HIGH SCHOOL FISHING WORLD FINALS ANNOUNCED

HIGH SCHOOL FISHING’S ULTIMATE EVENT TO BE HELD IN RUSSELLVILLE, ARKANSAS

HighSchoolFishing.org

The Bass Federation announced today it will conduct the inaugural High School Fishing World Finals in Russellville, Ark. on Lake Dardanelle, July 19-24, 2010. Anglers from more than 15 U.S. States and Canada are expected to attend this pinnacle event of TBF’s Student Anglers Federation and the rapidly expanding High School Fishing segment. All Student Angler Federation affiliated high school fishing clubs are eligible to register and attend this inaugural event and there is plenty of time left to get any High School club signed up.

Russellville, Ark. and the state of Arkansas Fish and Game have pledged an active role and support in the event. “Russellville is excited to be the host site for the 2010 High School Fishing World Finals, we look forward to having these high school students and their families here for the week, which will bring great economic impact into our community, as well as, allow them to see what a great lake area we have,” Christie Graham, Executive Director of the Russellville Tourism said.

According to TBF President, Robert Cartlidge, “The event will be centered on education, scholarships, catching fish and having fun; we intend to do all this with no entry fee to the event. In the future, there will be a format for who attends the event. However, the first one will be the tournament that anglers years from now will look back on and say, “I fished the first one, in Russellville” and we want to include as many as we can. The Student Anglers Federation has grown rapidly and our team has put together a unique plan to handle as many High School Teams who wish to register and try their hand at becoming the first High School Fishing World Champion.” Cartlidge continued, “If we have 100 boats or 1,000 boats this first year we’re ready for that, the more the better for the kids. Over time, we will grow; our plan is unlike anything the fishing industry has ever seen, and it will accommodate more boats at one event than there has ever been and do it in a fair and competitive format.”

The High School World Fishing Finals was designed around a very unique model never used in the fishing industry, but still incorporates items from sports longest running and most successful events. The event will settle into a “home” much like “March Madness” is with basketball. High School anglers and their families will know July is the time to vacation to the High School Fishing World Finals. The importance of education will be reinforced during the event with two simple written quizzes required of each contestant, one on boater safety & ethics and one on invasive species & conservation. The results will have an impact on the final weights and event outcome. As stated, the event field is virtually unlimited in size to be as inclusive as possible. TBF organizers want to grow the event to 1,000 or more boats competing and have a solid plan to properly manage those numbers. There will be no entry fees for the High School Teams. Each Student Angler Federation affiliated High School club can send as many two person teams they wish this first year. Each team secures its own boat to fish from and an adult non-fishing boat captain over 21 years old to drive the boat. The event’s “payout” will be in the form of thousands of dollars in post high school education scholarships, medals and trophies, and significant prizes for the anglers and for their High Schools. Students from all public and private schools that have graduated from the eighth grade, but have not started their freshman year of college are eligible to compete on a High School Fishing Team. Lake Dardanelle will go off-limits on Tuesday July 6 to all competitors until the start of the first practice day July 18. There will be multiple activities during the week culminating with official tournament days of July 22-24. Full details, entry forms and rules can be found on the website at highschoolfishing.org.

“For High School fishing, this is the culmination of years of hard work by a lot of dedicated people. All the state federations have supported young anglers since the very first federation was formed more than 40 years ago; youth is one of the federation’s cores values,” TBF National Youth Director, Mark Gintert, stated. “Over the years, others have stepped forward as well to serve the next generation of anglers, people such as, Ron Duncan, who helped model the national initiative “Hooked on Fishing, Not on Drugs” and industry veteran Terry Brown, president of Wired2Fish.com who started a “labor of love” that took eight years to get high school fishing in the schools and approved as a varsity sport in his home state of Illinois. The work done by Brown and director Dave Gannaway in Illinois is the “gold” standard in High School Fishing.” Gintert goes on to say, “There are many others “out there” working hard to help young people. They all deserve to share in the credit on getting things this far. By all accounts, the next logical step is to bring them all together for a true High School Fishing World Finals.”

