9/17-18/2011
Crow Butte
Club Tournament Interviews
We had 3 boats with 5 members and one guest fishing out of
Crow
Butte State Park on the Columbia River. This was was
smallest turnout, with three boats, in recent club tournament
history (since 1992). Crow Butte lived up to it's
reputation as a very windy and dangerous place as strong winds
prevailed both days.
Saturday was overcast and windy (20-30 mph). The morning
temperature was 55. It warmed up to just about 70 degrees
for the weigh in.
Finishing first with
17.38 pounds with his 21st club tournament win and a limit both days was
Ken Ganancial . Kenny said,
"Saturday we fished an area near Boardman with the boat sitting in
20-23 feet of water casting to 2 - 4 feet. All of our
fish came on tubes, football head jigs with Hula Grubs, Drop Shotting Robo Worms and a Swim bait. Tubes produced
the majority of the fish we caught. Ryan and I both
had limits by 8:30 am. The winds picked up (4-5 ft
rollers) and we headed for the Crow Butte Marina and stayed
there the rest of the day. Sunday we started on the same
spot. I managed to catch a limit early when we saw a front
heading our direction. Ryan suggested that we move camp and find
areas out of the wind ( I agreed after experiencing Saturdays
wind ) so we headed down river towards Crow Butte. We both
caught several fish mostly on tubes and the same technique and I
was able to upgrade my limit."
In second place with 13.61 pounds was
Gerald Dunn.
Gerald said, "
On Saturday we caught our fish dragging in 15
feet. We covered areas from Boardman to Crow Butte. We boated
about 15 fish. Sunday started with little to no wind. We went
downstream and I had a limit in an hour. We caught fish in 5 to
10 feet on crankbaits. I caught about 30 fish".
Luke
Morgan finished in third place with 13.28 pounds. He
said, "We
found most of our fish in the 6-12 foot range, with a couple at
nearly 20. Tubes seemed to be the ticket, drifted tight to the
bottom, most fish hit while dead sticked. We gott a couple
on drop shot. We couldn't buy a reaction bite.. Day 1
wind was worst I've seen, even speared my first wave, so we were
limited on running. We only fished Crow Butte island day one.
Day two started out calm and turned out very gusty the last
couple hours, so we ventured across to Oregon side and found a
nice flat that had several fish, just before winds picked up.
All in all I think that we never ran more than about 3 miles
from the launch. Culled both days, but only by very minor
amounts, caught more fish than I could believe in the 11.5"
range. Long drive for such small fish, but good points for all
that could make it. Tight lines".
Finishing fourth with 11.67
pounds was Ryan Gates.
Ryan was fishing out of the back of Kenny G's boat. He
said, " .........
Rounding out the top five
and a top five finisher for the first time was Russ Kroeker with 10.67 pounds.
Russ also had the big fish of the tournament, a 2.95 pound
smallie caught on Saturday. Russ said, "
This was the first weekend that
I have spent in the back seat of a boat in over 10 years,
and the first Tournament backseat ever. It was a challenge,
and I learned a lot from the experience. I'm sure to be a
better host in the future.
Saturday was windy starting at
5 am, and stayed that way until about 2:30pm. Cloudy with
some Sun. We were in 20-30 mph winds around 1:00pm and 4
foot waves 12 ft wide on the West side of the Island. We
speared a wave going 10mph! Luke and I stayed around the
Crow Butte Island for most of the day, finishing up around
the launch area. Tubes were the ticket both days, but Luke
got a few drop shotting creatures and worms. He caught a
lot of fish. We didn't get any on reaction baits bites
either day.
At 2:57 Sat. I started praying
and WHAM, I got my first keeper in the boat. We all decided
to fish another hour and a half, when I got my next 2
keepers. Crazy! Sunday was equally tough for us.
We lost a ton of fish. A lot of short strikes and some good
fish lost at the side of the boat. All of our good fish
were found when the wind died down to about 10 mph and the
whitecaps disappeared. They were mostly found on a shallow
flat on the Oregon bank. Same deal...Tubes. I threw
football head jigs with Hulla Grubs, cranks, drop shots, spinner baits,
Carolina rigs, wacky worms, top water...you name it. Tubes
were it for us. I caught 3 more keepers in the last 2
hours, but lost some hogs. I like this place. It's tough,
but interesting. The campground was nice, but smelled of
cows. We had a good laugh when some old drunk bass
fisherman came over and said..."I saw your bags...I like
your bags" You had to be there. It was great. "
Finishing first with
17.38 pounds with his 21st club tournament win and a limit both days was
Ken Ganancial . Kenny said,
"Saturday we fished an area near Boardman with the boat sitting in
20-23 feet of water casting to 2 - 4 feet. All of our
fish came on tubes, football head jigs with Hula Grubs, Drop Shotting Robo Worms and a Swim bait. Tubes produced
the majority of the fish we caught. Ryan and I both
had limits by 8:30 am. The winds picked up (4-5 ft
rollers) and we headed for the Crow Butte Marina and stayed
there the rest of the day. Sunday we started on the same
spot. I managed to catch a limit early when we saw a front
heading our direction. Ryan suggested that we move camp and find
areas out of the wind ( I agreed after experiencing Saturdays
wind ) so we headed down river towards Crow Butte. We both
caught several fish mostly on tubes and the same technique and I
was able to upgrade my limit."
In second place with 13.61 pounds was
Gerald Dunn.
Gerald said, "
Luke
Morgan finished in third place with 13.28 pounds. He
said, "
Finishing fourth with 11.67
pounds was Ryan Gates.
Ryan was fishing out of the back of Kenny G's boat. He
said, " .........
Rounding out the top five
and a top five finisher for the first time was Russ Kroeker with 10.67 pounds.
Russ also had the big fish of the tournament, a 2.95 pound
smallie caught on Saturday. Russ said, "
This was the first weekend that
I have spent in the back seat of a boat in over 10 years,
and the first Tournament backseat ever. It was a challenge,
and I learned a lot from the experience. I'm sure to be a
better host in the future.
Saturday was windy starting at
5 am, and stayed that way until about 2:30pm. Cloudy with
some Sun. We were in 20-30 mph winds around 1:00pm and 4
foot waves 12 ft wide on the West side of the Island. We
speared a wave going 10mph! Luke and I stayed around the
Crow Butte Island for most of the day, finishing up around
the launch area. Tubes were the ticket both days, but Luke
got a few drop shotting creatures and worms. He caught a
lot of fish. We didn't get any on reaction baits bites
either day.
At 2:57 Sat. I started praying
and WHAM, I got my first keeper in the boat. We all decided
to fish another hour and a half, when I got my next 2
keepers. Crazy! Sunday was equally tough for us.
We lost a ton of fish. A lot of short strikes and some good
fish lost at the side of the boat. All of our good fish
were found when the wind died down to about 10 mph and the
whitecaps disappeared. They were mostly found on a shallow
flat on the Oregon bank. Same deal...Tubes. I threw
football head jigs with Hulla Grubs, cranks, drop shots, spinner baits,
Carolina rigs, wacky worms, top water...you name it. Tubes
were it for us. I caught 3 more keepers in the last 2
hours, but lost some hogs. I like this place. It's tough,
but interesting. The campground was nice, but smelled of
cows. We had a good laugh when some old drunk bass
fisherman came over and said..."I saw your bags...I like
your bags" You had to be there. It was great. "