Brownlee Crappie Shootout 8 results

Well the Brownlee Crappie Shootout 8 went off without a hitch. I would like send out a huge Thank You to Justin and Misty, Noble and Pat Morinaka for doing all of the cooking, CASA of Eastern Oregon, Baker County TLT, family and friends that helped out, all of the generous sponsors, and the 80 anglers that traveled to the shootout this year making it our biggest turn out yet!

Early indications showed that we might have a good crappie bite but the weather or possibly the water level fluctuations put the fish off for the event. Anglers that showed up a week in advance reported sporadic fishing but good sizes when you did find them.

The stars aligned and we had beautiful weather on tournament day with clear skies, no wind, and temps in the 90's. Participants took off early to beat the heat and to catch the rest of the morning bite. Though fish seemed scarce leading up to the event many anglers found multiple species on game day.

Fishing for Small Mouth bass was some of the best seen in years. The top water bite continued throughout the day only slowing but never shutting down. This made for great action and thrilling blow ups. The fish were decent size running 12 to 20 inches. Large Mouth were available but you needed to work a little to find them.

Yellow perch made a good showing and many were submitted for the contest. They were more spread out this year and not in their traditional areas. Worms were the favorite offering for these guys and the possibility to catch other species as a by catch was a bonus.

Catfish were scattered but those that dedicated time to targeting them with cut bait were rewarded with fish. The overall size was not huge with most in the mid teens in length.

Blue gills and sunfish were at their usual spots tucked up along the bank and in flooded grass and bushes. They were mostly little but provided great points for those that found them.

Trout were hard to find but there were a few submitted for points on event day. While pre fishing earlier in the week I was a picture of one landed that was about 30 inches. What a monster!

Crappie schools proved elusive but most anglers were able to find at least one specimen. Though participants reported seeing large schools on their fish finders, most said they were still tight lipped and hard to coax into biting. Most fish were caught trolling plugs to cover water and increase the chances of getting your lure in front of aggressive fish. The average size was about 12 inches.

Congratulations to all anglers. Even those that didn't place at the top still competed well and hopefully had a good time.

Placement:

This year saw our first repeat winner.

Evan Merz ran away with the points and scored all seven species. Evan previously won the event in 2019 and there is talk of sabotage if he shows up next year lol. He is a skilled angler that catches fish wherever he goes in fresh or salt water with an impressive resume of wins under his belt and now another buckle to add to it.

Second place went to Hoku Lau. Hoku had his eye on the buckle and fished hard to keep up with Evan. He had trouble finding a couple species buy still had a great showing.

Things tightened up for third place that went to James Savage. James has been working hard to target different species throughout the year and it is paying off.

Just 5 points behind James in fourth place was our top lady angler. Sam Hale took the woman's division by storm and placed fourth overall. She had an impressive points tally and won a BCS bracelet.

We had a record amount of lady anglers this year with 10 competing for the bracelet.

Category winners:

Crappie 14"   Mark Veary
SMB 18.75"  Pete Heredia
LMB 19.25"   Evan Merz
Trout 17.5"    Brian Beardsly
Catfish 23"     Evan Merz
Panfish 7.5"   Keith Matiskella
Perch 12.25   Dan Bennett

The larges Crappie winner also got an assorted prize pack and a custom made camp table.
 
Mack's Lure Challenge:

Mark Veary won the Mack's Challenge catching his 14" crappie on a Mack's Lure he received in last years swag bag. Quite a few other anglers had impressive catches using Mack's gear which goes to show how well and diverse their lures are.

The team event was looking pretty good for whoever got Evan as a team mate. It happed to be Cameron Heath. Their combined score pushed them ahead of the competition. Cameron pulled his weight placing eleventh overall. They won an assortment of gear and a pair of custom BCS camp tables.

Anglers did not know who their team partner was during the event and only found out when the winners were announced. We hoped this would foster a sense of comradery among anglers and everyone loved the idea.

Justin has a link on a different post with a bunch of pictures

Top 15 finishers

1  Evan Merz
2  Hoku Lau
3  James Savage
4  Samantha Hale
5  William Riley
6  Mark Veary
7  Jed Rivera
8  Keith Mastiskella
9  Casey Broyles
10 Tim Durheim
11 Cameron Heath
12 Swede Pearson
13 Jesse Burgess
14 James Reeher
15 Rod Cabales

Thanks again to everyone and we hope to see you next year.

Great event as usual Jed!  Thanks for all the work you put into these contests.  Even when the fishing's "bad" the fishing is excellent.

-Mark-