District 23 TBF National Semi-Final Arizona and California on Lake Havasu

The October 26-27, 2019 Semi-finals for D23 was held at Lake Havasu AZ. This world renowned fishery is known for its feisty population of Largemouth and Smallmouth Bass. Coming into the event were the AZ and CA teams made up of 18 boaters and 18 co-anglers. The weather during pre-fishing was predominantly windy with wind gusts up to 40mph creating tough fishing conditions, however winds calmed during tournament weekend and the weather was beautiful!

D23 Boater Winner Steve Lund

Saturday and Sunday boaters and co-anglers struggled to put limits on the boat. Stand-outs were California boater, Justin Arellano, limiting both days with a combined weight of 25.79lbs with Big- fish bragging rights of 5.57 lbs. While Arizona’s, Stephen Lund, also brought in limits on both days with a combined weight of 26.67lbs to just edge out Arellano and bring home the overall win for boaters. It was just as exciting for the co-angler side. Jason Havstad, California co-angler started out the tournament with the biggest bag for co-anglers at 13.49lbs, in fact, it was the third heaviest bag of day-1 of the tournament for boaters and co-anglers combined. However, day-2 for Jason was a different story, where unfortunately, he was unable to bring in a legal size fish to the scale – Havasu has a 13” minimum. This opened the door for co-angler Kerry Harris of California who was able to add to his first day total with a solid day-2 limit of 11.02lbs bringing his total weight to 16.66lbs and was enough to bring home the win for the co-angler side.

Overall, this was a terrific tournament with the challenges and triumphs that pushed the field of 36 individuals to bring their best game to the table. We look forward to great results at the finals from advancing boaters and co-anglers from our California and Arizona teams, California boater, Justin Arellano, and overall semi-finals winner, California co-angler Kerry Harris, and from Arizona, boater and overall semi-finals winner, Stephen Lund, and Arizona co-angler, Loway Shammas.

Georgia/Florida (GA/FL) Bass Federations held their The Bass Federation (TBF) National semi-finals at Lake West Point, LaGrange, GA, 26-27 October, 2019.

Twenty-Eight (28) teams from Georgia and Eight teams (8) from Florida participated. Practice was conducted on 23-25 October with the weather being picture perfect. Water temperature was in the low to mid 70’s with the lake being 2-3 feet below full pool. Registration and drawings for boat positions were held at the Mike Daniel Recreation Center, Friday evening, 25 October.

District 1 Ranger Cup Winner Oscar E. Aguero

JJ Kuerzi, Director Troop County Parks and Recreation, spoke and welcomed the fishermen to West Point and thanked them and the Georgia Bass Federation for choosing LaGrange to host this event.
Saturday morning blastoff was conducted in two flights. Boats went out at safe light under windy and cloudy conditions. Sunday weather changed to calm waters and a bright, blue sky.

D1 Florida Top Boater: Jason Stake, Top CoAngler: Tiffany Grant

Florida boater Jason Stake was crowned champion a ten fish tournament total weighing 24 pounds. Georgia’s top boater was Oscar Aquero with a ten fish limit weighing 19 pounds 8 ounces.
On the Co-Angler side, Tiffany Grant proudly represented Florida with a two-day total of 9 pounds 12 ounces. Georgia’s Co-Angler was Marshall Harrelson finishing number one overall with a ten fish limit weighing 18 pounds 6 ounces.

D1 Georgia Top Boater: Oscar Aguero, Top CoAngler: Marshall Harrelson 

Marshall Harrelson and Mason McCoy were the two Georgia SAF High School Fishing state champions. Mason finished in eleventh position with a two-day totaling weighing 11 pounds 11 ounces.
The top boater and co-angler from each state will advance to the 2020 TBF National Championships.

District 3 Tennessee, Kentucky TBF National Semi-Final on Kentucky Lake

TENNESSEE BASS FEDERATION, INC.
AFFILIATE MEMBER OF TBF, INC. / FLW OUTDOORS

By: Ken Head – Secretary

The Kentucky-Tennessee National Semi Final was held on Kentucky Lake out of Paris Landing Marina October 12-13. The pre tournament meeting was held on Friday night, October 11 and the fishermen were treated to a delicious fish fry of consisting of Asian Carp and all the trimmings. To the delight of the fishermen, they were surprised at how good the Asian Carp were. However, there were some who refused to believe that it was Asian Carp. During the meeting, a TWRA officer spoke to the group on what is being done to combat the carp.

Fishing was fair as the lake level was down with a cold front approaching. Fishermen were warned to stay in the channel markers and not to run in the fog. Unfortunately, a boat ran aground on Saturday morning within 10 minutes after launch and then spent the better part of the day getting the boat off the sandbar. Fortunately, no one was seriously hurt and the fisherman was able to fish out of the boat the next day.

Day one leader on the boater side was Slayton Gearin of Tennessee with 3 fish weighing 9.03 lbs. The big bass was caught by Larry Dunlap of Tennessee with a nice 5.12 lbs. his only fish of the day.

