Day 1 Canceled

Has anybody heard anymore about what the situation is up at Chamberlain? As I understand, the ice on the docks was the problem today? Thanks

It was a VERY smart call! These were unprecedented conditions. Unlike the finals at Bismark last fall or the finals at Rainy River way back in ’93, this time there was waves with the 5-15 degree wind chill temps. It was calm on the river in both of the past COLD events.

Just while warming up engines at the dock eary today, steering was freezing, shifting freezing up and low water pressure on many engines was the norm. The waves were the bad element in the conditions. Throw in the iced up decks etc. when casting jigs and somebody was gonna be in bad shape very quickly. And the boats would have never thawed out for what is suppose to be a calmer day tomorrow. 2-3 guys complained…the rest voted to NOT go due to safety issues.

Less wind tomorrow but it is supposed to be colder, right? If equipment was having trouble this morning then do they think that they are going to get around the problems tomorrow or will day two be called as well? How do you guys up north fish redwing at 0 degrees if the pros are haveing equipment problems at 17 degrees? Safety is always first and you are right in that it is not smart putting lives on the line

With the weather forecasts it shapes up to be a one-day tourney – Thursday only – possibly. Hopefully the forecast improves for Friday!

I called a friend on the tour yesterday and he was seriously worried that with the ice and wind a pro or amateur could go overboard and not be “gotten too” in time.

That’s how bad he felt the conditions were.

Whatever happens, it’s a level playing field for all and I compliment the angler council and PWT for making what sounds like a call in the interest of human life. I’ve been in SD and Neb tourneys where the organizers let boats go out in conditions the PWT would not of!

I do feel sincerely bad for the amateurs that lost time on the water, especially Ryan Hale who was paired with Gary Roach today, but no one controls the weather. Ryan will still fish with Gary the first day btw as I understand it. Pairings drop from the back.

Todd

Hey Steve,

How did you do pre-fishing this weekend? Me and my brother were the two throwing jigs in Chamberlain on Saturday and my brother was the one who got your line for a bit. I don’t want to say anything that might give someone else the edge so I wont say much. Just wondering how things were goin for ya. I felt like asking if you wanted a boat partner for the day!! The fish were not there on Sunday and we had to move to the Indian school to find them. Our little boat couldn’t handle the wind and waves so we just opted for the shore…turned out pretty good.

Now that’s funny! Running into you guys on here!lol

Like you said…here today…gone tomorrow…but back again the next day. And then…

The WAVES were the issue today. NOT the temps! When you combine the two…then you have potential trouble. 10-20 or more miles of waves in the boat, which many would have tried to do, would have put most equipment on the boats out of commission. The handful of boats that went yesterday had as much as 2-3 inches of ice in the boats and caked on the bowmounts and all the compartments etc.and had to be stored inside last night. Anyone questioning this call today is very short-sighted. And that comes from a guy who ran 43 miles each way in 9 degree temps on the Rainy without a jacket on in the ’93 finals. THIS was MUCH worse!

Next time you two brothers will be in my boat! Next time we will be there….you call me and we will set it up. You two are class acts and VERY impressive, eager fishermen.

My fishing after I saw you the rest of the time was fine…kinda like what you saw. BUT…this is a river in transition. Nothing is anything close to for sure in this setting.

Keep in touch!

Are they taking off this morning?????

They went out an hour later to allow the temp to rise a lttle. Calmer wind today. Everyone comes back in one flight at 5 o’clock. Many of the pro’s will be swinging for the fence today since the weather forcast for tomorrow is worse than the weather yesterday was. It could end up a one day event.

Steve,

I suppose your out having fun on the water now!! I hope you found the fish again. Just a question on how those tourneys work though. If you were to bring in a limit of those 17-18 inch males we were catching how would you be sitting? From what I heard there were very few females being caught…and I doubt the weather is helping that much.
I would love to jump in your boat sometime…do you get out there often? I live up by the Iowa Great Lakes and mostly fish up there but we make it out there a few times a year. Thanks for the kind words. We were with 7 other guys so we kinda held up their end as well as ours…so we got to fish a lot longer than we would have. They all wanted to go in and warm up…me and my brother told them to come pick us up when we caught the 24 we needed! Well I hope you kill them today.

Austin Full

Austin,

In most the SD tourneys, no cull and tight slots make for very close fields. You stick 22 or 24 our there for one of your overs and you are sitting mighty fine. Got a 28 a few years back in a Pro/Am event on day 2, but we already had our two over 18″. It was pretty sad letting my biggest eye to date(on Sharpe) slide out over the transom without a pic even.

Your question, a limit of 17’s doesn’t cut it usually during a hot bite. You need a limit fo 17.5 – 18″. However, given the weather conditions and the front rolling through, I bet those boys will be happy with a limit of 15’s. Looking forward to the weigh-ins tonight.

This is a pretty cool site…Live Leaderboard, I think it udates every few minutes. Some fish already brought to the scales.

http://www.liveleaderboard.com/llb.asp?t=261

No surprise with Bob Jr. in the lead. He won the Chamberlain event last year.

CR

Doesn’t have much a bloodline either does he. I senior listed as a contestant. That’s awesome, wasn’t sure how the old boy was getting around anymore.

John,

I ran into Sr. two years ago in Ft. Pierre and he is still a fishing machine. He knows the river so well I bet he could nail fish from Bismarck to Platte with no sonar or GPS–out of his pontoon nonetheless!

I see several pretty good locals who are lurking in the back of the pack. Land that one 5#er and it’s a whole new game.

Curt

Today might be the only day they fish. Forcast for tomorrow is a high of 36, precep 10%, wind north 19mph.. In other words, about the same as yesterday when they cancelled!

some of those guys run all the way down to the Ft. Randall dam, now that’s a haul! Brrr. I have not been there yet this spring, but I’d be in Snake creek, or about 3 miles SE of Platte Creek there’s one heck of a smaller creek, I’ve seen some old timers set up in the shallows and slip bobber fish till their arms fell off. Say… anybody give the bait shop just up the hill from Platte Creek rec. area a try? Give their broasted chicken a whirl, and bring a spare box out fishin with ya. yum, yum.

I heard that Tommy Skarlis said on stage today that it was so cold “his nose was running faster than he could eat it”!

eeewww! now that’s just not right!

It is for Tommy.

It’s over…they cancelled day 3 also. Bob Jr. and Mother Nature win @ Chamberlain.

As predicted, Day 3 was cancelled and Probst Jr. is the winner after one day of fishing.

And now I get to fish against him next weekend To bad for the am’s up there though

What tourney is that? Good luck!!

Sate Farm Tourny down here at Sherman Reservoir on the 14th and 15th. $10K payer for 1st place. Lot’s of money for a NE tourny for sure Should make for a nice down payment on a new Yar-Craft next year

probst jr. probably knows that water better than anyone but sr.
hey will-eye, had a memorable ride a few years back with bob sr. on his pontoon on oahe. with a storm coming, when we got close to cow creek big v bottoms were idling in while bob kept the hammer down and that pontoon skated right across the big waves.

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hey will-eye, had a memorable ride a few years back with bob sr. on his pontoon on oahe….

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He’s quite the character but certainly a very good guy.

CR