02-12-2013, 04:37 AM
The Relay for Life Burbot Tournament was well run and lots of fun. Highly recommend it in the future. Very glad I participated and hope to do it again next year.
First, my team mates had to leave after the first night, so we knew the second night wouldn't be too productive. First night I caught 22, and the team was in good shape. Second night, I could not muster much. It sucked that last night, with no hits after 9:00 pm. Being alone was interesting. That being said, our team finished 13th, with 53 lbs of burbot. 15th place team had seven fewer lbs, 10th place team had 8 more- and both of those teams won $1000. We were in the mix, but no prizes for us, other than some burbot split three ways. I also kept a nice 23" inch laker that wasn't really releasable. The laker fishing in the day was fun, the burbot fishing at night was work. Six holes placed over a hundred yards fished all through the night equates to lots of ice clearing from the holes and the need for lots of caffeine.
First place team slayed it with over 300 lbs caught. Wish I could have posed a few questions to them to learn a bit.
My teammates filleted most of the burbot from the first night, so no pics of them all, just the last bunch I caught.
I will give a little advice for those that want to head out and do burbot tournaments at the Gorge. Set an alarm clock if you plan on sleeping on the lake. I'll explain.
With the fishing dead saturday night, and not having a hit after 9:00pm, (I was exhausted after 2.5 hours of sleep the night before), at 11:15 pm I hit the sack in my shelter. It snowed, which blocked light. Well, I woke up well rested, and curiously looked at my phone. It was 10:20! HOLY BAT DUNG! I was 4 miles from the final weigh in, which ended at noon, and my crap was scattered everywhere around camp. I have never moved so fast in my life. Every thing was in some form packed up by 10:40, and I started hauling both sleds back to Buckboard Marina. Well, the fresh snow made it really rough, and after about 3/4 of a mile, I cut the rope and left the heavier sled behind. I busted out as hard as I could, and made it with 1 minute to spare. I literally collapsed on the ground at the weigh in.
For the future, set an alarm. Also, never plan on hiking that far if you know a storm is threatening. I was a freaking moron
Fortunately, some awesome people helped, and let be borrow a 4 wheeler to head back and grab my second sled, which saved me 7 plus miles of misery. If you are on this forum, thanks to you once again!
All in all, still a great weekend.
By the way, Flaming Gorge is an awesome place!
![[Image: image_zpse857a97e.jpg]](http://i857.photobucket.com/albums/ab136/DrKevinLewis/image_zpse857a97e.jpg)
![[Image: image_zps9e236a85.jpg]](http://i857.photobucket.com/albums/ab136/DrKevinLewis/image_zps9e236a85.jpg)
![[Image: image_zps7414696d.jpg]](http://i857.photobucket.com/albums/ab136/DrKevinLewis/image_zps7414696d.jpg)
![[Image: image_zps1a64a137.jpg]](http://i857.photobucket.com/albums/ab136/DrKevinLewis/image_zps1a64a137.jpg)
![[Image: image_zps1d9bbe70.jpg]](http://i857.photobucket.com/albums/ab136/DrKevinLewis/image_zps1d9bbe70.jpg)
[signature]
First, my team mates had to leave after the first night, so we knew the second night wouldn't be too productive. First night I caught 22, and the team was in good shape. Second night, I could not muster much. It sucked that last night, with no hits after 9:00 pm. Being alone was interesting. That being said, our team finished 13th, with 53 lbs of burbot. 15th place team had seven fewer lbs, 10th place team had 8 more- and both of those teams won $1000. We were in the mix, but no prizes for us, other than some burbot split three ways. I also kept a nice 23" inch laker that wasn't really releasable. The laker fishing in the day was fun, the burbot fishing at night was work. Six holes placed over a hundred yards fished all through the night equates to lots of ice clearing from the holes and the need for lots of caffeine.
First place team slayed it with over 300 lbs caught. Wish I could have posed a few questions to them to learn a bit.
My teammates filleted most of the burbot from the first night, so no pics of them all, just the last bunch I caught.
I will give a little advice for those that want to head out and do burbot tournaments at the Gorge. Set an alarm clock if you plan on sleeping on the lake. I'll explain.
With the fishing dead saturday night, and not having a hit after 9:00pm, (I was exhausted after 2.5 hours of sleep the night before), at 11:15 pm I hit the sack in my shelter. It snowed, which blocked light. Well, I woke up well rested, and curiously looked at my phone. It was 10:20! HOLY BAT DUNG! I was 4 miles from the final weigh in, which ended at noon, and my crap was scattered everywhere around camp. I have never moved so fast in my life. Every thing was in some form packed up by 10:40, and I started hauling both sleds back to Buckboard Marina. Well, the fresh snow made it really rough, and after about 3/4 of a mile, I cut the rope and left the heavier sled behind. I busted out as hard as I could, and made it with 1 minute to spare. I literally collapsed on the ground at the weigh in.
For the future, set an alarm. Also, never plan on hiking that far if you know a storm is threatening. I was a freaking moron
Fortunately, some awesome people helped, and let be borrow a 4 wheeler to head back and grab my second sled, which saved me 7 plus miles of misery. If you are on this forum, thanks to you once again!
All in all, still a great weekend.
By the way, Flaming Gorge is an awesome place!
[signature]