TBF FEDERATION NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP HEADS TO KENTUCKY LAKE IN 2019

Ponca City, OK. (December 10, 2018) – The Bass Federation (TBF) announced today that the nation’s top grassroots anglers are headed to Kentucky Lake, home of TBF “Partners in Fishing” FLW’s world headquarters, April 11-13, 2019. FLW co-sponsors this premier event each year for grassroots anglers everywhere and this will be the first time the Championship event has ever been held on Kentucky Lake in the Federation’s 50-year history! The Federation thanks Henry County, TN for hosting this event, anglers will enjoy over 2,064 miles of shoreline to test their skill in this no entry fee event with a prize purse worth well over $300,000.

“The community of Henry County is ready to showcase the great beauty of Kentucky Lake.” Said Henry County Mayor, Brent Greer. “Our rural community considers ourselves a “World by the Water” and having the chance to bring anglers in from all over the country to this special place is exciting. We believe that if we can get you to come to Henry County once, you will come again.”

Competitors qualified at 22 close-to-home district competitions in the TBF’s National Semi-Final system

that span the traditional seven TBF geographical divisions, the framework is designed to make it easier for TBF anglers to fish premier events by minimizing travel time and expenses.

With the success of the new TBF National Semi-finals program feeding last year’s 2018 Championship event that event purse was pushed up to an all-time record payout of $300,000 in cash and prizes and the 2019 event is projected to beat that high-water mark set in 2018 by a good margin. The Federation National Championship will feature the top grassroots boaters and co-anglers from each state and Canada.

All fifty-three boaters and co-angler competing in the National Championship will fish the tournament from new,  Ranger Boats each tournament day thanks to our partners at Ranger Boats, Evinrude Outboards, Lowrance, Power-Pole, Minn Kota, FLW, and TBF.  Hotel room nights for the actual event days will be paid for and anglers will fight for a share of the record payout plus 15 advancement spots including 14 berths in the BFL All-American and 1 berth in the Forrest Wood Cup.

All seven division champion boaters and co-angler will advance to the 14 spots in the 2019 BFL All-American. The overall winners will leave with the coveted TBF National Champion Boater and National Champion Co-angler Titles and their Living the Dream (LTD) packages. The boater LTD package is worth $120,000 including $20K cash PLUS fully paid entry fees into the FLW tour as a tour pro for a full year, use of a new custom LTD Wrapped Ranger Boat for the season, powered by Evinrude, and a tow vehicle to pull it with, clothing package, travel stipends for each event and the National Champion boater will also advance to the world’s richest event, the 2019 FLW Forest Wood Cup!

The 2019 National Champion Co-angler LTD package will be worth $30,000, including 20K cash PLUS paid entries into the FLW series of choice, clothing package and more!

Coverage of the TBF National Championship will be broadcast in high-definition in Federation Angler TV block on the Pursuit Channel and streamed live from Paris Landing State Park Marina daily on bassfederation.com.

For more information about Henry County and Kentucky Lake please contact Tara Wilson, Paris-Henry County Chamber of Commerce (731) 642-3431 or visit them online at paristnchamber.com.

About TBF

The Bass Federation Inc. is the oldest and largest, organized grassroots angling organization in America and a member of the fresh water fishing hall of fame. TBF is 100 percent owned by those it serves and is dedicated to the sport of fishing. TBF affiliated state federations and their member clubs conduct more than 20,000 fishing, youth and conservation events at the local level each year, and have provided the foundation for the entire bass fishing industry for 50 years. The Bass Federation is proud “Partners in Fishing” with FLW, which helps support this annual event along with other industry-leading TBF sponsors including Ranger Boats, Evinrude, Lowrance, Bass Pro Shops, Cabela’s, Humminbird, Minn Kota, Berkley,T-H Marine, and Power Pole. For more information about The Bass Federation, visit bassfederation.com, or call 580-765-9031. Look for TBF on facebook at Facebook.com/thebassfederation and on twitter at Twitter.com/bassfederation.

About FLW

FLW is the world’s largest tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money in 2018 across five tournament circuits. Headquartered in Benton, Kentucky, with offices in Minneapolis, FLW conducts more than 235 bass-fishing tournaments annually across the United States and sanctions tournaments in Canada, China, Mexico, South Africa and South Korea. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show, broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, while FLW Bass Fishing magazine delivers cutting-edge tips from top pros. For more information visit FLWFishing.com and follow FLW at Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube and Snapchat: @FLWFishing.

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The Idaho-Montana Semi-Final event went off without a hitch after initial weather reports advised of weekend high winds and rain on Saturday and holding a 2-day event questionable! Thankfully even with the windy conditions, which turned out to not be as high as forecast, the fishing went well and a two day event resulted in crowning excited finalists for the 2019 TBF National Championship event.

Idaho hosted the 2018 District 19 ID-MT Semi-Final held at CJ Strike Res. on the Snake River of Southern Idaho, just a few minutes from tiny Grandview, Idaho. Black Sands Resort accommodated both the Friday registration and a very tasty Pork dinner meal for all 56 Anglers and volunteers as well as the daily launches and drive through weigh-ins.

