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..............
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