Idaho Takes Third at Flaming Gorge, Wyoming

 

May 31 to June 5, 2009 Flaming Gorge Reservoir, Wyoming.  Members of The Idaho Bass Federation State Team began arriving in Wyoming on Friday May 29^th for the Western Division Bass Federation Championship.  Team members stayed in Green River, on the beach at Buckboard Marina, the U S Forest Service Campground near the marina and at Buckboard Marina RV Park.  Members began pre-fishing on Saturday and Sunday continuing on through Monday and Tuesday.  All team members were able to find and catch some fish during the practice period and it seems that all of them had found their own location, bait and technique and each of them was confident going in to opening day on Wednesday.  Flaming Gorge Reservoir on the Green River is approximately 50 miles long and also includes some Utah waters.  The actual amount of shoreline is unknown to this writer but there are many coves and most of them are so deep you cannot see the back of them while boating the main lake.

Tuesday evening a banquet was held for all of the ten competing state teams and TBF officials in Rock Springs.  Following the meal pairings were announced for the opening day of competition.  Each boater was drawn with a non-boater from another state and assigned one of three departing flights.  The first flight boat number one left Buckboard Marina at 6 am on Wednesday morning followed by the remaining 57 boats.  The day dawned cool with the promise of warmer weather throughout the day.  By early afternoon the skies were threatening just as they had done each day before.  By 2:30 pm when the first flight came to weigh-in the wind was building and by 3:30 when the third flight reported it had become a regular gale force wind.  Anglers on that day went both north and south of the marina to waters that they had become familiar with.  Many fished beds that were mostly being monitored by smaller males while larger females could be seen cruising in the extremely clear sections of the lake.  Other anglers fished murkier waters using different techniques and the day’s catches were an indicator of how each angler was approaching the tournament.  At the end of the first day of competition team Idaho was in third place and Brandon Palaniuk was in second place overall.

On day two flights were shuffled as were boater and non-boater pairings.  This day started with clouds so low they were almost sitting atop the water.  As the day progressed the skies cleared and temperatures warmed for what became the nicest day of the week.  The day was perfect for those who wanted to fish beds and they did so with varying results.  Unlike most of the waters that we fish in Idaho this reservoir had areas where the water was clear enough to see as deep as 20 feet.  Beds could be spotted adjacent to underwater brush in 2 to 5 feet of water and this writer truly learned the thrill of sight fishing.  Other anglers continued their game plan with continued success.  As final weights were tallied for day two Idaho continued to hold on to third place and Brandon Palaniuk moved into the overall tournament lead.

Day three dawned with threatening skies and the threat turned into reality as the day progressed.  Winds began picking up early in the morning and anglers were pushed into coves in search of fish.  On days one and two anglers were able to fish main lake points but that became nearly impossible on day three.  Techniques had to be adjusted and the sight fishing became literally impossible with vision obscured by wind tossed waters.  As it became time for the anglers to head to weigh-in it was obvious that they were in for a rough ride.  This writer got the experience of a 19 foot boat and how it handled in extremely rough waters by sitting in waist deep water for a major part of the ride in.  How the boat kept from being swamped can only be observed that it was a Ranger.

Weights on day three dropped off rather dramatically and more anglers blanked on that day than the other two days combined.  At the end of day three Idaho held on to their third position finish while Brandon Palaniuk struggled like many other anglers that day and dropped out of the overall lead.  The day three big fish winner was Ricky Brittel with a nice 2 pound 11 ounce small mouth.

Idaho will send two anglers to The Bass Federation National Championship in Spring of 2010, the exact place and time to be announced.  Those two anglers will be Brandon Palaniuk as a boater competitor and Bill Golightly as a non-boater competitor.  Please wish these two anglers the best as they prepare to compete in this event.

Remaining team members were Don Boeger, Roger Stringer, Ricky Brittell, Matt Roth, Denton Crofts, Boyd Golightly, Kyle Gelles, Grant Terrell and Josh Unruh.  I was registered as a team alternate as the state president has been for several years and I took the place of Eric McFarland when he was unable to attend at the last minute.  This was my first time competing at this level as it was for Kyle, Matt, Grant and Ricky.  Each of us used this experience to heighten our angling skills as we had the occasion to interface with anglers from all over the west.  Each of us made some new friends who I am sure that we will meet on another day.

This years qualifiers have already begun in the north and east and the first of the southern region qualifiers will be on Owyhee Reservoir in a couple of weeks.  I urge each of you to congratulate each of the team members who represented you and if you are not already participating in Idaho’s qualifier tournament series please consider doing so.

An additional comment regarding this tournament.  This was the last Western Division Championship as the Western Division has been split into the Northwest and Southwest Divisions.  In 2010 the Northwest Division Championship will be held on a reservoir to be determined in Montana and teams from Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming will be in attendance.