Anglers gathered from The Bass Federation (TBF) District 1 GA-FL Bass Federations at beautiful Lake Eufaula, AL., on 20-24 September. Their individual quest was to earn a spot at qualifying for the 2024 TBF National Championship. Temperatures for this event averaged around 78-80 degrees for the five (5) days. Early morning fog followed by beautiful blue skies and a slight breeze accompanied the anglers. All things considered we could not have asked for better weather conditions. Water surface temperatures ranged between 78-82.

Tyler Wilson from the Georgia Bass Federation took the overall win on the boater’s side with a two-day total of ten (10) bass weighing 23-14 pounds. The winner on the co-angler’s side was Chad McMurrian from the Georgia Bass Federation with an overall two-day total of eight (8) bass weighing 17-08 pounds. On the boater’s side for the Florida Bass Federation Ray Trudeau weighed in a two-day total of nine (9) bass totaling 21-15 pounds. The winner on the co-angler’s side for Florida was Jon Christian with a two-day total of four (4) bass weighing 6-01 pounds. Ray Trudeau from Florida weighed in the Big Fish weighing 5-13 pounds on the boater’s side and Larry Atkins from Georgia weighed in the Big Fish on the co-angler’s side weighing 4 pound 10 ounces.

A very special thanks goes out to each of the volunteers from the Georgia and Florida Bass Federations that make holding an event of this scope possible. Without dedicated volunteers the angler experience would not have been the success that we enjoyed.

We also want to say thank you to Lakepoint State Park, the Lakepoint Marina staff and the staff at the Eufaula Barbour County Chamber of Commerce. They each have been strong supporters of The Bass Federation and the Georgia Bass Federation for many years. The lodge, restaurant, cabins, Alabama State Park grounds and marina are always clean and well maintained and their staff is professional, prompt, and most, courteous. The hospitality at the many shops and restaurants in Eufaula always make them a pleasure to visit.

The 2023 TBF ME/NH Semifinals was a nail biter! Anglers battled it out on Lake Winnipesaukee for a chance to go to Nationals and compete for “The Living Your Dream Package.” After 2 days of competition Maine Boater Nick Deering, ME Co Angler Connor Petropoulos, NH Boater John Levesque and NH Co Angler Peter Owen all earned a trip to the 2024 Nationals.

NH Boater John Levesque came back from being almost 5 lbs. behind the day 1 leader to take the overall win for the event on the boater’s side. NH Co Angler Peter Owen stay consistent and improve on his day one bag to earn the overall win on the Co Anglers side. It was a great event with tuff competition, big fish and big bags caught! For more photos CLICK HERE

Tough conditions at the District 12 Semi-National on the Mon River in Fairmont, WV this weekend!

Ideally, September is not the best time to bass fish in West Virginia waters but given the Mon River was blown out with high water just 3 weeks earlier made it more difficult.

The water was stained, and the water temperature dropped 6 degrees from official practice to the actual tournament days.

To make things worse, we experienced a 2-hour fog delay on Saturday (with fishermen losing the early morning bite) and had rainy, wet conditions on Sunday morning.

Only 3 fishermen had limits both tournament days (out of 76 anglers).

Congratulations to Chad Brinegar and Rick Mills for being the top 2 boaters and Trey Anderson and Chris Mills being the top 2 co-anglers and moving on to next year’s National Championship.

Idaho and Montana individuals qualified to fish the 2023 Semi-Final on Noxon Reservoir, September 23-24.  Idaho came with 15 pairs (15 Boaters and 15 Co-Anglers), Montana had 16 pairs (16 Boaters and 16 Co-Anglers).

Although we had some windy, rainy and cooling weather during the pre-fish period by tournament time, the weather cleared and we had a great weekend with temperatures ranging from mid-40’s to mid-70’s, very comfortable fishing conditions and the Bass seemed to like it also.  Bass were caught ranging up to the 6 lbs. and daily limits in the 18+ lb. range.

All had a great time beginning with a Pulled Pork BBQ banquet on Friday evening.

Top Boater overall and Montana TBF Championship Qualifier for the 2^nd year in a row, Yeej (Yang) Moua with a 2-day combined weight of 36.57 lbs.

Top Co-Angler overall and Montana TBF Championship Qualifier, Mark Hilyer with a 2-day combined weight of 29.67 lbs.

Top Boater for Idaho, Rick Funk, finished 2^nd overall with a weight of 33.11 lbs.

Top Co-Angler for Idaho, Daniel Dobransky, finished 3^rd overall with a total weight of 25.01 lbs.