2024 Indee Bass Club Kick-Off Tournament

Gable and Jackson with the WINNING fish from the Wapsi

 This past Saturday marked the first day of tournament action for the Indee Bass Club in 2024.  The Wapsi River was the site of the event that saw seventeen anglers take to the water on a chilly morning.  The water level was normal, the water temperature was normal but the recent weather was up and down every other day.  Fish like steady conditions, which made this day on the water a bit tougher than most expected.  However, like all bass tournaments, some boat was destined to find them, and when hey did, they caught them!  

Coming in as the Wapsi Champions were Jackson Beatty and Gable Eddy.  These boys caught five keeper smallmouth bass that weighed 10.05 pounds.  Jackson also caught the big bass of the tournament which weighed 2.66 pounds.  Jackson Toale, their captain, led them to a few areas that had the bass feeding up on crankbaits and Hot Rod Baits Tubes.  The two students caught 8 keepers throughout the day, most fish coming from two small areas on the river.  Coming in second was EJ Miller and Kayden Donnelly, captained by Brian Miller.  This duo brought in four nice largemouth bass to the weigh in, they weighed 6.46 pounds.  EJ and Kayden caught their fish on spinnerbaits, Texas-rigged crawdads and 4-7foot diving Rapala crankbaits.  In third place was Ranger Reed and Cal Sweeney, captained by Todd Reed.  They used bladed jigs and spinnerbaits to catch their two keeper bass.  The two bass weighed in at 3.21 pounds.   In the fourth place spot with one keeper bass weighing 1.97 pounds was TeJay Ratchford and Evan Hoyle.  They were captained by Dan Sweeney.  A bladed jig was their best bait on the day.  Rounding out the top five was the boat captained by Dave Wilson.  Aiden Svoboda, Will Clark and Clinton Junk brought in one keeper that weighed 1.46 pounds.  Full results can be found on the Indee Bass Club website.

The club, which is FREE to all Independence students was able to give away about $800 worth of fishing gear, awards and gift cards.  All students walked away with some new fish fishing gear with the help of our sponsors; Colony Heating/Air Conditioning, BankIowa, Klever Concrete, Tim Reed State Farm, Buchanan County Wildlife Association, Shay's Minn Kota, Rick Wendling Memorial, Cy & Charley's, SCHEELS of Cedar Falls, Lew's, Strike King, The Rod Glove, Hank's Bait and Tackle of Waterloo, Hot Rod Baits and X-Zone Lures.  

The club is operated by Coach Todd Reed, Keith Donnelly and Garry Anderson, weigh-in helpers include Dan Sweeney and Randy Toale.  The students next event will be the The Bass Federation Student Angler State Tournament at the Okoboji Lakes April 27th.  If you want more information about club or want to help them with an event, check them out on Facebook, Instagram and their website.

Jeff Heinze helping with the weigh-in on the WINDY day.