District 3 NSF

On day two, after a 2-hour fog delay, the boats were launched to high blue bird skies and mild winds. After the weigh-in, Lance Freeman of Kentucky with a total catch of 4 fish weighing 11.00 lbs was declared the winner on the boater side. Big bass for the second day was caught by Lynn Spears of Tennessee with a 5.02 lb largemouth. The overall Co-Angler winner was Michael Blumer of Kentucky with 4 fish weighing 11.11 lbs. By virtue of his top weight, he earned a boater spot in the National Championship.

At the tournament briefing, the fishermen voted to have a big bass side pot to be split between the big bass on each day. The big bass, caught by Larry Dunlap (day 1) and Lynn Spears (day 2) were worth $1250.00 each.

D3 Ranger Cup Winner: Matthew Wilson

The Pride Team bragging rights were won by the Tennessee team with a total of 41.15 lbs to Kentucky’s weight of 19.15 lbs. Each State put up $250.00 as a prize with Tennessee winning some of that good ole Bluegrass Money.

Thanks go to the City of Paris and the Paris Henry County TRRD for their hospitality, the Mayor Cooking Team for preparing the meal, to the Two Rivers Bass Club for the use of their live release boat and to the Paris Landing Marina for their hospitality. Special “THANKS” to Larry Dunlap, Regional Director for the Tennessee Bass Federation for all of his leg work in getting this tournament organized.

September 28-29, 2019 – Lake Winnipesaukee | District 17 (NH & ME) National Semi-Finals

It was time once again for District 17 to come together for the 2019 TBF National Semi-finals where top qualifiers from the State of New Hampshire and the State of Maine tried to best the field for a chance to punch their ticket to the TBF National Championship. Anglers could qualify through their TBF federated clubs or by finishing high enough in the Semi Final Qualifier Tournament (SFQT) Event. We had 34 boats for our National Semi-final each with a boater and non-boater to compete on Lake Winnipesaukee for our two-day event. Anglers had to bring in their best 5 fish and the highest two-day total would earn the highest finishing boater and highest finishing non-boater a trip to represent District 17 at the Federation National Championship. We also awarded lunker largemouth and smallmouth honors for both days in addition to paying out the top six finishers with cash prizes.

D17 NSF Anglers

Day One was full of anticipation and promise as our 68 anglers got ready to blast off out of Silver Sands resort to get started on their way to the Federation National Championship. It was a beautiful late summer day on the lake for our anglers as they ran around the lake in search of their best five fish to bring to the scales. When the scales closed at Silver Sands Saturday night it was Rick Landry of New Hampshire who was leading the field with a 14.91lbs. bag anchored by a 5.24lb Day One Lunker Largemouth. Dave Barnes Sr. was leading the charge for the State of Maine with a 12.10 lbs. bag of smallmouth. Mike Kelly of New Hampshire took Day One Lunker Smallmouth honors with a 3.71lb. Smallmouth.

District 17 NSF Ranger Cup Nick Deering

Day Two as the wind always seems to do on a multi-day event on Winnipesaukee decided to blow the lake out which made for a challenging scenario for many of the anglers that were chasing main lake fish around during Day One. Anglers were faced with a strong West and Northwest Wind which always makes for a challenging environment on Winnipesaukee. When it was all said and done it was Dan Tavilla from New Hampshire that bested the entire field with a five fish limit of 13.06 bringing his two day total to 25.33lbs. Nick Deering bested the field of Maine anglers with a five fish limit of 11.34lbs, bringing his two day total to 23.20lbs. On the non-boater side, it was Tyler Robinson brought in a five fish limit for 13.59 lbs. bringing his two-day total to 25.09lbs. For the state of Maine, it was Brian Rummery brought in five smallmouths weighing in at 10.48lbs. Rummery’s two-day total was 21.00lbs. Eric Low of Maine had lunker smallmouth honors for Day Two with an impressive 3.58lb smallmouth. Rob Sylvester of New Hampshire came in with a beautiful Lake Winnipesaukee Largemouth weighing in at 4.80lbs which was good for Lunker Largemouth honors.

District 17 NSF Anglers

The New Hampshire Bass Federation would like to thank Silver Sands Marina and Resort for being our host facility yet again for our Semi-Final Championship. We would also like to thank The Traveling Texas Smoke Shop BBQ Company for treating our anglers to an impressive BBQ meal Friday night at the Belknap Sportsman’s Club for our pre-tournament rules meeting and registration. Our anglers had another great meal with a Pig Roast from Smoking Lamps BBQ on the Beach on Saturday night following our Day One Weigh in at Silver Sands. Thank you Mark Lamprey it was a huge hit! We would like to thank all of our sponsors that support our organization and our anglers: Minn-Kota, Hummingbird, Trokar, Power Pole, Lowrance, Lurelock Tackle Boxes, Beast Coast Tackle, Keitech, Samatis Baits, The Rod Glove, DUDE Products, Rocky Ledge Tackle, Favorite Rods, and Flip Fly Tye.
Congratulations to our top finishers in the money and lunker award winners. Good luck to our national qualifiers Dan Tavilla and Nick Deering who are Boaters representing NH and ME respectively and Tyler Robinson and Brian Rummery who are our Non-Boaters representing NH and ME at the TBF National Championship!