“Maple Bass is a great club if
you wish to learn how to bass fish. We don’t fish for
money, so it makes for really good sharing of information,
both after a day’s fishing and on the water!”
MAPLE BASSMASTERS OF ILLINOIS
The
Maple Bassmasters of Illinois was founded in May 1971 and the
members are from the Chicagoland area (as far south as Tinley
Park, northwest to West Chicago and even from Chicago). The club
runs a B.A.S.S. CastingKids regional contest yearly at the
Tinley Park Fishing
Show. Maple is affiliated with Ma’Bass and the Illinois Bass
Federation. It is one of the oldest clubs in Illinois and we
fish mainly Illinois, Wisconsin and Michigan (we have around 30
members annually).
The 2004 season was our best year fishing ever…in 24 days of
club fishing, we weighed 791 pounds of bass. Everyone
contributed to the record. Some of the mainstays of the club,
Jim O’Malley, Leo Doyle, Jack Jerosal, Ted Minassian (secretary
for three years), Mike Dieter, Ron Kamuda (president last three
years) and Bob Valiska have led the rush. But newer members Dan
Woods, Brian Vobroucek, Marty Nickels, Byron Glista, Ed James,
Bill Conrad, Ken Valiska, Tom Ondras and Ric Yniguez have really
added pizzazz to the club competition and activities.
One member has stood out on the fishing end. Bob Valiska (at
age 61), has won the Mr. Bass title six years in a row. In 2004
he had Big Bass (6.11 pounds) and Big Stringer (15.12 pounds) to
go along with his 12-day Mr. Bass total of 111.15 pounds.
Each year our club has our annual Buddy Tourney (including
cookout) and in 2002 we traveled to Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin,
where we caught 214 pounds of smallies in one weekend. If you’re
a bass fisherman, you’re missing out if you don’t get to
Sturgeon Bay!
Maple Bass is a great club if you wish to learn how to bass
fish. We don’t fish for money (except for a big bass pot during
the year and our Classic at year’s end), so it makes for really
good sharing of information, both after a day’s fishing and on
the water!