The High School World Fishing Finals will be centered on a low cost family vacation of fun and festivities in and around Russellville, Ark. With its central location right off I-40, Russellville has everything for a perfect event where the high school anglers will be the stars of the show and a first class fishery and state park will highlight Lake Dardanelle.

HighSchoolFishing.org

TBF of SC Holds 2nd Points Tournament

By Rich Gerken 

The Bass Federation of South Carolina held its second point’s tournament of the season at the lakes of Santee Cooper. The morning weather was somewhat threatening with a good bit of wind and cloudy skies. These lakes are none to get rough even with light winds and many reported they had a rough, wet ride to their first areas. The winds did die down and the sun made its appearance which made the day more enjoyable and safer for all.

It has finally warmed up here in the Carolina’s and with warmer water temps and a full moon the big bass have moved shallow. As you can imagine many quality largemouth were caught this day. Bass are starting to lock down on beds, although they are hard to see with the muddy water conditions here.

First place in the boater division was our TBF of SC president Herman Vining weighing in a 5 bass limit at 16.50lbs. His biggest 7.19 lb lunker that had him celebrating loud enough to be heard half way across the lake. Herman reported finding his fish around cypress trees and pads with floating grass matted above.

Second place boater was Billy Wilson with a limit weighing 14.75 lbs. Billy also garnished big bass honors with an 8.28 lb monster. Spinner baits worked for him, with an early morning bite during the windy conditions.

Third was Pat Whaley, also getting most of his bites early with a spinner bait. Pat weighed 4 bass at 12.80 lbs which included a 6.00 lb kicker.

The co/anglers were not to be disappointed either. Terry Thomas, a relative new comer to the sport won his first ever tournament with 5 bass limit weighing 8.70 lbs. Second place was our current point’s leader, Kenny Grimes with 3 bass at 8.07 lbs. And third with 2 nice fish was Montae Gregg weighing 8.07. Big bass honor and 4th place went to

Rich Gerken with his 5.64lb largemouth.

Our next tournament is scheduled for April 24th at Lake Greenwood. We would like to thank the people at Black’s Camp for the use of their facility for our launch and weigh in. For more information about TBF of SC and joining in our fun please visit www.tbfofsc.com

Student Angler Federation Bass Tournament-Sandy River Showdown

What event could possibly get today’s teenagers out of bed at 0430 on a Sunday? An opportunity to compete in the first ever Student Angler Federation Bass Tournament in Virginia. Sunday March 28th 2010, 12 members of the Kenston Forest Kavalier Bass Assassins competed with one another in an internal school qualifier dubbed the Sandy River Showdown in Farmville, Virginia. This was the first step of the journey towards crowning the first Student Angler Federation School and individual champions.

The competitors are divided into two age groups, 11-14 years old and 15-18 years old. They compete head to head against others in their age group with place finishes determined by total weight. The results in the 15-18 year old group were: 1st Place, Orrey Lloyd with 8.06 pounds and Big Fish for the Tournament , a 7.10 pound monster. 2nd Place, Austin Slatyon with 1.46 pounds, 3rd Place, Lucas Lloyd with .81 pounds. 4th place, Allison Cheely, 5th Place, Margaux Hall, 6th place, John Chipper and 7th place, Michaela McGhee. In the 11-14 year old group; 1st Place, Carl Schwabenton with 2.2 pounds, 2nd Place, Steven Baldwin with .91 pounds, 3rd Place, Willie Wright. 4th Place, Brian Chipper and 5th Place, Lex Schwabenton. Congratulations to all of our competitors.

