Thrillseeker Does it Again; Spoonfed Wins a Second
Team Thrill Seeker on the left and Team Spoon Fed on the right The 2009 Niagara County winners!
For the Thrillseeker team, led by Capt. Vince Pierleoni of Newfane, winning tournaments on Lake Ontario has become somewhat of a tradition. In the 25 years that that Pro-Am tournaments have been held on the lake, this fishing elite squad has managed to capture 10 individual titles and six Challenge Cup wins. The kick-off to this year’s Lake Ontario Tournament Series was the 25th Annual Niagara County Skip Hartman Memorial Lake Ontario Pro-Am Salmon Team Tournament, held June 6-7 out of the ports of Wilson and Olcott. And when the smoke finally cleared in this milestone event, it was Thrillseeker achieving a milestone of their own – their 10th tournament win in the Pro-Am Series and sixth in Niagara. In the Amateur Division, it was Spoonfed/NK led by Glen Gervais of West Springfield, Massachusetts setting the pace, his second title in the series.
Pierleoni and company had their work cut out for them. Fishing with his brother Mark Pierleoni of Greece; Nick Glosser of Amherst; Chris Dexter of Florida and some clients from New Hampshire, the team only caught nine fish of a possible limit catch the first day, putting them in 12th place overall in the professional division. Their score of 163.74 points – based on 10 points per fish and a point per pound – was well behind first place leader Royal Flush/Shirley B from Massachusetts/Ohio with 208.27 points. But first place isn’t a good spot in this tournament after the first day.
Pierleoni was going after the big boys and he managed to find some bigger fish between Wilson and the Niagara River – king salmon. His only option was to come in with bigger fish … and lots of them. Many of the boats that had brought limit catches to the scales were smaller Coho salmon. That’s what the Royal Flush team did the second day, for a final score of 380.81. They were still the team to beat. However, defending champion Cold Steel/A-Tom-Mik/Fat Nancy’s from Pulaski came to the scales both days with limit catches and produced a two day total of 394.13 points. Destiny, a team lead by Eric Bickel of Burt and operating out of Olcott, did a few better with limit catches both days and a score of 398.82 points. Enter Thrillseeker, the most dominating fishing team on the lake. With 11 fish in the box, many of them bigger kings, they managed to collect a two day total of 402.05 and leapfrog into the lead and their tenth tournament win.
“This was a special one for me,” said Capt. Vince at the awards ceremony, “because this is the first win since my brother got his wheels. I love you brother!” His brother, Mark, has been confined to a wheelchair since an untimely accident several years ago. Mark was the driver of the boat during the tournament. They earned $9,000 in cash for their efforts.
In the Amateur Division, Spoonfed/NK was in second position to overtake the leader should they stumble – and that’s exactly what happened. Cable Cat, led by Steve Wiencek of Boswell, Pennsylvania, set the pace the first day with eight fish of a possible nine fish limit and a score of 126.48 points. Spoonfed had 121.51 points. The only other team with over 100 points was Reel Scream. On the second day of action, Spoonfed came in with their second straight limit to accumulate 255.48 points. Cable Cat could only muster up four fish to drop to ninth. Reel Scream, with Frank Schmidhamer of Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania, moved into the second slot with a score of 249.55 points.
New events were created as part of this year’s tournament weekend and one of the highlights was the Big Boys Shootout on Monday, pitting some of the top captains on the lake for a one day tournament based on a $1,000 entry fee. Thrillseeker was still on his big fish and came in with a respectable 219.37 points. However, Christ LoPresti of Spencerport managed to find some bigger fish and his team weighed in an impressive 251.37 points to win a check for $5,000. Thrillseeker earned $3,000; Vision Quest of Erie, Pennsylvania won third place and $2,000 with a total of 185.72 points.
2009 Niagara county Pro Division Top Ten
1st Thrillseeker
2nd Destiny
3rd ColdSteel
4th Royal Flush
5th Striker
6th Top Gun
7th 6 Brits and a Brat
8th U-Betcha
9th Sunrise II
10th Reel Excitement
2009 Niagara county Amateur Division Top Ten
1st Spoonfed
2nd Reel Scream
3rd Sand Bagger
4th Knot Home
5th O-Fish-L Business
6th Lucky Enuff
7th Strike Team
8th Liquid Plumber
9th Cable Cat
10th Wizzard
Niagara County
Newfane Business Association
P.O. Box 174
Newfane, NY 14108
877.FALLS.US