After the National Anthem and morning launch, just a little cool, Day One found Idaho’s Boater Jim Davis weighing a respectful and only 17lb bag weight at 17.28lbs. Montana’s Jason Crone was just a pound under at 16.17lbs. Idaho’s Boater Tony Shuyler weighed a nice 5.33lb. largemouth and total weight of 16.11 putting him in 3^rd for the day. Day One Montana Co-Angler Quincy Grupenhoff dominated with a 13.61lb. weight leaving him solidly in first for Day two. Montana Co-Angler Steve Kujawa followed in 2^nd with 12.41lbs. and Randy Starr positioned at 3^rd. Day one ended up a very nice day, including some morning rain, of fishing with 52 of 56 Anglers weighing limits.

After checking the forecast, it was determined safe to launch for a second day of fishing. The wind changed the fishing and many struggled with a couple of boats coming in a little early, mostly out of frustration, rather than the wind. Wind was a steady 19-21mph throughout the day with sunny skies. Boater leader changed with Idaho’s Justin Soppe weighing a consistent 15.74lb. 2^nd day total after weighing 15.72 on day one for a total 2-day weight of 31.46lb. followed heartbreakingly close by Idaho’s Jim Davis at 31.25 total weight. Montana’s Jason Crone finished off the 2 days with 30.25lbs to take a solid finish at 3^rd. No leader change for the Co’s with Montana’s Quincy Grupenhoff maintaining the lead with a total 25.62 lb. bag followed by Idaho’s Jared Hoffman with a total weight of 24.63lbs. and Tarry Gibson weighing the biggest bag for the day of the co’s at 13.67 supported by a beautiful 6.26lb. monster CJ largemouth. 34 of 56 Anglers weighed limits on Day two reflecting the windy conditions that Anglers dealt with all day.

Final top finishing anglers are Idaho Boater Justin Soppe and Co Jared Hoffman and Montana Boater Jason Crone and Co Quincy Grupenhoff who will move on and compete at the 2019 TBF National Championship. Montana gave Idaho a strong run for the State Pride finish but in the end, Idaho squeaked out a win by less than a pound difference. Idaho’s Boater Justin Soppe also took home the $500 Ranger Cup award for the event.

Final day report of the district 14 Regional semifinal Quinte West, Ontario Canada.

Well after a stingy day one the bay. The bay of Quinte started to show its true colors on Sunday. Calm waters and anglers having time to dial in the patterns saw 47 limits brought to the scale compared to 16 on day one. After day one the Boater race was tight between Justin Fung, Gerrard Cocks from Ontario and Pennsylvania Angler Bob Brody separated by 2.26 lbs.

Justin Fung_CA

Champion Bob Brody

All three Anglers came in on day two with good limits, Bob Brody came to the scales with the largest bag of the event, 5 largemouth totaling 19.62 lbs., to edge out Justin Fung as the district 14 Champion.

On the Co-Angler side Ronald Wolf of Pennsylvania who put two consistent days together with a combined weight of 25.89 lbs. to win by over 5 lbs.

Co-Angler Champ Ron Wolf

A memorable day for fellow Penn co angler Troy Davis who only brought 4 largemouth in that tipped the scales at 19.42 lbs. what might have been with that 5th fish.

Big Fish Scott Senna

On the state pride side Pennsylvania claimed honors with a total of 156.96 lbs. with Ontario second at 136.72 and New York at 91.90.

The Ontario Federation would like to thank Quinte West for doing a fabulous job of being our host community. And send out our thanks to all our guest Anglers from Pennsylvania and New York States.

Pre-fishing in wind and rain, then evening T-storms and tornado watches gave way to a 41 degree cold front to greet Minnesota and Wisconsin’s best bass anglers on day one. After a short fog delay 108 anglers left Winona’s Levee Park to pursue the green and brown bass that call the Mighty Mississippi home.

WI Co-Angler Champion Deven Etnyre used his river fishing experience from pool 13 out of Illinois, where he is from, to power fish and cover water with swim jigs and pitching to wood. WI Boater Champion Brady Ferrell had his day one grass flat muddy up on day 2.

The earlier days rains had finally made it down to his spot. Randy was prepared though, as he had back up spots to go. He used full practice days to locate many fish. His Brovarney jigs and backup plan on day two sealed his second trip to TBF Nationals, plus $500 Ranger Cup money for this event. MN Co-Angler Champion Richard Conrad decided to fish exclusively for smallmouth, he felt with rising and muddy water coming along with the severe cold front bronze backs would put on the feed bags and a sack of largemouth would not be competitive at the scales.

Both Devon and Richard said their boaters were great and a big part of producing the quality bags.

The 2018 District 9 overall Champion Minnesotan Randy Wieczorek had a good day on day one, but knew he had to step it up on day 2, with the river getting more muddy as the hours went by on day one, he decided to change things up on day two. With the back waters remaining clear, he frog fished and brought in a huge 16.33 sack to seal the win. Marty Terveer was delayed by a barge at the dam, so he pitched the nearby shoreline as he waited, to it’s surprise a 5.71 largemouth took a ride back to weigh in as the events’ largest fish. We are all looking forward to next year’s shoot out in Lacrosse, WI.