Indee Bass Club: May on the Wapsi River

EJ and Grady: Wapsi Champs

Wapsi River hosts first HOME event for Indee Bass Club

This past weekend the Indee Bass Club took to the Wapsi in Independence for their first home event of the year.  Twenty-four students from grades 7-12 joined in on the cool, windy day to try to catch some bass.  All anglers were taken out on the river by adult boat captains for 6 hours in search of the biggest bass they could find.  While the weather wasn’t very cooperative, anglers did catch largemouth bass, smallmouth bass, walleye and northern pike.  Each boat, 2 student anglers, are allowed to bring in 5 bass to weigh in at the scales to determine the winner.  Only two teams were able to do that, but eight boats did manage to bring bass to the scales for the official weigh-in at Teachers Park.

Coming in with the biggest limit for the event were a couple of seniors who have fished the club for many years.  EJ Miller and Grady Cornwell found a nice limit of bass that weighed 9.03 pounds.  They caught most of their fish along rocky shorelines of the Wapsi using a paddle tail jig and a spinnerbait.  They also caught a keeper on a frog bait in a backwater area.  In second place, fresh off a win at the Okoboji Lakes were Jackson Beatty and Gable Eddy.  They had a limit of bass that weighed 8.63 pounds.  They caught all their bass using crankbaits and soft plastic craw baits.  Jackson also caught the big bass of the event, a beautiful 2.46 pounds largemouth bass.  In third place was Colton Cameron and Carter Eddy.  They found three keeper bass using a different bait for each!  They caught them on a “dirty craw” tube, spinnerbait and crankbait.  Coming in at fourth place was Cal Sweeney and Ranger Reed.  They had two nice largemouth bass that weighed 3.08 pounds, they caught them pitching tubes.  In fifth place was Memphis Peyton and Brayton Kuhse, they had one nice largemouth that weighed 2.31 pounds, just missing the big bass award.  In sixth place was Keegan King and Landen Putbrese, they had one smallmouth that weighed 1.67 pounds.  In seventh place was Preston Miller and Kaden Shannon with a keeper that weighed 1.01 pounds.  Finishing out the teams that brought in keeper bass were Tavien Jones and TeJay Ratchford.  They had one keeper that weighed 1.00 pounds.

Overall, 19 bass were weighed in on Saturday and all released alive back into the Wapsi River to be caught another day.  Students commented on catching walleye and northern pike throughout the day too, which keeps you on your toes as you look for the next bass strike.   After the weigh-in, anglers and captains were treated with a grill out, thanks to grill master Randy Toale.  A huge thank you to our twelve adult boat captains for getting 24 student anglers out on the water.  They included: Brian Miller, Jackson Toale, Travis Butters, Dan Sweeney, Todd Reed, Dave Wilson, Andrew Gissell, Jesse Roscovious, John Malek, Tony Delgado, Jason Hoyle, and Matt Osbourne.  Without these adults the students wouldn’t have been able to enjoy the time outdoors…THANK YOU.  Another big thank you goes out to the Indee Bass Club sponsors for the 2025 season.  We have many local sponsors as well as some national sponsors that allows the club to give away approximately $800 of fishing prizes and gear at this event.  They include Colony Plumbing Heating/AC, Smith D&L Insurance, RONA Memorial, BankIowa, Cy & Charley’s, Tim Reed State Farm Agency, Buchanan County Wildlife Association, Hilltop Motors, Klever Concrete, Shay Minn Kota, SCHEELS of Cedar Falls, The Rod Glove, X-Zone Lures, Strike King Lures, Lew’s Rod/Reels and Hot Rod Baits.

For more information about the Indee Bass Club, check out their website, Facebook or Instagram pages. 

2025 Indee Bass Club SPONSORS

2025 Iowa High School Bass Team Challenge ~ OVER 100 kids fishing

 

Another year for this event has come and gone.  For the past seven years I have been able to give this opportunity to kids from all over the state.  It is an honor to work with my sponsors to bring this event to the youth of Iowa.  This OPEN bass tournament, not requiring and formal club or organization, is for all kids across the state.  There are a few bass clubs in the state but not as many as you would think.  This event allows anyone to grab a partner, an adult, a boat and come fishing for a part of $4,000 in fishing awards and gear.  This year the event took place on Lake MacBride near Solon, Iowa.  There were 57 boats, or 114 kids fishing on the day from 20 different schools.  They were; Benton Community, Cascade, Cedar Falls, Charles City, Waverly/ShellRock, CR Prairie, Anamosa, Des Moines Roosevelt, Gilbert, Independence, Johnston, Louisa Muscatine, Midland, Mt. Pleasant, North Linn, Prince of Peace, Solon, Tipton, West Delaware, and Wilton.  

The weather was beautiful on this day and the bass were biting.  This event is unique as there are a couple different competitions going on simultaneously.  First, like a typical bass tournament each boat weighs in their five biggest bass from the day.  The other part is the "TEAM" portion.  The two top boats from the same school are added together for the "team score".  It has been a fun twist to High School fishing, as the sport will grow fastest if we connect with schools.  In 2024 it was the Indee Bass Club from Independence taking home the Championship.  Let's take a look at how things panned out in 2025.  

2025 Team Champions: CR Prairie

Since the inception of this event in 2019, there has never been a repeat school champion.  That held true agin in 2025.  The Cedar Rapids Prairie School team took home the Championship this year.  Their combined weight of their top two boats was 23.08 pounds.  This was the schools first championship.  In second place was Johnston School.  They had a combined weight of 22.15 pounds.  This was the highest Johnston has ever finished.  In third place was last years returning champs, the Indee Bass Club.  They weighed in 15.99 pounds.  This was the 5th straight year the Indee Bass Club has finished in the top three!

Big Bass: Max with a 5.19#

Probably the biggest surprise at the scales on this day was the "Strike King Big Bass" that was brought in by Max of Des Moines Roosevelt.  The largemouth bass weighed 5.19 pounds, a HUGE bass for anywhere in the Midwest, a big congratulations to them for catching that monster during the event.

As for the individual boats it was a mix boat from Waverly/ShellRock and Charles City that claimed the trophy for 2025.  Clay and Will had five keeper bass that weighed 11.91#.  In second place was the team from CR Prairie, Nolan and Max weighing in 11.76 pounds.  In third place was Tyson and Kallen from Johnston with 11.63 pounds.  Coming in at forth place was Tucker and Micah from CR Prairie with 11.32 pounds.  Rounding out the top five was Marshall and Reese from Johnston with 10.52 pounds.  

Full STANDINGS HERE

Prizes were given out to the top three teams placing in the school portion of this event, as well as the top 15 individual boats.  Over $4,000 in awards and fishing gear was given away.  Rods, reels, tackle, life vests, fishing tools, trophies and the Championship Rings were all possible by our great sponsors.  A HUGE shoutout to the Cedar Falls SCHEELS store for their continued support of this event.  We are already planning and thinking about the 2026!!!  Strike King, Lew's Fishing and Hot Rod Baits were contributing sponsors as well.

Lastly, I could not do this alone... my friends Chad O'Brien, James Cook, Garry Anderson and Jeremia Matz from SCHEELS made this event go smoothly for everyone.  THANK YOU ALL!!!

Clay and Will with the biggest
limit on the day: 11.91#

The annual tournament has its own Facebook page that gives updates throughout the year, please follow for details on the 2026 event as well as all the tournament photos. Facebook LINK