Indee Bass Club Finishes up the 2024 Season

(Written for the Independence Bulletin Journal) 

Jackson Beatty is the 2024
Indee Bass Club Angler of the Year

Another bass fishing season has come and gone for the Indee Bass Club.  This club was started back in 2017, it is hard to believe that this group has been getting kids out on the water for eight years.  Volunteer Coach Todd Reed has been there for every step of this journey for the area club.  "Each and every year has brought many opportunities for kids to learn about the sport of bass fishing, safety, DNR laws, tournament strategies, rod/reels, baits, tackle and fishing techniques.  The monthly meetings are informative and allows the student led club to vote on where they want to fish tournaments throughout the year.  Eight years, countless meetings, a dozen or so seminars, and thirty youth club tournaments, I'm almost done with the planning for the 2025 season."  said Coach Reed.  I guess time really does fly when you are fishing and having fun.

As the 2024 year came to an end the annual bass club banquet took place to look back at the year in fishing and celebrate the many accomplishments of the students.  This years' banquet had a record crowd of kids, parents, family members and captains in attendance.  The banquet started off with cookies and milk for the crowd to enjoy.  Soon after the awards began.  Coach Keith Donnelly started the awards off by honoring five captains.  Randy Toale, Dave Wilson, Brian Miller, Todd Reed and Dan Sweeney were given the "Captain's Cup", honoring any captain who has helped at ten or more events.  The bass club had 19 volunteer captains this year helping at our 5 different events.  Without the volunteer captains many students would not be able to fish in the tournaments.  After this the 2024 Limit Medals were given out.  These are earned by students who catch a limit or bass during a club tournament.  Each tournament has a maximum number of bass each team can bring in to the scales, either three or five bass.  This accomplishment is not an easy task, but was earned by the following group of students: Colton Cameron, Carter Eddy, Keegan King, Will Clark, Aiden Svoboda, Christian Simmons, Cal Sweeney, Gable Eddy, Ranger Reed, and Jackson Beatty.  

The awards continued with the Big Bass Award, this is given to the student that weighed in the largest bass over the entire year.  The 2024 Big Bass Award went to Cal Sweeney, he caught a 4.70 pound largemouth bass at the Okoboji Lakes in April.  Next up were the awards to the top three anglers in the club.  Each event that anglers fish they can earn up to 10 points for winning the event.  Nine points for second, eight points for third and all the way down to 1 point.  At the end of the year the points are tabulated, and the Angler of Year is crowned.  This year, Gable Eddy, winning two events and taking second in another took third place in the standings.  Ranger Reed was the Runner-Up angler, he won one event, came in second once, and placed third two times.  Jackson Beatty was crowned the 2024 Indee Bass Club Angler of the Year.  Jackson won two events and placed second in the other two events...what a year!  The Angler of the Year award has been given out for the past four years, each to a different angler; in 2021 Jackson Toale won, in 2022 Ranger Reed, in 2023 Colton Cameron, and now yet another student Jackson Beatty.  Who will it be in 2025...the schedule awaits and it is up for grabs starting in April.  

The Indee Bass Club is open to any student in the Independence Community School District.  It is free for students to participate in the events, including the state tournament.  Sponsors of the club make the entries free to students, as well as all the awards and fishing gear handed out during the season.  Sponsors include: Colony Heating/AC, Klever Concrete, Tim Reed State Farm, BankIowa, Hilltop Motors, Shay's Minn Kota, RONA Memorial, Cy&Charleys, Buchanan County Wildlife Association, SCHEELS of Cedar Falls, Hank's Bait and Tackle, Lew's Fishing, Strike King Lures, The Rod Glove, Hot Rod Baits, X-Zone Lures.   More information can be found on the club website, Facebook or Instagram.

Big Bass of the Year

Try Something Different to be Better

 

EJ with a nice Smallmouth caught on a JIG

I have been bass fishing seriously for about 30 years.  Over those years I have been able to fish with a lot of different people, many older than me and some younger too.  The sport of fishing has always enthused me, even from an early age...the thought of finding where a fish lives or is feeding, then giving them an artificial bait that they think is real is an awesome felling.  It is a thrill that I still get excited about.  Along the past few decades I have learned so much about the different bodies of water in Iowa, rods and reels, techniques and the many...many different baits out there for anglers to use. 

 Learning...that is what is important in fishing.  When you stop learning things, you will plateau as an angler.  Sure, you will continue to catch some fish, but as fishing pressure increases and fish get smarter (yes, I do believe in this hypothesis) anglers must get better to improve their game.  This can simply be trying a lure that you may not have ever caught a fish on.  It may be trying new areas of the lake or river, a place you have never been fishing before.  Both of these situations can be learning experiences.  When you learn, you become a better angler, perhaps not on that day, but down the road on a different day or body of water that lesson or technique might be key.  

I was reminded of this "learning" recently when I was a captain for a HS team during a tournament.  Ranger and EJ had their limit of bass in the first few hours, but really needed a couple bigger ones to move up the standings.  EJ, in the boat with me for the first time ever asked what I would be throwing in the later hours of the event to try and get something bigger.  It took me a half of second to answer that question; "a jig".  I knew my son Ranger had never caught a bass on a jig and he was using a Texas Rigged tube, a great bait in itself for bigger fish.  EJ, the other student said "I have never caught a bass on a jig before."  "I would be throwing one right now if I were you", I replied.  I grabbed my jig box, EJ  picked out a nice crawdad imitation colored jig, tipped it with a craw and he was fishing a jig.  We talked about specifics of the bait, bite tendencies and the overall feel of the bait.  It wasn't long after that, EJ did something for the first time ever, he caught a bass on a jig.  Guess what...it was their biggest bass of the day too!  

Learning...a little lesson that the boys probably won't forget anytime soon.  Baits matter, technique matter and rod/reel/line setups matter too.  It was a fun ending to the event with the boys, they both learned a few things, something I try to do every time out too.  They ended up 2nd out of 19 teams, which might help them remember that good day on the water too!  To be better at something, you must continue to learn and study the topic of importance.

Coincidental or not, one of my podcasts had this same message on this morning.  If you like short podcasts you have to listen to "Catch a Better Life" on YouTube with Jimmy Houston (He also has a book).  Jimmy Houston is fishing legend and a spiritual man.  He combines fishing with a biblical message every single day on his YouTube channel.  It is typically 10-minutes long and always has a great message to start your day off on the right foot. (he records them at 6am each morning)  He has a quote from the bible, how he lives his life and always a fishing tip for the time of year you are listening.  Give it a listen, I have found it to be a great way to start the day.

Link to Book

LINK TO YOUTUBE Channel