Pend Oreille River Pike tournament sign-up info

[Anonymous]

Muskies Inc. Chapter 60 Mountain Muskies will be holding a early season tournament on the Pend Oreille River. We will be holding this tournament on March 26th,2011. We will be launching out of Cusick public boat launch. Start time of 8:00am sign-up and 9-3pm tournament. This tournament is a open so everyone is welcome to come and fish with us even if your not a member of Chapter 60 yet lol. If you have questions feel free to contact me. We only have a 20 boat limit. We are doing a early sign-up for this tournament so contact me with your names and phone at melodie@yjguideservice.com Craig

[Natebg1]

Hey Craig,

Sparky and I plan on making our appearance again and hopefully even though we are not with Chapter 60 we will be able to have an impact. Hey someone has to represent the Westside!!! Who knows maybe the Pike will just jump right in the boat and we won't even have to waste casts LOL... I am just hoping for a great time and fun by all!!! We are actually planning on getting there a few days early so we can fish ahead of time and maybe after the tournament as well!!! Don't know if you are interested, but we would be willing to meet with you and whoever else is interested ahead of time and afterwards, that means you too Doug!!! Let me know, just send me an email in my inbox within Washington Lakes. Look forward to seeing everyone from the Eastside real soon.

Nate
Ch. 57

[dougw]

Unfortunately, I will be coming back to Spokane From Wisconsin on the tournament date. I won't make that tournament.... :( I will however make most of the rest of our tour..... Can't wait for Curlew!!!!

[Fish-N-Fool]

I will also be pre fishing, as I have never fished this part of the river before. All my pike fishing in the river has been south of Cusick in the Newport area. Which I love to fish, but it's a little to far of a run to fish for the tourny.
So I plan to spend as much time as I can learning this part of the river.
I have a question though. After looking at the area on google maps, I'm not really sure where the boat ramp is. Is it the dock at the end of Monumental way? Cusick is kind of a big city and I would most likely get lost without some help.

[YJ Guide Service]

You turn right at the Shell gas station if your coming from Newport. Follow the road around past the school and the parking lot is on your left cant miss it...

[Fish-N-Fool]

You cant miss it...

Geee you dont know me very well. I've forgot where I live before! LOL

[Fish-N-Fool]

I have a question about the Cusick boat launch, How steep is it? and how is the current? can you launch this time of year? Does it ever ice up?

[YJ Guide Service]

The launch is fairly steep and it has been very iced over since they didnt plow it all winter and everyone drove on it. Its not bad to launch since there is a dock right there but there is usually alot of current right there.

[sparky1doug]

Any idea on the rules for the tournament? Is it on 60's web site. Since it's an Open are we competing as teams? What's the entry fee? Does anyone know if there will be any of the resorts open yet or where Nate and I might be able to sleep in the barn? I'm glad we're getting close, the lures are ready, the rods are cleaned, the reels are oiled. The cold weather gear is packed and fresh hand warmers are bought. Lets GO FISH'N.

[Natebg1]

You said it well Doug,

I am certainly ready even if I have to sleep in a barn somewhere with some good ole hay to keep me warm LOL... I am also interested to know how we are doing things this go around, the last time seemed to work great, but I think this time we should add in a Pike fish fry with some good Kokanee drinks afterwards. I am certainly willing to do my fair share of filleting as long as someone can bring a grill and charcoal!!! Oh, and make sure that everyon knows not to go for a Polar Plunge after the tournament, it usually takes a little while to warm up, unless they bring a change of clothes LOL... Can't wait to get over to the East Side and see everyone again!!! Remember bragging rights are on the line!!! See everyone soon.

Nate

[YJ Guide Service]

We will post all the info in the up coming days after our next meeting so we can finalize everything....

[Fish-N-Fool]

Had a great day, on the Pond-er-ray. Hey, I'm a poet and didn't know it. LOL

Had a good day on the mighty PO today, here is the first fish I got.



Got it at Ashton Fetcher bay, that's a 4 3/4" S-waver in Kokanee color sticking out of its mug. It was a beautiful sunny day the water temps in the river was up to 37.5 to 37.8 and other then it was a touch windy is was a perfect day for pike fishin in the late winter. Got there at about 11 AM and fished by myself for about 2 hours then my buddy Mikey showed up finally and we fished till the sun was starting to go behind the hill. I got 2 other fish, but unfortunately my camera batteries died trying to take a pix of the second fish. Both the other fish I got were a little bigger then this one not not a lot. Biggest was maybe 28". I had 6 bites total and got 3 fish out of that, I sure can't complain about that for this time of year. The river is in great shape, a little higher then when i fished it last, but it's pretty clear and almost ice free. The fish were hitting good in the morning and part of the afternoon till the wind picked up and the bite quit. Only bad thing that happened all day this time is I broke a rod in half on a hookset, but at least I still landed the fish that was the 28". It was one of my cheap Berkley Cherrywood rods I will never buy another one of those. My new swim bait combo is AWESOME!!!!! I love my new Carado E7. Landed my first fish on it ever, the 1 in the pixs. I can sling them swimbaits a country mile with this new setup. It's a 8'6" MH Simitar rod and the Curado E7 both by Shimano.
Hope to get out on the river at Cusick here in the next week so I can start learning where to fish it.
Later guys, Fish-N-Fool out.

