Thanks to the guys who set this one up . It was fun.... exploring the river in the 15 footer. What a challenge, most of our water has been new to me so it was kind of nice to have the odds a little more even.

I would have liked to fish this event also, but I ended up working Saturday. I hope to make it to Chelan next month. I am looking forward to fish Chelan for the first time.

The next tournament is September 8th at Banks. Looking forward to that one.

Congratulations to Horn Dog (Henry) for the win!

If  you  guys  would like to explore the  Columbia more in the future i'd recommend maybe  trying a prespawn trip a little  further up river.. Maybe  A march Tournament  in Stevenson.   Up there  you  can expect  one  day bags in the 15-18lb range and I have heard  of bags as high as 25 lbs..

just a thought..

Sarge has it right, and I could not agree more with Rev, too.  Frankly, Vancouver for me is just too far through too much traffic, unless I travel in the middle of the night.

Glenn and I both had a great time and agree with the fact it is a new body of water for the taking, congrat to those in the top 10.  Who knows what will happen next time.

We did have camping problems but fixed them quickly with Henry and Angie Dovers assistance.  Thanks to you both. 

Henry great job finding fish we all will get you next time..... LOL 

You are right on Sarge!  Besides; new water always causes this kind of nervous reaction at first, but once people try it - they invarably like it.  Then... that creates excitement for the next time they go, and the numbers increase. 

Personally I regret not being able to go - as I would love to fish the Columbia.  I'm probably like a lot of folks who get really busy in August and find it hard to break free to go to the tournament.  (I was in LA) 

I think fishing new water is a great way to create well rounded anglers.  Like Smitty says - it's a whole new ballgame, but isn't that what makes it exciting?  15 boats - that ain't bad for August.  And if they're now eager to go back next year, you can bet they will excite others to join them.  Sounds like you guys worked out the camping and launching concerns - so thanks go to you "WBC pioneers" who took the risk and led the way!  I'll be interested to hear everyone's stories...

Just took a quick look at the September 2005 newsletter and noticed that the August 2005 tourney on Lake Chelan only had 10 boats and 17 anglers. In my recent memories of club tournaments, August is always a bad turnout month no matter where you go... heck, 27 people is a pretty sweet attedance. People are busy with a lot of things in the middle of the summer.

Fishing wasn't what I expected, but I think alot of that is inexperience with current and tidal influences.  I will definitely try again.  I'll show up anywhere our club goes and give it my best.  It was the same conditions for everyone.  CHELAN is next!!

I for one am sick of all the negative conversations and posts directed at this particular tournament.  
For the record, I had a very enjoyable experience fishing this event.  Most of the participants I spoke with enjoyed it as well.  The only complaints that I heard repeated by the participants were directed at the camping facilities.  those of us who stayed in a motel had no problems.
Fishing a river with current brings many anglers a new challenge.  Throw in a tidal factor and a contestant has to think in yet another dimension. 
"Oh but the water is dangerous and the ocean going freighter waves will sink you."  These were the most commonly echoed complaints prior to the tournament.  Yet folks in very small boats had little difficulty in navigating away from the problem areas and finding a few scrappy smallmouth to tangle with.
A few months ago someone stated that we needed to fish bodies of water where main events and larger "Ts" were held in order to gain experience.  Well here we were in Portland on the Columbia and where were those of you who voiced that opinion?
Fifteen boats did show up and I'll bet some of them did not vote for this venue. but they showed up never the less and did not sit back, fail to participate and then whine about it.  Despite poor camping facilities the fishing experience was good.
Yes I voted for this particular tournament and I would vote again for it despite the fact that I did not weigh a large bag.  To the club members that did weigh a winning bag and had never been on this body of water before, my respectful congratulations.  To the members that fished it and didn't fare well, I think we all need to learn a little bit more about this type of fishing.  To the ones who did not participate and yet continue to snipe about it.  Where is the validity in your sniveling?

Smitty

Russ, feel free to re-read my August newsletter article.

Sounds to me that we should have picked a better venue for the month of August. 15 boats was all, thats pitiful compared to all the participants in the first two events. Maybe we should look at how we vote for such a place.

I seem to recall several people wondering how this body of water got voted in the first place.

Just a few thoughts,

Russ

All F's and E's Troy, 

Anyhow, fishing was definately not what I expected.  There were better fish caught last time we were there.  I still had a great time and it was fun having everyone hook up at the pizza joint Saturday night.
Congrats to Henry for staying consistent and bringing home the hardware.  Thanks to Jim and Lyle for running a smooth T.

Thanks for the report, guys.  Sounds like a motel would have been better!  Congrats to Henry D.

that was a fun place to fish, the big waves and ships were very intimidating. now for that camp ground. it was a dump, the bathrooms were scary! and troy i was in 4th.

my bag was full of 3-4 lbers when i caught um, but after puking up minnows they only weighed a pound or so.  henry finished first with just over 14lbs with a 8.25 bag on sunday to claim the lead.  way to go henry.  in second was terry stephenson or stevenson (sorry terry  )  he had 13 and change with big fish of 3 1/4lbs.  i held the day one lead but struggled on day two finishing with 13 and change to round out the top three.  fourth was lyle and fifth was i believe brian olson. 

i think everyone caught fish but quality fish were hard to come by to say the least.  you just had to be in the right spot at the right time and capitalize on every good fish.  i think plastics dominated the scene with a few reaction bait fish as well.  sunday i think had less current especially below the 205 bridge my area was ripping on saturday and barely moving sunday.  no incidents with rockpiles or sandbars that i know of.  In my opinion the only problem with this body of water is camping one of the best things about these tourneys is everyone camping together and bullshootin the breeze at the end of the day.  thanks to jim for running another great tourney.  bring on chelan!

troy