May 18, 2013

Due to a recent water draw down on Lake Roosevelt the decision was made to move the tournament to the neighboring Banks Lake.

On a calm May morning 63 boats blasted off out of Coulee Playland with high hopes of bringing in a winning bag.  This tournament brought a few twists as teams were only allowed to weigh in 2 largemouth bass with a 17 inch minimum.  Anglers had to make a decision if they wanted to start out fishing for two largemouth and then try to finish up their 5 fish limit of smallmouth bass or just run and gun for the spawning smallmouth on the lake.

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Given the draw-down at Roosevelt the water levels on Banks Lake were higher than normal dropping water temperatures of the lake due to the excess flow.  The visibility of the lake not as good as expected making bed fishing a little more difficult especially in depths of 10 feet or more.

The bite was on however many anglers were having a difficult time getting really good weights on this day.  Smaller fish in the one to two pound range were very plentiful but would not pay off at weight in.  Larger pre-spawn smallmouth were out there and at the end of the day would help anglers bring in the winning weight.

The south end of Banks Lake was not producing to the levels it usually does and many anglers were quick to pull up their trolling motors and run to mid lake or the north end where the bite seemed to be much better.

Many different techniques were catching fish as it was easy to get a reaction bite on crank baits fishing the rip-rap on the lake shore.  Unfortunately these fish were not going to pay out if you wanted a winning sack at the scales.  Plastics were working well all across the lake fishing beds and rock structures were the allusive smallmouths were hanging out.

At the end of the day Jake Boomer and Jayson Bryan took home top honors with a total weight of 17.68 pounds and $3,560 dollars!

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2^nd Place honors went to Dana Steiner and Steve lacy with 16.50 punds and $2,860 dollars in cash!

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3^rd Place honors went to Matt Lewis and Jeff Bruce with 16.26 pounds and $1,800 in cash!

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Big Fish of the Tournament went to the team of Erick McCarthy and Travis Bogart with a weight of 4.34 pounds!

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Rivers West winning team went to Erick Nelson and Wesley Swopes for beating the Peregrine Lodge/Rivers West Boat.  Congratulations and enjoy the Cascade Jackets, Radial Hats and the ever so comfy Blisterless Socks!

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Special thanks to Gary and Lisa Stiles for the most competitive tournament circuit in the Northwest!  Also thanks to Jeff and Kathy Priester at Nixon’s Marine for all of the support and help you give to make this a success!

I would like to thank my tournament sponsors Peregrine Lodge and Rivers West for giving me the opportunity to support their outstanding business this year!  Also it goes without saying the St.Croix rods are the Best Rods on Earth!

If you are looking for a World Class salmon fishing lodge check out peregrinelodge.com!  You definitely will not be disappointed as Bruce and his staff have what it takes to catch a monster king salmon and your dreams come true!  Be sure to check out their web page or give them a call!

Lastly I’ve had the opportunity to field test the new Rivers West Kokanee rain gear this is just AWESOME.  Both their jacket and bibs are specially made for the serious angler!  Check them out at riverswest.com!  I’m just finishing up with my 60 day field test and it performs as expected….flawless!

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