Syracuse.com - Oneida Lake Team Walleye Trail returns with two tournaments this year

[HuntingNY-News]

One is scheduled for June 9, the other is July 18. Winner teams are guaranteed $2,000 in each tournament -- and more if registrations exceed a certain limit.

Alicia Stevens is not your usual walleye fishing tournament director. She owns a hair replacement studio and doesn't fish that much.

But she does know marketing. It's that skill, coupled with her business savy, that resulted in the successful formation of the Oneida Lake Team Walleye Trail last year.

Last year's inaugural tournament on Oneida attracted 53, two-person teams. The winning team walked away with $3,100 in cash, with separate big fish prizes (first and second), earning $500 and $250, respectively. That's in addition to several dollars in equipment giveaways to anglers in "goodie bags," she said.

"I can't tell the number of thank you letters I got from anglers afterward," she said.

This year, she has two tournaments scheduled on Oneida Lake -- June 9 and July 14. Each competition will begin at 7 a.m. and end at 3 p.m., with the awards ceremony at Oneida Shores Park in Brewerton. Stevens said the word is spreading among anglers and she's already seeing registrations from Ohio, New Jersey, Connecticut and Canada.

Once again, the team entry fee is $150 and she's guaranteeing $2,000 for the winning team in each competition - more if registrations reach a certain level. Once again, Syracuse Realty is sponsoring the Big Fish Awards, giving away $500 and $250, respectively for the two biggest fish in each contest.

Stevens also said the donations from bait companies, lure makers and others continue to come in each day. She said each angler competing in the first tournament this year should get a "goodie bag" worth $30-$40 of fishing and boating equipment.

I'm getting so much stuff," she said. "Just the other day in the mail, I got a commitment for a bottle of fuel oil additive for every person fishing."

Stevens, owner of of Genesis II Hair Replacmeent Studio in North Syracuse, said she got into the competitive fishing game because her boyfriend, Karl Elsner, of West Monroe, who fishes the professional walleye tour and is constantly away from home. She said she got tired of hearing from him and his friends how great of a walleye fishery Oneida Lake was, but there were no big team tournaments there.

"I'm a marketing person. He's a fishing person," she said. "I told him, 'You let me do what I do, and I'll let you do what you do. Just go fish, honey.' "

For more information or to register for either tournament, see oneidawalleyes.com, or "Oneida Lake Team Walleye Trail" on Facebook. Contact Stevens by email at [email protected].

Stevens efforts have resulted in one more positive effect -- in her personal life.

"This past January, Karl and I got engaged," she said.

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog