June 13th to 21st, 2026

42nd Annual Walleye Derby Final Results

Southtowns Walleye Association of Western New York Inc. (STWA) held its 42nd Annual Walleye Derby from June 13th through June 21st 2026, on the waters of Lake Erie and the Upper Niagara River, with more than $100,000 in cash and prizes at stake, anglers throughout Western New York and multiple states participated in the nine day event in search of a walleye worthy of the top prize. 

 The Derby concluded with an awards picnic held at the STWA Clubhouse on June 28th at 12pm with over 250 people in attendance, the main prizes were awarded to the top 108 fish that weighed in after the nine day event. Top honors for the winners went to the following top adult and youth participants within each division. 

 Please find below all of our various winners from across the region that worked to earn top fish in this year's event. Thank you to everyone that participated and we hope to see all of you next year.

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2026 Derby Winners
TOP TEN - ADULT DIVISION

1st – Woodrow Rickard – 9.61 lbs. - $5,250
2nd – Corey Hughes – 9.29 lbs. - $3,375
3rd – Patrick Bohen – 9.29 lbs. - $1,875
4th – John Woelfle – 8.96 lbs. - $1,125
5th – Steve Haak – 8.94 lbs. - $1,050
6th – Timothy Hughes – 8.83 lbs. - $975
7th – Mark Schumer – 8.79 lbs. - $900
8th – Wayne Ochal – 8.74 lbs. - $825
9th – Richard Kacmarski – 8.62 lbs. - $750
10th – David Ristau - 8.56 lbs. - $750

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2026 Derby Winners
TOP TEN - YOUTH DIVISION

1st – Olivia Rizzo – 7.74 lbs.
2nd – Landon Smith – 7.51 lbs.
3rd – Wyatt Simonick – 6.88 lbs.
4th – Lucas Dusenbury – 6.88 lbs.
5th – William Egnatchik – 6.87 lbs.
6th – Riley Sturgeon – 6.64 lbs.
7th – Gabriella Rizzo – 6.58 lbs.
8th – Bentley Geedy – 6.48 lbs.
9th – Lexi Smith – 6.47 lbs.
10th – Michael Schaller – 6.31 lbs.

Congratulations to the Youth of STWA!

Each year our Annual Derby hosts kids from all over the WNY region to participate in the 9 day event. We want to thank all of the kids that came out this year to fish. We hope to see all of you next year!

Without the support of our members, parents and sponsors, our youth would not have these opportunities to compete. Thank you to everyone that took a kid fishing!

