April Indee Bass Club Event (Youth)

INDEE BASS CLUB

The year kicked off with a great start for the Indee Bass Club on April 24th.  Twenty-Four students braved the 30+ mph winds and temperatures in the forties to chase down some Wapsi River bass.  Adding to the curveball Mother Nature provided with the weather, the Wapsi River in Independence was also on the rise and parts were getting a little muddy.  Muddy water is never good for a consistent fishing bite, so the young anglers would have to make every cast and every minute count on this day.

With all the negative attributes going on with the Wapsi River, one positive was the water temperature.  The weather has been unusually cold, yet the water temperature still remained over fifty-degrees, while one team reported a reading of 58.8 on their temperature gauge at one point during the day.  With the warmer water temperatures, the bass were hungry and the ones that were weighed in, and later released back into the river, were very healthy and chunky!  The goal for this bass tournament was to bring five keeper (12 inches or more) bass to the scales for each boat.  Two anglers were set in each boat along with an adult captain to drive the boat and keep everyone safe on the water while learning the sport of bass fishing. Only two boats were able to catch their five bass, which is typical this time of year, especially up against the weather and river conditions.  

The results varied a lot on this particular day on the Wapsi, while seven teams were able to bring bass to the scales, five were not able to.  As with any tournament, anglers had to adjust and make use of their time on the water.  Almost all boats reported catching fish, including some nice walleyes and northern pike, however smallmouth and largemouth bass were the only fish anglers could weigh in at the event.  Here are the results, as well as angler reports on how they caught their bass;

7th Place- Jackson Beatty and Gable Eddy were able to bring a smallmouth bass to the scales by using a Ned Rig, it weighed in at 1.02#.  Shane Beatty was the captain of this pair of 7th graders.

6th Place- Cal Sweeney and Remy Ressler caught the third biggest bass of the entire event, a beautiful largemouth bass that weighed 2.43#.  Remy reported, "I was throwing a big square bill crankbait, cast after cast and finally when I was reeling it back from going along a fallen tree, the bass ate it right at the boat!"  The captain of this team was Dan Sweeney.

April Wapsi Champs: Dalton Hoover and Jackson Toale

5th Place- Cam Wilson and Hunter Patton came in with two smallmouth bass that weighed a total of 2.65#.  They reported catching both keepers on a Hot Rod Baits Tube using a Texas-Rig.  Their captain was Dave Wilson.

4th Place- Kegan Postel and Jackson Wolf caught two largemouth bass that weighed 3.45#.  Kegan said that they found some areas of the river that were out of the wind, had three feet of water and some laydown logs.  The fish were caught pitching Texas-Rigged Hot Rod Baits Big Craws and tubes.

3rd Place- A pair of Seniors, Teegan McEnany and Caleb Weber grabbed third place with five smallmouth bass that weighed 6.27#.  All their bites were in current, and all the fish bit on a Ned-Rig bait.  Their captain was Keith Corkery.

2nd Place- The eighth grade duo of Ranger Reed and Carter Cameron found themselves in second place with a weight of 7.99#.  They weighed in four largemouth bass, including the second largest of the whole event, weighing 2.52#.  All the bass were caught on spinnerbaits.  Captaining this pair was Todd Reed.

Runner-Up: Carter Cameron and Ranger Reed

1st Place- Jackson Toale and Dalton Hoover, both Seniors captured yet another win on the Wapsi River.  This pair had four largemough bass and one smallmouth bass that weighed in at 13.01#, which is a new club record for a tournament.  Jackson also caught the "Hank's Bait and Tackle" Big Bass of the tournament award, it weighed 3.65#.  He earned a trophy and a large tackle pack from Hank's Live Bait and Tackle in Waterloo.  Randy Toale was the captain of this pair.  

The top three teams earned trophies and Scheels awards of gift cards, hats and rod sleeves, all donated by Scheels of Cedar Falls.  After the awards were passed out each student was able to go home with some type of prize through a random drawing.  Rods, Reels, baits, line and many other items purchased or donated by the sponsors of the club; Colony Plumbing/Heating/Air Conditioning, Bank Iowa, Klever Concrete, Quantum Rods and Reels, Buchanan County Wildlife Association, The Rod Glove, Hot Rod Baits Bass Series, X-Zone Lures, Scheels of Cedar Falls, and Hank's Live Bait and Tackle of Waterloo.  To cap off the night, Jim and Cheryl Reed donated a meal of pizza for all the anglers and captains that took part in the tournament.  A huge thanks to all our sponsors for making this such a great event for the kids of Independence.  The club is open to any student in grades 7th-12th.  You can find more pictures and information about the club on their website, Facebook, or Instagram pages.  Coach Reed can be contacted by email with any questions or sponsor inquiries: treedbass@yahoo.com