

Choosing the right lure and right color for catching Lake Erie walleye from the Chautauqua County shoreline has never been as easy as it has been this year. Photo courtesy of Forrest Fisher

Surprisingly, the winning angler tactics in Dunkirk were refreshingly simple — a jig and crawler proved to be the most successful fish-catcher. The key to the jig-worm rig was accurate search tactics to find walleye-pod locations using Forward-Facing-Sonar. For some anglers, the casting or trolling lure variety included jigging or casting stickbaits, spoons and spinner rigs. The strategic takeaway for any tournament is to be consistent. That’s the key to winning longer events like this championship. Adapting to initial conditions makes a big difference right from the start, and some luck is required on that note.

One of the youngest winning NWT tour anglers is Dylan Nussbaum. He is one of the leading contenders for the 2025 National Walleye Tour Angler of the Year. Taught by his dad, Dylan’s aggressive, high-tech fishing style continues to pay off with top-tier results across the varied waterway venues as mentioned earlier. After the first two events (Lake Sharpe and Mississippi River), Dylan was leading in the Angler-of-the-Year standings with 391 points, reflecting consistent performance: a third-place finish on the Mississippi and an eighth at Lake Sharpe. For those, he earned $16,825 in prize money and picked up an extra $5,000 in Nitro Rewards contingency bonuses. Nussbaum’s aggressive, electronics-driven approach, combined with precision artificial lure work, gives him an edge in adapting to shifting fish behavior and water conditions. Hailing from his nearby hometown of St. Marys in northeast Pennsylvania, Nussbaum has acquired so many skills since 2018. Notably, he became the youngest pro angler ever to win a NWT event at the age of 20, taking first place in 2018. He embraces a “power-fishing” style, aggressively covering water, using advanced FFS electronics in a “video-game” style to intercept walleyes, and favoring artificial baits like Z-Man ElaZtech swimbaits and ChatterBait bladed jigs.

While Hoisington has captured the eyes of the walleye angler nation after his impressive win in Dunkirk, Nussbaum is more than a sleeper for the championship title. So are Sleeman and other walleye experts from the local walleye scene. Each of these anglers has their own unique strengths and achievements, and they are all worthy contenders for the championship title. The chance to win a Nitro ZV21 boat package and big cash is an incentive for the top 40 pro walleye anglers in the Championship. They are all chasing the season title.

The NWT provides live-streamed weigh-in events and real-time leaderboard updates via their official site (https://outdoorteamworks.com/trail/nwt/) under the “Live Stream” and “Live Leaderboard” sections. If you want to tune in, visit the NWT website during the tournament days that start today to catch the action as it happens. To stay even more connected, follow NWT on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube, where frequent updates are posted on the fly. This accessibility ensures that we can all be part of the excitement, no matter where we happen to be.

Gotta love the outdoors.

CALENDAR

Sept. 4: 3-D Archery, West Falls Conservation, 55 Bridge St., West Falls, 4 p.m. start, 15-target hillside course. Kitchen open. Indoor/outdoor practice ranges. Mike Cummings, 716-652-4650. Ends Sept. 25.

Sept. 7: NYS Hunter Education, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., no charge, West Falls Conservation, 55 Bridge St., West Falls; Visit: https://dec.ny.gov.

Sept. 10: 3-D Archery, Evans Rod/Gun, 864 Cain Road, Angola; 4 p.m. to dark, 15-target course, Kitchen open, Jerome Gorski, 716-398-3008. Ends Sept. 24.

Sept. 13: New York Musky, Chautauqua Lake Big Baller Musky Tourney, Casting Only. No FFS. 585-287-7578.

Sept. 13: WNY Walleye Association; 1st Responders/Veterans Day of Fishing, Lake Erie; Reserve your spot. Rick Malik: 716-548-8219 or Steve Haak: 716-225-0229.

Sept. 13-21: NYS special early antlerless deer season in designated WMUs. For DMP and DMAP tags only. See syllabus.