“The Future” meets “The Big Time”

     The future for youth bass fishing has arrived and is growing fast. 2003 saw the first ever Junior National Championship tournament. It was held in Smithville, Missouri. What a great event this was and applause goes to the Missouri BASS Federation and Ray Kerchal for their efforts in making it happen. This year will be even bigger. This past May, the Youth Directors from each state asked Bass if they would be interested in taking over the Junior National Championship to help it grow. Bass and Stacy Twiggs, Bass National Youth Manager, agreed to handle the event.

      The exciting news is that in 2004, the event will coincide with the CITGO Bassmaster Classic. It will now be known as the Junior Bassmaster World Championship. July 30th thru August 1st, the qualified Junior Bassmasters from each participating State Federation will fish with the 2004 Classic contenders. Junior anglers from both age groups will be paired randomly together along with one of the top 35 anglers that have qualified for the Classic. The young anglers will fish one practice day in a Celebrity Pro/Am format, followed by a one-day tournament the weekend before the CITGO Bassmaster Classic. The pro will be there as a mentor and boat driver only. Qualifying for this event, from the I.B.C.F Junior State Finals, is Mark Gibbs (15-18 age group), and Jacob Wheeler (11-14 age group).

      In the future the World Championship contenders will come from the five Junior Bassmaster Divisional tournaments. Each state will send one angler from each age group at their divisional tournament. The Northern Divisional will be held June 24 & 25 at Michigan's Lake St. Clair, The top angler in each age group, from each state, will qualify for the 2005 Junior Bassmater World Championship.

      Contenders for the 2004 Indiana Junior State Team were made up of six anglers who finished in the top of their age group this past July at the Indiana Junior State Finals held on Monroe Reservoir. These anglers also had to be current members of an Indiana Junior Bass Club.

      So if this news sounds exciting to you, and you would like to be involved, then join or start a Junior Bass club today. As you can see, there are no limits as to what you can achieve.

      If you are interested in joining or starting a Junior Bass club, you can contact Ken Gibbs @ (317) 745-7404