Are those the final lakes picked from the meeting?

Silver Lake for the draw needs to be a given I think.  It was fun last year.

I would like to see the lower columbia again in August.  Had some great days fishing down there 2 yrs ago in august.  We could look at fishing further down maybe also.  Longview area could open up the Scarpoose and lower delta area's of the river.

Chelan in may or september for a change.  We have fished it in august and june.

  Lets also consider priest rapids.  Camping at the State park and a launch at the north end of the lake.  It looks like a tremendous smallie fishery and a new lake most of us have never fished.

  Potholes in June might be a real treat.  We always fish it in May or September, but a June tourney could be real nice.  Largemouth a little more active, and the dunes still very accesible.

  A summer tourney on Washington or Sammamish would also be a nice change.  Since gas is $27.00 a gallon now      a local tourney would help out with the costs.  Also these lakes are very very good in the summer.
 
  Silver lake in May would also be a nice change.  Water temps up and a little more active fish could help everyone catch a few more fish.

Mark

I second Mark's idea of a summer tourney on Lake Washington !

Well just to add some as too to far away. Why do we even do this then. This is our passions. I know some go families to think about. Turn one of the far tournaments into the family vacation. Fish the tourney and camp your way back home. It's that easy or that hard. Wish i could have fished a few more tourney this year but do to work couldn't. I was going to Long lake but it was inventory and no one could get it off. I'll see ya all at moses.

Hey y'all,

My opinion shouldn't matter too much here since I haven't fished many club tournies over the past two years, but I thought I would share some math with everyone and you can take away whatever you want...

I tend to run a tight budget, so I was wondering what the difference in tow vehicle gas cost would be between an Eastern WA-heavy schedule and a Western WA-heavy schedule. I did a little algebra (OUCH). The prices below are based on someone driving round trip from Federal Way getting 12 MPG and paying $3.25 for a gallon of gas:

Eastern WA-heavy schedule: Banks, Potholes, Long Lake (Spokane), Chelan, Washington, Silver, Tri-Cities.

About $675.

Western WA-heavy schedule: Silver, Sammamish, Lower Columbia (Vancouver), Potholes, Vantage, Washington (twice).

About $347.

The Western WA schedule saves about $40 per tournament. That pays for camping. Not to mention we wouldn't be camping at a few of the lakes, anyways. $40 also pays a monthly bill for me.

Kirk and others raise good points about the crowds and fun-factor on crowded urban lakes. Trust me, I will fish Eastern WA any time I get the chance! But with some tournaments closer to home it might energize the club enough to host some more fun non-tourney events, like what the Logstons have put on for two years now.

So there is more stuff to think about. I always look forward to these discussion every year. It is interesting to see how clubbers' views change, or don't change, every year.

Crap - now I felt an urge to get on a soapbox for a second. It is funny how gas prices never seem to drive our feelings on lake locations. Is it ever going to happen? Are we always going to let big oil companies have our way with us? Until we start using less fuel we're never going to see prices go down and we're never going to see better development of cleaner vehicles. There isn't any excuse for not having electric trucks by now. The technology is there but there isn't any push to make it affordable and available because we all keep gobbling up gas.

That's a long post, but what the hell, it's off my chest.

Chris

I'd also like to see silver in April or May, or even in the fall.  I also really like Marks idea of the lower Columbia in August, out of Vancouver or Longview.  I would also like to see Riffe or Duck lake too.  I'm all for the westside schedule, because it's hard for a 17 year old to pay the big gas money to go over to Eastern Washington.  I still wouldn't mind going back to potholes though, because it seemed like everyone caught fish, and had a good time.  It also had a good turn out.  Chris seems to be right on line with my thinking.  My 2 cents.