Triple Fish, Crab Feed events both successes

The Community Crab Feed and Triple Fish Challenge events held this past weekend and sponsored by the local chamber of commerce were judged a success, especially by the angler who has been trying to win that tournament since he was 7.

“The Community Crab Feed went great!” Grand Coulee Dam Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Rachelle Haven told The Star in an email. “The meals were delicious. We heard that many people were planning at-home crab feeds, which sounded like a lot of fun.”

She said 300 pounds of crab from Pacific Seafood were sold at the event. That included 108 crab platters, plus some 80 pounds of crab sold without the side dishes. The chamber also dished out 61 barbecue platters, bringing in just under $3,000 with the fundraising event, pulled off with the help of PK’s Culinary.

This is the first year the crab feed and Triple Fish tournament have been held the same weekend.

“The Triple Fish Challenge was a huge success!” Haven said about the other chamber event from the weekend. “We had 27 boats and 76 anglers.”

That event at Coulee Playland, coordinated by Nic Alexander, brought in just under $3,500. 

“Rusty Stanley, a 15-year-old that just qualified for his first year as an adult angler, won the grand prize: an Achilles 4-person inflatable boat with a Yamaha outboard motor,” Haven said. “He has been fishing the tournament every year since we began the tournament! He was the only one that brought in all three fish species for Triple Fish in one day of the two-day tournament.”

The chamber first held the Triple Fish Challenge in 2013, so Stanley has been fishing it since he was 7 years old.