OFFICIAL RESULTS ADULT DIVISION

Place Name Weight Length
11 Jason Kenyon 8.48 30
12 Jeremiah Hughes 8.47 29.75
13 Brian Schumacher 8.37 29.25
14 John Pirowski 8.33 28.5
15 Michael Smith 8.10 28.75
16 Raymond Pauszek Ii 8.05 29
17 Bret Wolter 7.77 27
18 John Held 7.94 28
19 Timothy Stone 7.91 27
20 Robbin Wozniak 7.75 28.75
21 Roy Hrychowian 7.72 27.25
22 Thomas Hughes 7.66 29
23 Kara Simonick 7.66 28.38
24 Rob Ebersole 7.64 29
25 Michael Mcmahon 7.60 28.5
26 Roy Tesch 7.60 28.5
27 Edward Kowalski 7.59 28
28 Robert Seibert 7.56 29.25
29 Tom Siezckarek 7.54 29.88
30 Jesse Grover 7.54 27.75
31 Lori Borowiak 7.53 28
32 Lloyd Christian 7.52 28
33 Dennis Ball 7.44 26.38
34 Richard Baliva 7.42 28
35 Andy Goodberry 7.41 27.75
36 Dave Goodberry 7.40 27.75
37 Steven Ball 7.37 28.5
38 Travis Dickinson 7.36 28
39 Scott Wind 7.34 27.75
40 Joe Gioffre 7.26 27.75
41 Mike Pinelli 7.25 27
42 Dennis Packard 7.23 27.39
43 Justin Wekenmann 7.21 28.13
44 Mike Sutton 7.14 27.75
45 Jeremy Wilson 7.14 27.38
46 Carl Hubler 7.09 27.5
47 Michael Wolf 7.08 27.5
48 Bernie Turner 7.01 26
49 Charles Stone 7.00 28
50 Philip Hawver 7.00 28
51 Michael Russell 6.96 28
52 Mark Mohr 6.95 26
53 Brian Fitzgerald 6.94 27
54 Ryan Smith 6.94 27
55 Aidan Zgoda 6.92 27.25
56 Thomas Leman 6.91 27.5
57 David Roberts Iii 6.88 28
58 Thomas Miranda 6.88 27.5
59 Thomas Baxter 6.88 27
60 Brian Woronowski 6.87 27.75
61 Dennis Covell 6.87 27.25
62 David Kovacs 6.85 27
63 Christopher Fuerch 6.85 26.5
64 Sam Alvaro 6.84 26.5
65 Thomas Slawatycki 6.82 28
66 Matthew Smith 6.82 27
67 Robert Mueller 6.72 28.5
68 Nicholas Botzenhart 6.72 26.75
69 David Osypian 6.71 27.5
70 Anthony Prinzbach 6.71 26.25
71 Kevin Rydzynski 6.68 28
72 Richard Reszel 3Rd 6.67 27.25
73 James Skoczylas 6.63 27.25
74 Ray Stearns 6.59 26
75 Richard Becken Jr 6.58 26.5
76 Stephen Arnold 6.57 26.88
77 Cindy Ciszkowski 6.51 28.25
78 Gordon Anderson 6.5 26
79 Damon Delmont 6.48 28.75
80 Joseph Cosenza 6.45 27
81 David Parker 6.43 27.25
82 James Kuwik 6.42 27.5
83 Jason Orsi 6.41 27
84 Billy Defazio 6.40 28
85 William Lockwood 6.40 27
86 Cristina Higgins 6.39 27.75
87 Lisa Neuman 6.36 27
88 Robert Leighton Iii 6.36 26.88
89 Karen Chapman 6.34 28.5
90 Gary Wolf 6.34 27.75
91 Laverne Anderson 6.33 26.25
92 Gregory Illenz 6.32 27.5
93 Jesse Lee 6.30 27
94 Dan Endress 6.30 27
95 Korey Nati 6.29 26.75
96 Peter Killinger 6.20 27.25
97 Nathan Kacmarski 6.19 26.5
98 Andrew Milleville 6.17 27.5
99 Jim Klein 6.15 27
100 Robert Biggie 6.13 26.88
101 Peter Noreck 6.13 26
102 Michael Horvatits 6.12 27.5
103 John Gibbon 6.11 26.5
104 Donald Ruppert 6.08 26
105 James Burke 6.07 26.25
106 Philip Orsi 6.04 27.25
107 Richard Walters 6.04 26.25
108 Marc Myles 6.00 27

OFFICIAL RESULTS YOUTH DIVISION

Place Name Weight Length
1 Rizzo Olivia 7.74 28.75
2 Smith Landon 7.51 28
3 Simonick Wyatt 6.88 28.5
4 Dusenbury Lucas 6.88 28
5 Egnatchik William 6.87 28
6 Sturgeon Riley 6.64 26.5
7 Rizzo Gabriella 6.58 26.25
8 Geedy Bentley 6.48 26.75
9 Smith Lexi 6.47 27
10 Schaller Michael 6.31 27.5
11 Simonick Sophia 6.20 25.75
12 Matusick Levi 5.96 25.25
13 Dabolt Joshua 5.87 26.25
14 Sturgeon Ryan 5.62 25.5
15 Rizzo Charlie 5.50 24.63
16 Nati Hunter 5.20 24.75
17 Perkins Daxon 5.09 26
18 Ejbisz Declan 4.66 25.25
19 Sank Korra 4.60 24.75
20 Sam Nicholas 4.53 24.75
21 Majka Mariah 4.16 25.63
22 Sank Jackson 3.98 25
© 2026 Southtowns Walleye Association of WNY, Inc.. All Rights Reserved. | 5895 Southwestern Blvd. | Hamburg, NY 14075 | Tel. 716.649.8202

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