UPDATE ABOUT BOAT WRECK:
Per emails, the boater, George Beegle, received three compression fractured vertebrae, three broken ribs and is in the tourtle brace and in pain.  The young non boater, Adam, did received a concussion and a slight forehead cut.  The boat is a loss and their club has a volunteer to step up and provide a boat for a non boater in the last of our tournaments.  we all hope George and Adam get better soon.

FLW Qualifier participant
Chuck Pigue

I had a pretty enjoyable time at the qualifier, except for the draw, that disappointed me.
I rode with the guy in a 18 Foot older Gambler at Chelan and at the LC. When the water got rough, I was hurtin, I am young but that thing is a potato chip on water. AS FOR THE ACCIDENT, When me and my boater passed bye, the boat was pretty much sunk, but upright, the lifejackets were inflated ad the guys running with them, were all around them trying to help. But from what I heard, it did some REAL DAMAGE, boat total loss. At the very least, my guy slowed down to an idle for the rollers.

For FISHING: as a non boater, I did pretty good. I came in with a limit of 5.45 lbs. ALL my fish were caught on flats. I caught them on a dropshot KGM Slinky and a DT Hula Grub. Most of the fish I caught were in or around 20 feet. We fished the Willamette all day long. EXECUTION WAS THE KEY, the 20th to 8th was decided by points of ounces. The one good 2 to 3 lb. fish would put you over the edge, just like Larry, I lost a 4 pounder at the boat with 20 min. left to go. My execution was not great, but as it seems, with 5 lbs. I still faired pretty well. I believe I finished in 21rst place. OVerall I had fun and l LEARNED ALOT about the Willamette after hearing about it so much from the Oregon Guys.

It IS a humbling sport, isn't it!   But you only fail if you learn nothing from the experience.  As long as you learn from your time on the river, (and it sounds like you did), then it was undoubtedly a sucessful experience!   Thanks for sharing!

Now as to my fishing:  Caught a total of 7 SMB.  Our size limit was 12".  I could not qualify one SMB out of the 7.  Every one of my 7 was 11".  I couldn't squeeze one more inch out of any of them.  My boater only caught 1 (11") and one sculpin.   So we both zeroed.  I did catch them on all expected baits: Lucky craft rattle trap, drop shot with two different baits (both from Outlaw), texas rigged lizard (Zoom) and one topwater (luckycraft). 

Unfortunate things:  we all expected to receive different boaters during the three events.  Due to faulty selection process I'd say 75% or better fished with the same boater as the first event.  I don't think we should have as I am using this as a learning experience and my boater is a first time boater and NO experience at tournament fishing. But it has taught me that I must be prepared just as much as the boater so with some MORE prefishing, and alot of most appreciated help from fellow club members, fish have and will be caught.

Rough waters, and racing did distract somewhat, but, finding those areas less effected did help.  Points were the locations for us to catch our fish, no LMB sought so no report on that part. We did our most damage when we anchored, pulled up the trolling motor and sat on our site to catch my most fish.

Even though I did zero, I learned alot about my lures, felt confident they work and will use it to my benefit next year and on future waters.  Fishing the river was a first time experience for me and we made it home it one piece.  Really sore from all of the bouncing, but thankful still the same.

Chuck P

Rev,  We lost a bass boat due to a crash.   The boater suffered some damage to his back, is in the hospital, and a destroyed boat.  Reported that a wave from a passing ocean going vessel launched him reportedly 20 ft in the air, speared the next wave, and ripped the cap off the boat and iwhen my boater and I passed it, it was upside down, slightly beached with the coast guard standing by.  The non boater was not injured, shaken of course.  The boater's name was George Beegle, Puyallup Hawghunters, and I now found out he was Mac Randle's rooming partner on the FLW Stren Series.  Supposedly, no surgery is needed, but a long recovery of 6+ months and wearing a turtle shell brace during that.  Boat was supposedly a total loss also.  

Lesson:  BIG WAVES CAUSE PROBLEMS...KNOW HOW TO ENCOUNTER THEM AND ALWAYS RESPECT THEM.....

WE ALL ARE WISHING HIM GOD'S SPEED AND A QUICK RECOVERY...

Chuck Pigue

Ok, I'll bite - what incident?