Orrey Lloyd

Orrey Lloyd

This was an awesome event even though the weather was brutally cold on the young competitors. It’s success can be attributed directly to Kenston Forest School, its enthusiastic students and supportive parents, the volunteer Boat Captains; Reuben and Chris Williams, Jason Hensley(Sandy River Bassmasters, Region 6); Ben Nice (Region 3); Ken Kirk (K2 Guide Service); Mark McGhee (Regional Pro)and Jay Strawser (Assistant Coach, KFS). KFS Team Coach and event coordinator, Michael “Doc” McGhee (Ft. Pickett Post Command Sergeant Major and National Guard Fishing Team Pro) and Tournament Director, Tim Mick who also serves as the TBF-Va State Youth Director. Additional thanks to Region 6 for use of its weigh in trailer, Haley Ford, Lowrance, FLW, the National Guard, Veterans of Foreign Wars Virginia, Wiley X and Automotive Excellence in Blackstone, Va.

The Student Angler Federation is a new program within the ranks of the Bass Federation which brings bass competition to the middle and high school level. The TBF pillars of Youth, Conservation and Fishing sit on a foundation of Education. The SAF functions both as a fishing club with elected officers and a mission of developing students civically and as a sports team with levels of competition in Districts and the State. Kenston Forest once again demonstrated its “lead by example” philosophy and started the first Club/Team in the Buggs Island/Gaston District as well as Virginia. Since then Jefferson Forrest in Bedford has introduced another Club/Team and explosive growth is expected throughout Virginia as word of this opportunity is spread.

Indiana TBF Member Wins FLW Fantasy Fishing’s TOP Prize!

Last week’s winner of the $5,000 top prize of FLW’s Fantasy Fishing at the Table Rock Tour event, was one of our own Federation members, Roy Marchant, of the Indiana Bass Federation!

Since the early 90’s, Marchant has been a longtime member of the Indiana Federation with the Heart City Bass Club in Elkhart, Indiana. He signed up for FLW’s Fantasy Fishing last year at one of Indiana Bass Federation’s regional meetings after hearing about it from his club president. It’s free to play, anyone can play right from their own computer, and he received Fantasy Fishing “Players Advantage” free with his paid dual TBF & FLW dues. He signed up in the league TBF set up for each state federation, and played with other Indiana Bass Federation members!

Roy’s team pick for the Table Rock Lake FLW Tour Tournament was Brent Ehrler, Ron Shuffield, Bryan Thrift, Scott Martin, Andy Morgan, Clark Wendlandt, Dave Lefebre, Ott Defoe, Michael Bennett & Luke Clausen. He had 3 of the 5 top finishers and 7 of the top 12. Pretty impressive. Picking Ehrler to win the tournament gained him 5,200 points, for a total of 12,730 points. Second place was 856 points away.

When asked, Roy said he spent about an hour and a half doing research online – looking mostly at how the anglers have done early in the seasons and how well they did on particular types of water, in the Southern region, like lakes and rivers. “That time spent has paid off, and I will definitely spend that time again, especially, if it means winning another $5k!” Even though the research helped, modestly, Roy said it was “an educated guess, with a little luck.” After winning, he realized his chances to win seem better when it doesn’t cost anything to participate! Of course, after winning the first event he leads the Fantasy Fishing overall standings and the race for this year’s top prize of $50,000.

Roy already has his team set for the next stop of the FLW Tour at Lake Norman in North Carolina. He has his favorites picked……and he’s not sharing! Can’t blame him.

Congratulations Roy! We would love to see YOU win the $50,000. Keep up the good work, and we’re proud to have you as a TBF Member!

You or someone you know aren’t Fantasy Fishing? Get started now! It’s NOT too late. It’s free to play; you can play in your state federations’ league or set one up for yourself or your club. Active TBF members also get Players Advantage free, which includes all the inside stats and “scoop” to help you pick your team. Players Advantage members win 4 to 1 while playing Fantasy Fishing. So, get your team picked and locked in for the FLW Tour event on Lake Norman. YOU could be the next winner of $5,000 or even $50,000!