Bass tourney gets early start
Posted: Sunday, May 28, 2006
The 10th annual Fish America Foundation Missouri River Bass Open will be a couple months early this year. Anglers will blast off from the Sioux City waterfront at 7 a.m. June 25 to compete on water stretching from the dam at Yankton, S.D. to the Mormon Bridge near Omaha. The event was held in August in past years.
The tournament has drawn more than 50 bass fishing teams each year and boasts one of the highest payouts of any of the Midwestern tournaments.
This year’s top prize winners will cash a check for $2,500 with an additional $5,000 paid if their winning weight of smallmouth and largemouth bass exceeds 17 pounds. Second place is guaranteed $2,006 with $1,000 for third place. Payouts will be presented to the top 50 teams.
The heaviest smallmouth will qualify the anglers for a possible $10,000 check. The team will be presented 40 envelops holding cards for $10,000, $2,500 and $250. The team will randomly draw additional cards until matching 5 cards and that prize is won. Second place smallmouth will earn $200. $150 prizes will be paid for early weigh-ins at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. for big fish and total weight.
The biggest largemouth weighed will earn the angler a check for $500 with $200 paid for second place.
Angles entering the tournament will eligible for a drawing during the Saturday Night Steak Fry for one of four prizes which includes $10,000, $2,500, $1,000 or next year's tournament entry fee.
The major sponsor of the event is the FishAmerica Foundation, a nonprofit conservation organization focused on a healthy and productive fresh and saltwater environment. Fish AMerica signed on as a sponsor eight years ago. Additionally, the event is sponsored by many local businesses.
It’s a DNR Approved, Catch & Release tournament and B.A.S.S. Rules Apply. Entry fee is $150 for each two-person team. Positioning is determined by order of registration.
While there are always a few largemouth bass taken during the tournament, the weights will be dominated by smallmouth, a relatively new fish to the river. After an original stocking years ago below Gavins Point Dam, the current-loving smallmouth bass has populated the river all the way down to Sioux City and several miles downstream.
While it has become routine now to catch smallmouth bass right at the Sioux City waterfront, it's a safe bet that tournament anglers possessing boats capable of making the 60 mile run to the dam at Yankton will do just that. Heaviest weights of bass at past tournaments have come from that area.
It's a grueling run through sandbar laced waters from Ponca to Sioux City and competitors dedicated to making that run will have the route prescouted on GPS units and then follow the same track the day of the tournament. It's a sure bet that several of the big bass boats will be capable of more than 70 miles and hour and will make the run in about 1 hour.
Although tournament statistics seem to favor the long run, I feel it is only a matter of time, perhaps this year, that a pair of anglers could bring in the heaviest weight from the channelized river. Fish in excess of five pounds have been caught down here this spring and this year's two month early date may just favor downstream anglers.
To enter the tournament or more information call Phil Claeys at (712) 252-1335 or Joe Lander at (712) 428-3913. Tournament directors are Steve Noble, Tim Kacena, Joe Lander and Phil Claeys.
Members of the Planning Board are Jen Roupe, Charlie Rothe, Karen Rothe, Tammy Noble, Ron McKinley, Sue Kacena, John Gilson, John Tremmel, George Margeas, Kip Gibson, Mark Allard, Wade Schoenrock and Tom Claeys.
Also part of the event is a Youth Fishing Derby at Bacon Creek Park. On Saturday, June 24, about 300 area youths between the ages of four and 14 will gather to test their skills against bass, bluegills, yellow perch and whatever else might bite with brand new rods and reels donated by Pure Fishing/Johnson and a Plano tacklebox. A casting contest offers them a chance to win a bike and other prices. The kids also compete with fishing stories during a shoreline lunch and winners of the story telling and casting contest will be center stage at the weigh-in the day of the tournament.
Information about the Youth Fishing Derby will be posted at local fishing outlets.
Larry Myhre is editor of the Journal. Reach him at (712) 293-4201 or email at: larrymyhre@siouxcityjournal.com.
The tournament has drawn more than 50 bass fishing teams each year and boasts one of the highest payouts of any of the Midwestern tournaments.
This year’s top prize winners will cash a check for $2,500 with an additional $5,000 paid if their winning weight of smallmouth and largemouth bass exceeds 17 pounds. Second place is guaranteed $2,006 with $1,000 for third place. Payouts will be presented to the top 50 teams.
The heaviest smallmouth will qualify the anglers for a possible $10,000 check. The team will be presented 40 envelops holding cards for $10,000, $2,500 and $250. The team will randomly draw additional cards until matching 5 cards and that prize is won. Second place smallmouth will earn $200. $150 prizes will be paid for early weigh-ins at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. for big fish and total weight.
The biggest largemouth weighed will earn the angler a check for $500 with $200 paid for second place.
Angles entering the tournament will eligible for a drawing during the Saturday Night Steak Fry for one of four prizes which includes $10,000, $2,500, $1,000 or next year's tournament entry fee.
The major sponsor of the event is the FishAmerica Foundation, a nonprofit conservation organization focused on a healthy and productive fresh and saltwater environment. Fish AMerica signed on as a sponsor eight years ago. Additionally, the event is sponsored by many local businesses.
It’s a DNR Approved, Catch & Release tournament and B.A.S.S. Rules Apply. Entry fee is $150 for each two-person team. Positioning is determined by order of registration.
While there are always a few largemouth bass taken during the tournament, the weights will be dominated by smallmouth, a relatively new fish to the river. After an original stocking years ago below Gavins Point Dam, the current-loving smallmouth bass has populated the river all the way down to Sioux City and several miles downstream.
While it has become routine now to catch smallmouth bass right at the Sioux City waterfront, it's a safe bet that tournament anglers possessing boats capable of making the 60 mile run to the dam at Yankton will do just that. Heaviest weights of bass at past tournaments have come from that area.
It's a grueling run through sandbar laced waters from Ponca to Sioux City and competitors dedicated to making that run will have the route prescouted on GPS units and then follow the same track the day of the tournament. It's a sure bet that several of the big bass boats will be capable of more than 70 miles and hour and will make the run in about 1 hour.
Although tournament statistics seem to favor the long run, I feel it is only a matter of time, perhaps this year, that a pair of anglers could bring in the heaviest weight from the channelized river. Fish in excess of five pounds have been caught down here this spring and this year's two month early date may just favor downstream anglers.
To enter the tournament or more information call Phil Claeys at (712) 252-1335 or Joe Lander at (712) 428-3913. Tournament directors are Steve Noble, Tim Kacena, Joe Lander and Phil Claeys.
Members of the Planning Board are Jen Roupe, Charlie Rothe, Karen Rothe, Tammy Noble, Ron McKinley, Sue Kacena, John Gilson, John Tremmel, George Margeas, Kip Gibson, Mark Allard, Wade Schoenrock and Tom Claeys.
Also part of the event is a Youth Fishing Derby at Bacon Creek Park. On Saturday, June 24, about 300 area youths between the ages of four and 14 will gather to test their skills against bass, bluegills, yellow perch and whatever else might bite with brand new rods and reels donated by Pure Fishing/Johnson and a Plano tacklebox. A casting contest offers them a chance to win a bike and other prices. The kids also compete with fishing stories during a shoreline lunch and winners of the story telling and casting contest will be center stage at the weigh-in the day of the tournament.
Information about the Youth Fishing Derby will be posted at local fishing outlets.
Larry Myhre is editor of the Journal. Reach him at (712) 293-4201 or email at: larrymyhre@siouxcityjournal.com.
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