Brian,

I want to thank you for putting on a very well run tournament. Yes it is always hard to see the Hobbs team yet win another event, but when you can spend as much time on the water as he does then we could all have a chance at winning it. Sure the dead fish idea that people are throwing out is going to happen. Maybe having it in February is way to early ( I agree with that) for possibility of fish mortality. I would rather see this event being held in late April or early May would be awesome. Seeing a bag of 20+ lbs would be more like it and less likely that Hobbs would take it and little to no fish kills.

As far as unsportsman like conduct, its unfortunate but it happens when you fish a small body of water like Sammamish. It fishes way too small for more than 30 boats, heck 25 boats for that matter, but you wouldn't see the payouts either.

As far as our dead fish going belly up after fizzing it does happen occasionally in the summer and you do the best you can to revive these fish. Thankfully the lakes we fish have an over abundance of bass in them and with a few bass being killed ( I don't like it either) its no different than a meat fisherman taking them home for the fry pan.

Russ

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I never heard any names, just heard of some grumblings about certain unacceptable behavior. This needs to be protested at the tournament, during the protest period as stated in the drivers meeting. If it is not done this way, then it needs to be dropped, as it was not enough of a problem to bring out in the open. At this point, there is no need to bring it up at all really.  It just breeds animosity, and that needs to be avoided. We all just want to fish and have fun doing it.
Brian

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It's not a matter of season, but rather a decision of where to fish during a season.  You wouldn't of had this problem on Silver lake this weekend, but might in August.  You wouldn't have this problem in May on Sammamish, but did in February.  You would have the same problem on Riffe in August, but not in May or June. 

The very fact that needles and diagrams were given out proves you already knew it would be a problem. That is unacceptable.  That's poor lake selection.  Never hold a tournament on any lake when you KNOW fish mortality could be high!

Hey Brian, what were the angler problems you previously refered too???

Well the Tournament was definitely tuff but it was a great turnout all except for the sportsmanship of one team. I have been fishing tournaments for over 12 years and couldnt believe what I was hearing that one team was doing. Guys if you think that someone is doing something wrong than by all means protest the team that is doing it. If we let people get away with unsportsman like actions than they will just keep doing it.

We didn't catch any fish, infact I only got one bite all day, but I had a great day. I fished half the day without a shirt on in February, and I was still hot.....enough said. I think evergreen did a GREAT JOB, and we will definantly fish it next year.....good job Jon, Brian H., Brian R., Ron, Tracy, and the rest of you. From my tournament experiences that was the shortest wait between weigh in and awards ceremony, which was great for a change. The raffle was great too. As for 7 dead fish, that lake holds tons and tons of smallies. I mean seriously 7 dead fish will in no way whatsoever effect the fishery. I could see it as a problem if there were tournaments there every weekend with 100+ boats with a 15% mortality rate. Evergreen handed out needles, and a flyer that showed where to deflate the bass to every angler. This to me is going above and beyond the call of duty. Once again great job!!!

I agree with you Larry, and I have seen the heat take it's toll on fish to. I would liked to have fished the tourny, if I am around next year as I hope I am, I will sign up too.

Marc F.

Well, Ron and I talked today, and he felt like a smuck winning it, and ill probably sit back next year and be the official tournament director. Yes, I agree with you, he has been unseated a few times on Washington this last year, but not too many...... Glad to here you are up for the challenge!! We will top the tournament next year, hopefully with a larger big fish purse..... maybe 1500 dollars!
Brian

Thats the chance you take though...no one is at fault it is just fact that deep caught fish will suffer the effects......fizzed or not...Brian i will sign up next year should you have it as I feel I missed a good challenge. Well done Evergreen!

p.s.......someone has to un-seat J.R.!

I was on the water, taking pictures, and one boat called me over to say that both of their fish were not going to make it. I asked if they fizzed them, and they assured me that they had. Well, I then asked if they were floating on their side. The answer was yes. Well obviously, they had not fizzed them enough, or needed to again. I told them to do it again, and they did. Well, they had all fish alive at the weigh in, and thanked me for the advice. And the fish looked good, unlike when I had seen them before. I am sorry to here that fish were dead before it went into the livewell, but that would have happened winter fishing then anyway. There were a total of 51 fish caught, with 7 dead at weigh-in. Could some of those been avoided? Who knows. Were they big fish that were killed, mostly not. It was too bad that the percentage was 13.7 mortality, but does that mean we don't fish in the winter at all? Just trying to get some opinions on the subject, as I do value everyones opinion. At what time in the year do we say that the chances for a fish kill may be too high for a tournament? Summertime on Riffe can have the same results, as some of the fish come from very deep water, and we have seen the consequences of it before, as some of the HOT summer tournaments over at Potholes. JMO
Brian

Bassaholic,

Total failure? Maybe it was a good lesson. The fishing sucked. I can tell you this the one fish we did catch was dead before put it in the livewell. When we realed it up the fishes eye's were popped out. We knew then that it was toast. I agree a 15% mortality is not good at all.
Russ

Ok I might be out of line here but I would call this tournament a miserable failure. Out of 47 fish 7 dead that's 15% death rate & who knows how many died after the weigh in. IMO winter tournaments not  good   

The standings and photos are on the website....  Evergreenbassclub.com

Brian

Thanks to all who fished the tournament. There were a couple of angler problems, along with a few gliches in the payout, but everyone was well taken care of in that department. Hope everyone had a good time even though there was a tough bite. Next year, Hobbs Jr will have to fish with his left arm. I will post the pictures of the tournament on the Evergreen website, along with the results by tomorrow. Thanks again everyone for the great turnout.
Brian

big fish for the tourney was............................................. 3.72lbs, not exactly a big fish, but a very tough bite. Only 4 teams limits

Mark