Fishing magicians

June 13, 2017 at 12:00a.m.

Buzzer beaters aren’t usually associated with fishing, but Erick Williams and Sammy Cappelli come close.

With 10 minutes left of fishing time on Lake Erie, when the pair brought in the deciding 10-pound walleye to win the Cabella’s Walleye Federation Derby in Lorain. That fish and 14 others earned each angler a $75,000 boat and they get to split a $25,000 check.

“About a half hour before we caught that fish, [Cappelli] mentioned that this is the closest we were going to get. He gave me the remote and said ‘try and do something. Work your magic,’” Williams said. “We bump up the speed and five minutes later, we get the 10-pounder right in front of the camera boat.

“We were hooting and hollering and jumping around the boat like little kids,” Williams said. “We had a feeling that was a wrap.”

Cappelli is a Poland native who oversees maintenance and construction for seven prisons across the Ohio Department of Corrections.

Williams, of Hubbard, is a math professor at Cuyahoga Community College. They’ve been weekend warriors since 2008.

Cappelli drives the boat while Williams controls the speed. When Williams reels a fish, Cappelli is ready with the net. They’re the first Ohio men to win the Derby.

“We work everyday and we save our vacation time to fish in these tournaments,” Cappelli said.

The competition was decided by the combined weight — in cartilage — of 15 fish submitted by the end of the competition. Fisherman submit five fish each day and in Lorain, the top 25 weights move on to the final day after cutting down a field of 251 boats. They can catch as many fish as they want and throw them back until they find the right sized walleye.

Cappelli and Williams spent a week “pre-fishing” on Lake Erie to scout out the best spots.

“Lake Erie is a huge lake. There’s a lot of water out there. It’s not hard to find fish, but the big fish? It’s very hard,” Cappelli said. “We have probably $5,000 in electronics, fish finders and GPS on the boat. If we get a big fish, we save the waypoint in the GPS to fish in that spot.

“We knew from the pre-fishing that we would get about five good bites, so we stuck to our game and stayed in the same spot,” he said.

The pair keeps four lines in the water and trolls the water at about 2 mph while competing. With the exception of their last fish, the pair don’t celebrate a big haul so they don’t tip off the other anglers.

“Nobody owns the lake and if we know a spot, we know how to beat up that spot. Guys might see us fishing, but they don’t know what we’re catching,” Cappelli said. “If we get a big fish, we try to keep it low key.

“We don’t wave our net when we pick [the fish] up because the other anglers can see it. They see it, they’ll start coming to your spot.”

They caught 107 pounds and three ounces worth of Walleye this past weekend. Their winning total was 10 pounds heavier than the runner-up.

As for what will become of their newfound windfall, it will likely go back into their hobby. Both men said, they’ll likely trade in their current boats — each valued at around $40,000 — plus the boats they won for an even better fishing boat.

They’re keeping their day jobs — for now.

“I’m a realist. If that opportunity arises [to fish fulltime], then great, but right now I’m a weekend warrior that loves to fish,” Williams said. “I have a wife that is really accommodating with my passion, but who knows about the future?”