Day 2 of the TBF NW Division Championship, Presented by LOWRANCE, Gelles Hangs On To Lead, 1 More Day To Go!

The wind laid down, the sun came out, the lake slicked off and the bite got tougher……for most.

But Pingree, Idaho angler Kyle Gelles continued his dominance and his lead and sits on top the pile with 33-13. Gelles led his Idaho state team in extended their lead in the state by state standings with 5 of the 12 Idaho anglers in the top 12 places in the individual overall standings. 

Josh Polfer, Nampa, ID sits 3 pounds back of Gelles with 30-08 and Evanston, Wyoming’s Bubba O’Neil is in third with 28-11

In the state standings Idaho leads with 205-13, Wyoming made a move and now sits in second with 185-09, Washington is in third with 178-09 and Oregon and Montana sit in fourth and fifth with 161-13 and 151-08 respectively.

For full results  CLICK HERE

Day 1 of the TBF NW Division Championship Presented by Lowrance started out with Flaming Gorge rising steady and the wind howling out of the ENE. Angler shop talk around the motels during practice was all about how tough it was out on the lake to even get a single bite.

Much like most of the country, Green River, WY is just waking up out of a long cold winter. In fact if this event had been one week earlier all the anglers would have been snowbound for an additional couple of days as I-80 was closed border to border in Wyoming due to a snow storm!

This week brings with it the season highest temps yet in Green River with today’s high topping out at 73 degrees.

As is always the case, someone will find and catches fish.   For a good bit of day 1 weigh-in it looked like the some of the host team from Wyoming would be the anglers finding the big ones as Bubba O’Neil from Evanston, WY, weighed in with 15-07 and Wyoming state president Kasey Thomas,Green River, WY weighed in 14-08, however it was Idaho who ruled today.

Overall tournament leader is Kyle Gelles, Pingree, ID, anchored the Idaho team with a massive 18-04 including the days big fish of 5-14 in this NO CULL event. O’Neil sits in second with Josh Polfer, Napa, ID is in third with 15-04, Idaho’s Josh Ragan from Rathdrum, ID, sits in fourth with 14-12 and rounding out the top five today was a tie between Wes Wezenbreg from Olympia, WA and Kasey Thomas at 14-08.

In the state federation standings. Idaho is on top with half of their team finishing in the top 13 places, the total weight for Idaho’s 12 person team, sits at 113-01, Washington played the “sleeper” in the standings with solid bags from their team members and they are in second with 102-01.Wyoming sits in third with 93-02 while Montana has 71-08 and Oregon has 71-04.

In total 167 fish were weighed in that weighed 450-15. All fish were released alive and well back into Flaming Gorge.

This three-day event is a dual competition, Individually, between the best 12 anglers from each state federation in TBF’s Northwest Division and on a state team level each states 12 anglers total weight is combined to give a state standing to determine the best state federation team in the NW.

The top individual angler from each state advances to the 2015 TBF Federation National Championship as a boater and the second place anglers from each state advance to the championship as a non-boater.  Through our partnership with FLW the top 2 anglers from the TBF NW Div, at the 2015 TBF Federation National Championship will qualify to fish  in  the 2015 BFL All-American. TBF is the only path to the All-American in the western US.

For full results CLICK HERE

Congrats Mark! TBF is proud of you! Check out the full story on www.FLWOUTDOORS.COM  !

Conservation directors from 14 different states met at the annual TBF National Championship in Grove Oklahoma last week. The group traveled to the Centerton Fish Hatchery in Arkansas where they teamed with Arkansas Game and Fish Black Bass Biologist Colton Dennis and his staff to tour the Hatchery facility and also participate in an electro-fishing study on a nearby power plant lake. The Centerton Facility boasts approximately 50 ponds on its scenic grounds that are all spring fed and create a terrific location to raise smallmouth and largemouth bass as well as walleye and catfish.

The following day the group shared the results of the on-going AIS prevention program that the federation has been working on with the Great Lakes Sea Grant Group under the direction of Dr. Phil Moy for the last three years. Each state in attendance got a copy of the new boat wash training video which will also be available on the TBF website. Dr. Moy also provided the group with BMP handbook to distribute to their state federation members.

The group also discussed plans for an AIS certification test that state conservation directors and club members can take to increase their awareness and knowledge of Aquatic Invasive Species spread and prevention. This test should be available to members within the next few months.

Josh Johnson from the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation addressed the group on the final day bringing them up to speed on projects that the department is working on across the state as well as the terrific fishery at Grand Lake. Each member in attendance also shared the floor to discuss programs and challenges that are going on in their respective states.

In addition to the meetings, the Conservation Group also provided the fish handling duties at the TBF National Championship event at Wolf Creek Park. The Grand Lake Dam authority under the direction of Mr. Brent Davis provided a live release trailer for the weigh-in in addition to the TBF live release boat which was onsite each day.