TBF by Dan Johnson
WHAT’ S MAKING NEWS IN THE BASS FEDERATION
THREE DIVISION CHAMPIONSHIPS IN THE BOOKS
At press time, the dust had settled on three of The Bass Federation’ s seven Division Championships set for 2016. As expected, each event provided hard-fought competition as TBF anglers battled for bragging rights and coveted berths in the 2017 TBF National Championship.
A Northwestern Slugfest
The action began May 11-13 on the Bonneville Pool of the historic Columbia River out of Port of Cascade Locks in Oregon, with the Northwestern Division Championship presented by Ranger Boats. The Bass Federation of Oregon
Peter Koshi served as divisional host for 56 TBF members from Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming.
Washington’ s Peter Koshi started the first two days with solid 15-05 and 16-09 weights, then finished even stronger with a 21-01 limit. Koshi’ s grand total of 52-15 earned him the Northwestern crown and a trip to the national championship.
Oregon’ s Kory Ray finished hot on his heels with 50-04, while hard-charging David Simmons of Oregon brought 19 pounds to scale on day three to land in third with 50-02.
Idaho’ s Bill Golightly took fourth with 50-01, and Jon Bial of Washington won a tie-breaker over fellow Washington angler Nicholas Fitzsimmons to claim fifth with 48-00.
Of the five state teams, Oregon’ s contingent topped the ranks with 174 bass for 510-15 and claimed the big bass award on all three days of the tournament. Washington had 176 fish for 435- 10, followed by Idaho with 171 bass for 412-03, Wyoming with 130 bass for 298- 09 and Montana with 130 bass for 290- 06. In all, 781 Columbia River bass came to the scale throughout the event, weighing a total of 1,947 pounds, 11 ounces.
A Desert Duel
The action continued May 18-20 with the Southwest Division Championship on Utah’ s massive Lake Powell. Presented by Cabela’ s, the event was hosted by Aramark – Lake Powell
Ty Faber
Resorts and Marinas, along with The Bass Federation Utah.
TBF members from Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah launched out of Bullfrog Marina to compete on Powell.
As it turned out, day three of the Southwest Division Championship was canceled due to severe weather and high winds. Places were awarded based on anglers’ two-day totals.
First-time TBF competitor Ty Faber of Colorado, who was fishing for the brand-new New Mexico Federation, set the bar high right out of the gate with a 15-12 limit, which included a 4-pound kicker that was big fish of the day.
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FLWFISHING. COM I AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2016