Well...as you know there was a bad incident on the Lower Columbia and we hope those guys get better real fast but there were alot of things learned from the fishing aspect as Myself, Chuck Pique, Daryl Snodgrass and Nick Barr ventured into the second of three events towards the Wash. State Team and the new Ranger boat......some did well and some learned lots...I will let the rest say what worked for them as for mysdelf i caught one Smally for 2.24 pounds but had lots of bites and lost one fish about three pounds at the boat...finally figured a pattern of rocky points near Portland/Vancouver and used a Steelhead drift rig (like a Carolina Rig) comprised of a Slinky weight to cut down snagging and a snap swivel with 1-2 ft leader....tides were minimal effect but there were Fountain boat races up and down river from 9 am till we left at three...did have fish follow baits to the boat and even strike baits but they would not chase cranks for us but many reported fish caught on cranks and rattle trap...took 14 pounds to win it, Mel Marchese (Hope I spelled it right) won. Have to spend more time pre-fishing!!!!!!!!

Chuck,

I understand your pain.

This is one reason that I don't fish those qualifier's anymore and that is that a large percentage of the boaters have never fished on a particular body of water is a joke by itself. How in the world does one expect to do well if never been there before. Hey if you want to gamble go to a casino.

Yes practice and lots of time on the water make all the difference in how you finish. It keeps you from panicking and allows you to think more clearly when looking for fish.

Good Luck to you the rest of the series,

Russ

What brown fish? I thought it was a squaw fish tournament.

Well I started out with my GPS not working first thing in the morning. Then my trolling motor broke down. I think our little excursion at Banks Lake during the jamboree did a little more damage then was visible at the time.

So, I basiclly faught the wind all day and tried not to run up on the rocks or into any docks. It sucked.

Oh, by the way I blanked for the day. I hate that lake or it hates me. I have not figured it out yet.

I will get my revenge!

I had a good time at the Qualifier, it was alot of fun and it was pretty well ran. I was also paired with a fairly inexperienced fisherman on this body of water, but he had 11 lbs. and I had 6 lbs. so we had a good Da for never fishing it before and I have only fished it once. It got really choppy and white caps during the day and I was in an older 18 foot GAMBLER, boy was I hurting after that day. It was fast, but boy was it rough. Had fun though.

Hi all,

Just to let you know how Larry and I did or didn't do at our first leg of the FLW Qualifiers at Lake Chelan.  Well first let me say that the old saying of "Spend time on the water and prefish" is a very true statement.  I can't speak for Larry but I learned a very important lesson.  Prefish the body of water as close to tourney time as permitted by the rules and pay attention to moon phases, temps, weather, etc.  Get information if allowed from someone you can trust within the rules as close as possible.  Think about what you will do if your plans fish slap you upside the head.  I for one relied on information from others and last years tourney.  I didn't get to prefish anywhere close to the time allowed.  I was hoping for a boater with more experience and got paired up with a boater who had NEVER fished the body of water.  I put us on our first fish, but after that I was lost and had little to go on.  Being bedazzled by the let down and probably not being prepared totally with a back up plan, I panicked.  Both the boater and I only caught one fish, that was totally unacceptable, but it's what it was.  So the lessons learned by me personally will greatly enhance my future two tournaments left.  Then to come to Banks and catch three pretty much in half the time it took to catch the one, really made me realize, it wasn't going to be pretty.  Being rusty and not fishing every minute I can, made me realize, I need to be able and apply my abilities during the WINDY times and be more accurate with my casts.  If there was a bush or rock that I could get hung up on at Banks, I found it.

Oh, I realized just how SHARP my Gamakatsu treble hooks are also after cutting my index finger tip and removing it. OUCH....that was tender and Larry can attest to it by my constant hitting it on anything around and me complaining about the pain.........

So, Larry and I both are going to PREFISH the Lower Columbia from our Launch site of Kalama just about 7-10 days prior to our actual launch date.  We did have unfavorable weather, but it was won by 18+ pounds at Lake Chelan, so someone was able to locate those little brown fishies somewhere.  Lessons learned will make me a better fisherman in the months to come.  Thanks for the asking, and Yes, Larry caught 6+ pounds and I'm sure he wasn't totally happy either.  BUT, we do have a 1 in 66 chance of winning that brand new Ranger Bass boat after our last tournament in August 2007.

Chuck Pigue

PS...When you see Daryl S, ask him about the brown fishes.............He'll agree also about their disappearance..............