Don't worry Rich, I have lots of velcro strap that will grab on nicely to all that body hair of yours to keep you in my boat!!!

Mark

O.K.  So I put Bob Payseno and Mark on my "NOT TO RIDE WITHlist....

Rich

Mark,

Glad to hear that you and Carlos were okay after that windshield incident. I know Bob needs to slow down when in 6-7fters like that, instead of going all out and almost losing his partner(Airborne several times), But atleast the Champion held up well, no lost parts.
What a ride!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
RB

Ok, here's my two cents on the Team Bronco finish.  Carlos and I had a blast.  Saturday we comitted to fish the South End.  Big mistake.  We got blasted by 6ft rolls enroute to the south end.  Managed to snap off my windshield, rip my electronics off and take a boat full of water to get down to the south end only to be skunked by the fish.  That's right not a single bite for Carlos or I........ Damn fish.....   We worked our way up north and finally found a spot paying off at 12:30.   Managed a 10.45 bag in two hours.  Sunday we fair much better.  Headed straight to our spot and fished it all day and put together another 10 lb bag and finish right around 10th place.  Official results only went to 7th ... Great job Paysno / Baker.  We were 1/2 lb behind ya so I figure we were around 10th......  Thanks to Carlos for being my partner.  Had a blast going airborne 100 times thru the rollers.... Man was that some kind of ride.

Mark

Amen Carlos and Dave,

Hell of a boat ride, still soar from it, and couldn't keep the fish off. Best real money tourney I have fished in Washington almost as good as the BASS Shasta event I fished two years ago. Quite surprised its that good in November, Can you say WBC tourney in Oct/Nov there. Whooooohooooo is all I can say. Great laughs and Poker game. I suck at Poker-Suck,Suck,Suck.
Russ

I kept telling Lyle to put down that buzz bait and get serious......

Suck, I dont know what you guys are talking about!

But I learned a lot about the lake and had a bunch of fun with all the western guys.  It was a blast!

I cant wait until next year to try agan (SUCK) again!

Well, I got two words for last weekends Frosty Tourny "FREAKIN AWESOME"! That was a blast! The run Mark and I made on Sat. was one hell of a ride. Between the 6 foot rollers and spearing the one that ripped Mark's wind sheild off, wow  that was something. I'll never forget it.

Fishing was pretty darn good too. After we established a pattern we couldn't keep 'em off. In fact almost all of our weight, came off one spot both days. That was one of the funnest tounaments for me yet.

The poker was quite entertaining. We have some real characters in the club, I laughed my butt off all weekend. I'm already looking forward to next year. I agree with you Kirk, Smallies are some tough hombries.

Carlos

What worked for us was excactly that Kirk, we drug bottom. If we kept the bait moving, we could feel the fish when they grabbed it. It felt like it was hung up, but would come when you set the hook and reeled in. If there was a particular spot we wanted to fish, we drug over it and idled back up and did again and again. You can however get hung up quite a bit with this technique, but it worked. And even though I fish Ordella rods, it won't matter how sensitive your rod is fishing like this. When it feels hung, you either are, or you have a fish on.

Kirk,

May I suggest a better way to feel that bite on a grub? Bob and I were using Ordellas 7' Drop shot rod with 1/2 oz grubs and it was absolutely no problem in feeling the soft bites. Im not kidding, the bite was like it was falling thru grass. You picked up your line and they were on it before it hit bottom.

Just a suggestion for next time. It made a huge difference for both of us. Bob was catching most of his drop shotting and I caught all on a grub except for two on the drop shot with that rod(DS843) Ruman knows the numbers better than I.
Russ

It will.  We too, braved the elements and tried to fish the areas that we know held fish, to no avail.  It was simply too tough for us to feel the fish bite and set a good hook, especially with a football head.  On Saturday, we did get to our preferred location, but the wind and associated swells proved our undoing.  I was even throwing 3/4 oz heads to keep the bait where I wanted.  The only measurable success was a number of our hula grubs came back with their dress down or legs chewed off.  Could not even feel the bite.  We knew they where there, but could not make a go of it.  In retrospect, should have tossed a carolina rig, used the trolling motor to try and control the drift and hope that a fish jumped on it.  We just did not have confidence in that method on that particular day.

Hey thanks for the comment Kirk. We went for all or nothing after getting a quit limit on Sunday. We figured get big fish and fight for a top 5 spot, or go home trying. We may have been able to grind out a few more 2 pound fish on our morning spot, but it wouldn't have been enough, so we went out for the giants (3-4 pounders). We may have lost a few places and some bragging rights amongst the club, but we wanted money and went for it. Maybe some day it will pay off.

Rob,
  Based on your first reply, I KNOW you spent the weekend with Jarrell in the boat!  SUCK!  It's cold out here, SUCK, I missed one and SUCK we SUCK!!!  Glad everyone survived the weekend.

Hey got 5, Where did you think anyone was accusing any body of any thing? I did not read where any body stated anything about how poorly anybody did. (Except at poker and that is not an acusation. It is a fact I suck at poker) We are having fun and I see all smiles out there. 8) 8) 8)

Let's be careful about accusations on the site.  We are supposed to talk about fishing and fun.  Good grief, let it go.  I got my butt kicked this week-end and I am not afraid of saying so.  I too, like Rob will eat crow on the total weights.  It just does not happen at Banks, in my experience, much at all.  I am glad for my fellow anglers, in particular, Dave and Rob.  Lyle and I were heading south on Sunday and there was this lone boat in the middle of Banks Lake, fighting three foot swells and 20 mph winds, draggin plastics.  They had found a productive area by gritty map reading and good electronics.  Given a break by the weather, they probably could have located even better fish, it was just that sort of location.  I do not impress easily, and I must say that I was impresses by your dedication and determination.  Nicely done, all.