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Had to show and tell...

Mike Matkowski and I fished the Columbia Basin October Open and the fishing was absolutely amazing! Props to Jeff McBroom and Loren English for weighing in two freakin' giant bags both days, with a total weight of over 40lbs! Also, Frank Yarger caught a 7.14 pound smallmouth and won big fish! The weather was pretty horrible on day one with 40 mph winds and dust storms, but a few teams managed to get over 30lbs cumulative weight for both days! As for Mike and myself, we fished hard through the brutal weather on day 1 and managed to get about 17 pounds fishing crankbaits, leadhead, jerkbaits, and drop shots, anywhere from 8 to 30 feet. The fishing on Saturday was just brutal with the wind... On day two, Mike freakin' put on a clinic and cooned MULTIPLE four's and one over five. I struggled a bit early and Mike picked up the slack big time! Later in the day, we ran all of our big fish spots and worked down into the gorge, primarily fishing rockpiles in 15 to 25 feet with various drop shot baits. I managed to contribute with a 6.30 smallmouth and one well over four, and we both caught many over three that were culled. We ended up with over 23lbs on day two... We both had just had an amazing day. I think, with the number of 2-day bags over 30 lbs, it just goes to show how AWESOME the Columbia River can be. Thanks Rick Dobke and Columbia Basin Bass Club for putting on an upstanding October open event....Mike and I won with a cumulative two-day total of 41.14lbs....We nudged the Northwest Bass Anglers of the Year Jeff McBrooom and Loren English by less than a pound! Those guys are good!...I feel fortunate to have fished against and with such quality anglers.

Attachments:

GIANTS.bmp, 2 MB
1st place.jpg, 40 KB

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Jake Anderson on October 13, 2014 at 6:23am

Nice job guys. I was out hunting in that Saturday wind storm, and im impressed you got 17lbs in that. Glad nobody sank!!!

Permalink Reply by Tag Watson on October 13, 2014 at 12:16pm

Congrats, Mike and Ben. What a great weekend....well done!

Permalink Reply by Ronald Hobbs, Jr. on October 15, 2014 at 8:35pm

Great bag of fish! I wouldn't take that away from you....

Please read attached file, New Record! Could have swore I have seen larger bags of smallmouth come out of there, ABA June of 2000?

Attachments:

IMG_0147.png, 419 KB

Permalink Reply by Nick Berto on October 16, 2014 at 7:45am

That is a great 2 day and single day bags! Congrats.

Hey Ron, didn't you and Mike weigh a 23.20 bag of all smallmouth earlier this year?

23.06 is a sweet pile of fish but have there have not been a handful of all brown bags that were larger (and not record breaking) weighed in on the Columbia, both in the spring and fall?

Permalink Reply by Ronald Hobbs, Jr. on October 16, 2014 at 7:50am

I forgot about that, yes we had all Smallmouth.

Permalink Reply by Gene Batey on October 16, 2014 at 8:09am

Ronald Hobbs, Jr. said:

Great bag of fish! I wouldn't take that away from you....

Please read attached file, New Record! Could have swore I have seen larger bags of smallmouth come out of there, ABA June of 2000?

Permalink Reply by Gene Batey on October 16, 2014 at 8:13am

I think the largest Ive seen is 26 plus,Bass encounters or Tri City 5000. Randy Jackson and partner years ago. Handford reach! And I ve been apart of a few 25lb plus, And yes all smallies!Those were spring tourneys. I dont recall to many 23 plus pound bags in the fall though. Great sack of smallies for fall river fishing.

Permalink Reply by Ben Hanes on October 16, 2014 at 8:55am

Hi Ron,

Yeah I don't know. That was Dobyn's Rod's posting that. Cool that you got it, I didn't even know it was out there! Anyways, I've seen a few bags over 23 lbs.....But I've never seen a two day cumulative of 41.14lbs or more on the local river....Of course, I could be wrong. I have only lived here for 10 years. But it's not a big deal either way, I know there's been bigger bags caught, even I have had bigger bags than 23lbs, just not during a tournament LOL!!!.... Most of you guys are twice the fisherman I am, I just love fishing and I probably fish too much!

It was just a blessed day...Anytime we walk to the scales with a 20lb+ bag, it's a blessing!

Permalink Reply by Ronald Hobbs, Jr. on October 16, 2014 at 10:58am

Anytime you get 20 pounds you have had a great day, 23 pounds is impressive just didn't think it was record breaking, I remember bags like Gene is talking about when I started fishing. Weights were crazy back then, common 23 pound bags in the spring from the reach. The 41 pounds is an awesome total weight but with the quality you experienced on Sunday probably has been obtained before. Again good job!

Permalink Reply by Mike Bess on October 16, 2014 at 3:08pm

I want to freaking puke between Berto, the new SRP Club president, and Ron who just suddenly contracted the Ebola version of Amnesia.

Ronald Hobbs, Jr. said:

I forgot about that, yes we had all Smallmouth.

Permalink Reply by Josh Potter on October 16, 2014 at 3:10pm

Nice Job Ben!

It was nice of Nick and Ron to take time away from their date to let us all know that Ben's day wasn't as awesome as SOMEONE ELSE claimed it to be. I can sleep now knowing that false claim has been brought to light!

Permalink Reply by Jake Anderson on October 16, 2014 at 4:26pm

Ronald Hobbs, Jr. said: