Redbone Celebrity Tournament Series
Redbone ~ Celebrating the Adventurous Lifestyle

2014 Lower Niagara Sport Fishing Challenge Awards


By Bill Hilts, Jr.

The Cystic Fibrosis Foundation held its annual Lower Niagara Sport Fishing Challenge out of Lewiston, New York on Sept. 10-11, 2014 and in the end it was Fred Saia of Amherst, NY who was crowned as the Grand Champion Individual Angler and his team, Kenworth Northeast, Inc., honored as the Grand Champion Team at the Awards Ceremony held by Event Chairman Gary Hall at his WTS, Inc. grounds in Lewiston overlooking the mighty river. The big winner was CF as more than $183,000 was raised by the participants through the fishing tournament and the annual dinner.

"I am honored and proud to be part of this spectacular event," said Hall. "We are now the second largest fundraiser in the Red Bone Tournament Series, second only to the event in Puerto Vallarta in Mexico. Our goal is to be number one!"

Hall also pointed out: "What a difference a day makes!" The fishing on Wednesday afternoon was outstanding for bass in both the river and the lake. Some anglers headed to Lake Ontario to try for salmon. Others ran to Devil's Hole in the Niagara Gorge. As the saying goes, you have to make hay when the sun shines and after a front came through Wednesday night that carried into Thursday, someone shut the fishing switch off. Hard winds and a cold front contributed to some difficult angling conditions. Still, some decent fish were caught by those who braved the wind and cold.

While a couple of teams had larger point totals in the end by focusing strictly on bass, this event is all about diversity. To qualify for the big trophies you needed species diversity in your catch. That's what Kenworth Northeast, Inc. put together for the two day event. The team of Saia, Nick Manguso of Amherst and Mark Schlueter, Jr. of Buffalo put together 1,460 points by catching bass, trout and salmon with Capt. Vince Pierleoni of Newfane. Out in the lake, they tried to fish the Niagara Bar drop off on Wednesday before the winds blew in, but had no success. Pierleoni then went out to 300 feet of water and ran some Dreamweaver spoons to take some nice salmon and trout and score both points and species diversity. On the second day they fought the winds in the river off Youngstown to take all of their bass and the eventual title. Saia earned the individual title with a score of 810 points.

Runner-up Grand Champion Team was Amstar WNY led by John Lignos of Orchard Park and Joe Elmer of Kenmore, NY - catching walleye, bass and salmon. They were fishing with Capt. Jeff Draper of Grand Island and scored 1,250 points. Runner-up Grand Champion Individual was Mark Gonas of North Tonawanda, NY fishing with Capt. Matt Yablonsky of Youngstown, NY. They represented Washington Mills. Some of the special awards that were recognized were: Sergio Cardoso of Sewell, New Jersey caught the largest cold water fish, a 38 inch salmon while fishing with Capt. Jim Gordon of Appleton. Largest warm water catch was a 26.5 inch walleye reeled in by Stan Swogier, Jr. of Sanborn, NY while fishing with Capt. Ernie Calandrelli of Lewiston. Most Outstanding Catch for the tournament was a 39 inch tiger musky reeled in by Justin Tedesco of Lewiston while fishing with Capt. Ted Kessler of Grand Island, NY.

In a side battle of angling superiority, Sevenson Environmental Team 1 led by Jim Pazderski, Mike Elia and Michael Elia managed to catch both salmon and bass and earn some extra bonus points to nip Sevenson Team 2 (Bill McDermott, Larry Higley and Gary Rose) by a score of 500 to 400. Team No. 2 managed to only catch trout. It's all about bragging rights … and helping a most worthy cause.

Gary Ellis, who flew in from Key West, Florida to be part of the event, praised the local committee and the participants for helping CF to live up to its name - adding tomorrows by raising money to help fight this disease. Job well done!