The calendar is filled this month with the start of the BASS Elites this Season in Palatka and then over to Lake Harris for the first FLW tournament. The first BASS OPEN is in the books with some decent weights caught on the Kissimmee Chain’s Lake Toho. The Bass Pro MLF Stage One is on Lake Eufala next week in Alabama.
The Bass Fishing Industry is busting from the seams. Every week there is a major tournament coming up and the excitement is coming from the grass roots with High School and College fishing leading the way. The growth is tremendous, and the clubs are filled with young anglers eager to learn and compete at the amateur level. I the State of Florida there are hundreds of high schools that have fishing teams and they compete at the highest levels. Each month 180-200 high schools travel the State to test their skills against other high schools competing for prizes and scholarship monies.
Be proud – your very own Seminole Junior Angler team is ranked 3rd in all the high schools and have one team qualified to represent the State of Florida in the National Tournament held in August 2020. Congrats to Davis and Bryce DiMauro representing SJA and International Community School in Winter Park, FL. We also had one SJA team WIN the Bobby Lane Cup for 2020. This is another huge win for our club. There were more than 100 high schools represented at this event and we took away the 5-foot tall Champions Trophy! Congrats to Caleb Kinyon and Grayson Ashley for this amazing accomplishment! Special thanks go to Joey Bloom, alumni of the SJA program.
Soon we’ll have results for the annual Dt John’s River Bash fundraising tournament on Lake Monroe in Sanford, FL. We worked for months on this event and I hope there is huge support of this tournament in the future. We couldn’t keep these high school anglers on the water without the help of all of our sponsors. Without their generous gifts and support we could not travel the state and represent Florida at Nationals each year. We depend on these partnerships with businesses and community members.
A special thanks goes out to: Orlando Coastal Angler Magazine, Airport Chrysler Dodge Jeep, Kysek Coolers, Oakley, Mud Hole, Sunniland, Boat Tree Marina, Anglers for Conservation, Shimano, Lews, Powerpole, All Terrain, Sun Paving, ATT Anglers, Tuskawilla Bassmasters, Teen Ten 4 Kids, Onyx Life Jackets, Bitter’s Bait and Tackle, Steve the Scrap Guy, Scott Steinard Family, Collins Dental, DBG Promotions, Huey Magoos, Starbrite, Bobby Lane Cup, B&B Jigs, Bassmaster HS Nation, Citizens Bank of Oviedo, AOK Networking, Gumbo Warz, Aloma Church, All American Excavating, Nate and Joey Bloom, Sean and Kathy Wooten, TBF, Alumni of SJA, Boat Captains in our program and most of all….Jason and Cathy Foss for the 6 years of vision, leadership, and commitment to these young high school anglers. A big Thank You to all these wonderful contributors to our fishing program.
