Pictured below is Taylor Stewart who won a spot in the JRBWC for the 15-18 age group with 5.5 lbs.

Jason Hughes won the 11-14 age group with 7.5 lbs. Jason's mom, brought an aluminum boat in the back of her truck and set up a tent so they could camp out and he could fish. It rained on them Friday night, but it didn't matter. She went out with him in the small boat and he kicked butt. She is the MOM OF THE YEAR. She really is an awesome person to do what she has done for him to be able to fish this tournament. She said they would be driving to Pittsburgh. I asked her why? She said "so we can pull his boat home". I loved that answer.

We had an up and coming kid win the 7-10 age group. Austin Adkins had 15 lbs of white bass. He will surely be a force when he reaches the older age group. He is "eat up with it". He come away from the truck with some fishing videos. His dad asked him what he was doing with those. He told his dad, he was going to watch them. His dad told him that they were only going to fish and sleep the entire weekend. He asked his dad "who said I was going to sleep"? The boy is fierce.

We cooked hot dogs and had snow cones for all the kids and families. At registration we gave out Skeeter weigh in bags with tackle and a Casting Kids magazine along with an issue of Bassmaster Magazine. Each participant received a medallion similar to an Olympic medal. The top 3 in each age group also received a trophy. Each participant received a tackle box chocked full of stuff. I had tee shirts made specifically for the state championship, they all received one of those. They all had the option of taking a Zebco rod and reel combo.
The top finishers in the 2 older age groups received A trophy, a medallion, a full tackle box, a Kistler rod and a Shimano Calyx reel. 2nd place also received the same package, less the reel.

We created 4 more Jr. Bassmaster clubs. I will need to fill in a few gaps to make sure we have 6 in each new club, but we are on our way.

We had a 68 pound catfish caught by Travis Baker. He fought the big cat for 45 minutes. Travis had 13lbs on this lake in our regional tournament back in the summer and he was the favorite going in, but zeroed on Saturday. I know the fight was fun, but I bet he would trade it in for first place and a trip to the classic. I called Travis and the other 3 to zero the tournament up in front for a special presentation. I told them I had a special prize for all of the kids that got skunked. It was a special rod. I had them guess a number between 1 and 10. Travis and Maddie tied after the first guess. Then I had them guess again and Travis won. I went to my stack of rods and pulled out the 3 foot Scooby Doo rod and reel combo. It was pretty funny. Maddie was glad to have guessed wrong on that one.

Below is a picture of Maddie with her biggest fish of the day. It was only 13 1/2". I must say that she fished as hard as she has ever fished. This was because she had the drive and desire to get back to the JRBMWC. This program is awesome and I've seen the effect it has on my girls. So that makes me want to spread as much of this as I can to others. Keep this program strong and heading in the right direction. We can only go up from where we are right now. And from where I sit, we are already in a good place. Like my transplanted buddy likes to say, "these are the good ol days". Live em large and keep taking charge.

Thanks to Skeeter Boats, Kistler Rods, Yamamoto Baits, Berkley Gulp, Jim Owens, Charles Harkless, Buddy and Judy Hicks, Charlotte Baker, Oak Cove Marina, all the YD's and BASS / ESPN for making this possible.

Thanks,
Gary Smith
Texas BASS Federation Youth Director