The Online Source for Washington Fishing Information

Best Fishing Teams In the Northwest Top 20

I got this idea from George Kramer http://kramergonefishing.com/2012/11/12/top-40-meyer-rated-californ... and I thought it would be interesting to see what everyone thought of the guys here in Washington State, voted by other fishermen though, not just by one person so the results are not subjective.

So here's how we'll do it:

Since Washington tournaments are so team oriented we'll go with the best teams for now.
If the guy you had in mind is not an angler in NWB or ABA, or other opens where teammates are needed send your ranking for just the one guy.
Send me your top 5, 10, 15, 20 (however many you want really) teams or guys in Washington State
Feel free to include a quick justification of why that team deserves it
Send me a Message with your rankings or reply to this thread

I will keep track of all the submissions and combine the results and post the top 20 here on WAFISH in a couple weeks when I have enough information.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Chad Simon on June 11, 2013 at 7:23pm

The teams that have proven themselves on both sides of the mountain recently is how I'm justifying my rankings. It's easy to be a local stick. It's difficult to win on nuMerous bodies of water. I know some teams are split, with one easterner, and one westerner, and that was taken into consideration.
Hobbs/Wolsky ......no contest hands down the best
The rest in no order:
Gemmill/McMannis
Smith/Jensen
Doucet/Eidson
Simon/Simon
Marcantonio/Matkowski
Abbott/Flowers
Lind/Lochow
Lowe/Librande
Bess/Sessler

Permalink Reply by Chad Simon on June 12, 2013 at 6:11am

I did have Hall/Turner in there.....I Pad must have deleted them

Treffry/Lippincott slipped through the cracks, and should have been in there

I will differ on Echternkamp/Kromm. Yes David has fished at a higher level than most all of us, and has a great track record on the river. As for Aaron, he is the most feared stick on Potholes/Moses. However, I'm basing my team off the ability to perform all over the state, not just the eastside. Have to draw the line somewhere. No doubt about it, they're great anglers, but there are a lot of great anglers left off my list.

Permalink Reply by Chad Simon on June 12, 2013 at 7:19am

I think it should be mandatory to put forward your own list, before chiming in on this thread. Not referring to you Dana, I read what you said.

Permalink Reply by Joel Alinen on June 12, 2013 at 8:17am

I don’t fish NW or ABA so my opinion isn’t worth two cents...my opinion is based off results and guys I talk to...so it’s definitely a bias one=-)

I think it’s tough to argue against Hobbs and Wolsky...they flat catch fish on every body of water and are always in contention! Most of the other good teams have at least one guy who is great on a particular body of water...Specialists on Banks, Moses, Potholes, Washington, etc...I think Jordan was smart pairing up with Chad cause Jordan has the West side dialed in and Chad has the east side dialed...same can be said for Marcantonio and Matkowski.

Here are my top 10 teams in no particular order
Hobbs/Wolsky
Jensen/Smith
Hall/Turner
Gemmill/McMannis
Echternkamp/Kromm

Hogue / Lehrman
Treffry/Lippincott
Steiner/Lacey
Marcantonio/Matkowski
Doucet/Eidson
Ferry/Berto

Permalink Reply by Jordan Doucet on June 12, 2013 at 9:01am

My first stab included the following teams in no particular order after the top 7 and Tag thrown in there despite not fishing many tournaments he's still undoubtedly one of the best in the state. Hopefully he'll get some time free'd up to come throw down with everyone soon.

Ron Hobbs / Mike Wolsky
Don Hogue/ Ryan Brown
Chris Carpenter / Travis Glass
Mark Lippincott/Chris Treffry
Aaron Echternkamp / Dave Kromm
Paul Haul/ Jarrid Turner

Taylor Smith/Dan Jensen

Tag Watson
Dana Steiner / Steve Lacey
Tim Tadlock / Bret Nine
Andy Gemmill / Steve McMannis
Jake Boomer / Jason Bryan
Blake Lesher / Steve Lebsack
Jeff Abbott / Rob Flowers
Ron Mace / Shawn McConville
Gabe Lowe / Tom Librande
Chris Ferry / Nick Berto
Jordan Doucet / Chad Eidson - ***(Like Dana said, this is out of respect for my partner, I don't like to vote for myself either)
Greg Johnson / John Cooper
Tony Lind / Scott Lochow

Permalink Reply by D.J. LaRoche on June 12, 2013 at 9:34am

Jordan, your list is pretty much what I had in mind, although not in the exact order I was thinking. I think the top 10-15 are pretty much no brainers. The rest of the teams can probably be swapped with at least 5-10 more teams. There are a bunch of talented teams that are pretty damn good and are a threat to compete everytime they put their boats in the water.

