Future Fisherman Foundation Hosts 10th Annual On-line Auction

Future Fisherman Foundation Hosts 10th Annual On-line Auction

Hall of Fame Angler and Classic champion David Fritts highlights this year’s list of fishing trips

Ponca City, Okla., (11/18/19)
The Future Fisherman Foundation (501C3 Foundation) will host its 10th annual on-line eBay auction starting December 1st and running through the 7th.

This year’s event highlights Lew’s Pro David Fritts, who is a past Bassmaster Classic champion and was recently inducted into the Bass Fishing Hall of Fame. David is known as the “Crankbait King” and spending the day in the boat with him will not only be educational, it will be just plain entertaining as he has a great sense of humor.

Shoppers also have an opportunity to bid on a variety of guided fishing trips, as well as a great selection of tackle packages and merchandise.

Interested in a new fishing reel? There are great selections from Fin-Nor, Lew’s and Eagle Claw. Need a shallow water anchoring device? The folks at Power Pole have sent us a very nice Micro Pole that is perfect for small boats and kayaks. How about a new locator? We have units from both Lowrance and Humminbird to fill your shopping list! need a top quality Fishing Rod, we have them from TBF Federation Angler Custom rods.

Proceeds from the annual event support F3 programs like Hooked on Fishing, Not on Drugs, SuperFish and the Tackle for Educators programs.

“We have once again put together a terrific assortment of fishing trips and merchandise items for this year’s auction” said F3 Executive Director Mark Gintert. “Cyber Monday will fall right in line with this year’s event, so if you are looking for a Christmas gift for that outdoorsperson in your life, you need to look no farther than futurefisherman.org where all the items will be listed and ready for bidding.”

Once again, A huge THANK YOU goes out to all of our donors this year; we couldn’t do it without them!

The auction goes live at 8am EST on Sunday December 1st. It will run for seven days and bidding closes December 7th, at 8am EST. (Check Auction Listing for potential variations in time and date)

Interested bidders should go to www.futurefisherman.org and click on the auction tab and then click on the eBay link to view the trips and merchandise and place your winning bids!

Help us “Ensure the Future of Fishing” by supporting this terrific event!

About the Future Fisherman Foundation
Established in 1986, the Future Fisherman Foundation (F3) unites the sportfishing industry and a nationwide network of state outdoor educators, national conservation groups, youth organizations and other educators dedicated to introducing America’s youth to angling, conservation and the outdoors lifestyle. The Future Fisherman Foundation (F3) operates under The Bass Federation (TBF) umbrella of companies and is the official non-profit education arm of TBF. For more info visit futurefisherman.org.

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

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.

District 1 Georgia, Florida TBF National Semi Finals on Lake West Point

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

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.