[sparky1doug]

Great picture. Nice work and report. Catch one for me.

[Mark K]

Nice job Fish-N-Fool! The rivers finally picking up! I think I'm heading out Monday to give her a shot. Cant wait! Thanks for the report.

[Fish-N-Fool]

Great picture. Nice work and report. Catch one for me.

Get ur butt over here and catch ur own. LOL

[kevinb]

Is their an age limit on participants? More specifically,would a 4 year old be able to attend?
and will their be a judge boat to determine results in length/girth or opt for a livewell with a weigh in at the end?

[dougw]

Is their an age limit on participants? More specifically,would a 4 year old be able to attend?
and will their be a judge boat to determine results in length/girth or opt for a livewell with a weigh in at the end?

Kevin, We have not ever put an age limit on the tournaments. If you can handle a fishing pole (Snoopy pole or otherwise!) you can fish the tournaments. We strive as a club to be family friendly and get the whole family involved. That being said, I am not sure about kids (under 18) actually being involved in the money/prize stuff..... We will have to check into the legalities there, just to cover ourselves. But they have always been welcome in the boat to fish with everyone. Again, we strive to be family friendly and keep the kids involved.

Last year the entry was only $10 per boat, if I recall. That includes as many people as can be safely carried and fish out of your boat according to Coast Guard Regulations. We made it enough so we covered the cost of the permit, and allowed for a little left over for a good little prize for someone.

As far as judging. Fish are measured for length. Winner is usually the one with the most inches of fish at the end, so girth doesn't come into play. It could come into play, if there are two fish buying for big fish award (separate kitty). Most, if not all of the fish are kept. No arguments when the fish are in your hands! In the event that a larger pike were caught and was to be released, then another boat would have to verify like our muskie tournaments. So, picture next to the tape, and a witness outside your boat and all is good.

As Craig said in a previous post on this thread..... Watch the website on Wednesday evening/ Friday Morning. I will post the rules as we set them at our next meeting on Tuesday Feb 22.

[Fish-N-Fool]

Since I'm not familiar, with this part of the river and I'm sure a lot of others that plan to fish it aren't either, I made up a map of the area. I'm hoping that some of you guys that know it well will put names to some of these numbered slews so I and others have an idea where things are. I would also like to know which slews are fishable with a boat and which are not. I know all the slews on the right side behind the red line are part of the Kalispell Indian Reservation and closed to fishing, but not sure if there are any others that are or not.
Spot #1 on the map is the farthest north and the highest # is the farthest south. Like I'm wondering if you can get a boat up slew #'s 2 or 3 (This area 3 looks really good on Google Earth) and how far you can get up 8 and 9. Area 5 looks good on Google earth too, is it? lol
Also curious if 13 and 14 are big enough to get a boat into at the current water levels.
Can't wait for the "Big Tourny", hope to see you all there!

[Natebg1]

Hey Everyone,

Looks like Fish-N-Fool is hard at work in his basement, great chart by the way!!! Hey Sparky, some of this chart looks very familiar??? Maybe you can answer Fish-N-Fools questions better, I do know that part of the bend certainly looks similar to one of the areas you are familiar with. Great post by the way!!! Now, the water temp just needs to get up to about 50 degrees and the bite should be great. I know it was perfect back in October when the temp was 51 degrees. Talk with everyone later.

Nate

[YJ Guide Service]

Rick,

1,2,3, and 8,9 all depend on the water levels on how far you can fish them. 11 is a tribal cusick slough but you can purchasae a permit to fish this slough. 12 is the usk bridge slough, 13 is davis slough, 14 is skookum, 15 behind island is dead cow slough. Cant remember which one is which from the map 1,2,3 one of them is tacoma slough, one of them is calispel slough. 6 is actualy a indian slough too but you can fish that slough from what i understand, but there is a sign out front of the the slough says its tribal. Most of these sloughs require the water level to be fairly high. These are the ones i can remember right off the top of my head. 5 is not a slough but just the island there. Sparky doug and myself call 4 one cow island, since last year there was a cow stuck on that slough when the water was up and it was a island Hopefully someone else can fill in the gaps.