Permalink Reply by Jake Anderson on June 12, 2013 at 9:58am

Jordan,

Good call on carpenter and glass. Would be a "Travisty" to leave them off. Probably a few other Oregon, and Idaho teams not getting the respect they deserve only because they don't fish ABA or NW regularly or at all....

Brandon Palaniuk, and his partner comes to mind.

I also wouldn't rule out Anderson, and Chandler. I love to vote for myself and have little respect for my partner. Really they are the perfect team. An eastern WA LMB obsessed online blowhard, the other a western wa sammamish dragging specialist who fishes with his shirt off better than most. I think we might take that #20 spot. We've never fished a tourney together so previous success isn't in the equation, but big things are on the horizon. We've caught several smallmouth over 3lbs on Moses lake during the Nixons marine invitational off limits period in late April so you can draw your own conclusions.

Here's my list:

Ron Hobbs and Mike Wolsky #1

18 other great teams

Snake and Zach #20.

Permalink Reply by Bill Roberts Sr on June 12, 2013 at 10:00am

I agree with Dana. We have some of the best fishermen around. If you look through the archives of N/W Bass and ABA fish-off's, you will have your info going back for years.

Bill

Permalink Reply by Josh Potter on June 12, 2013 at 10:17am

Jake,

I think you and Zach should move up 2 spots simply based on your ability to post funny shit that half the field probably doesn't even understand.

Jake "The Snake" Anderson said:

Jordan,

Good call on carpenter and glass. Would be a "Travisty" to leave them off. Probably a few other Oregon, and Idaho teams not getting the respect they deserve only because they don't fish ABA or NW regularly or at all....

Brandon Palaniuk, and his partner comes to mind.

I also wouldn't rule out Anderson, and Chandler. I love to vote for myself and have little respect for my partner. Really they are the perfect team. An eastern WA LMB obsessed online blowhard, the other a western wa sammamish dragging specialist who fishes with his shirt off better than most. I think we might take that #20 spot. We've never fished a tourney together so previous success isn't in the equation, but big things are on the horizon. We've caught several smallmouth over 3lbs on Moses lake during the Nixons marine invitational off limits period in late April so you can draw your own conclusions.

Here's my list:

Ron Hobbs and Mike Wolsky #1

18 other great teams

Snake and Zach #20.

Permalink Reply by Jordan Doucet on June 12, 2013 at 12:34pm

I'm not sure about the Idaho guys, but I know that Palanuik and Kaiser were once a pretty dominant team there too. In Oregon, I really only know of Carpenter and Glass who are flat out dominant it seems but am sure there are a few other good sticks down there that are deserving of the list. I would love to have some input from those guys as well.

Great input from some guys here, I personally think that the top 7 teams are pretty clear cut then the next 13 are all a toss up. I'd love to hear more specifics on some of the guys that fall in the toss up group to help rank those. Maybe some input from the top down - Ron...?

Jake "The Snake" Anderson said:

Jordan,

Good call on carpenter and glass. Would be a "Travisty" to leave them off. Probably a few other Oregon, and Idaho teams not getting the respect they deserve only because they don't fish ABA or NW regularly or at all....

Brandon Palaniuk, and his partner comes to mind.

I also wouldn't rule out Anderson, and Chandler. I love to vote for myself and have little respect for my partner. Really they are the perfect team. An eastern WA LMB obsessed online blowhard, the other a western wa sammamish dragging specialist who fishes with his shirt off better than most. I think we might take that #20 spot. We've never fished a tourney together so previous success isn't in the equation, but big things are on the horizon. We've caught several smallmouth over 3lbs on Moses lake during the Nixons marine invitational off limits period in late April so you can draw your own conclusions.

Here's my list:

Ron Hobbs and Mike Wolsky #1

18 other great teams

Snake and Zach #20.

Permalink Reply by Sparkles on June 12, 2013 at 9:38pm

Dez/Boat
Shane/Craig
Misanthrope/EAD
Santa/...
Cris/Sparky( hate to name myself)
The other top 5
Wine for the rest

Permalink Reply by P.J. Koshi on June 12, 2013 at 9:57pm

I'll give my 2 cents. I don't fish big tournaments and have so much respect for all of these guys that do, and to finish at such a high level consistently is impressive. I am fortunate to consider some of the guys I list here true friends and I want to point out that a lot of that has to do with this site...

Hobbs/Wolsky

Jensen/Smith

Echternkamp/Kromm

Hogue/Brown

Steiner/Lacey

Lippincott/Treffry

Gemmill/McMannis

Matkowski/Marcantonio

McConville/Innocenti

Hall/Turner

I left out a lot of good teams but I don't want to go for 20 right now.