Bass Club Digest

The purpose of most bass clubs is to hold tournaments for its members, so it makes sense that if clubs want to raise money the best option is to hold tournaments open to everyone.

Don Mason of the Eldon Bassmasters conducts a livewell check of a contestant’s boat before the takeoff of the club’s Thursday night open buddy tournament.

Whether it’s for a charity or raising money to send a team to the state championship, open tournaments have become successful financial ventures for various clubs throughout the years. Three clubs that have relied on open buddy tournaments to raise money for various purposes are the Eldon Bassmasters of Missouri, St. Louis Bass Busters of Missouri and the Housatonic Valley Bassmasters of Connecticut.

The Eldon Bassmasters have been running a Thursday night open buddy circuit at the Lake of the Ozarks for about eight years.

“It has been successful because it allows buddies to come down and fish a relatively inexpensive tournament for 3 1/2 hours during the week,” said Faron Morris, the Eldon club’s president.

“They just get to hang out together and do a little fishing.”

The Thursday night events drew as many as 25 boats and averaged about 14 entries throughout 2006. The steady turnout each week has spurred the club into holding periodical Friday night tournaments during the summer.
“That has been a huge success,” Morris claimed. “At first we capped it to 25 boats but we filled that the first tournament so now we draw from 25-30 boats.”

Housatonic Valley Bassmasters President Paul Hopco (left) chats with Ray Kerchal, the father of the late Bassmaster Classic winner Brian Kerchal, during the weigh-in of the open team tournament the club holds every year to raise funds for children’s programs.

Proceeds from these events help finance the club’s annual kids fishing tournament and defray expenses for sending the Eldon club’s team to the Missouri BASS Federation Nation state championship.

“We like for our state team to be able to go to the state tournament and relatively not have to pay anything to be there. The funds all come out of the club,” Morris said.

The club also donates some of its tournament proceeds to individuals in the community who have experienced various hardships, such as losing their home to a fire or suffering a serious injury in an accident.

An open buddy tournament on the first Saturday of December at Lake of the Ozarks has been a successful moneymaker for the St. Louis Bass Busters since 1993. Emil DeLuca, the club’s tournament director, believes the event has been a success because of the way the club runs it.

“We don’t complicate it,” DeLuca said. “We just make it about fishing and try to make it go smoothly without any controversy. Controversy is what creates problems in an open tournament.”

The Bass Busters tournament in December usually draws about 60 boats. Its success over the years prompted the club to hold another open buddy derby, a night tournament in late August.

The St. Louis club also uses its tournament proceeds to send its team to the Missouri TBF state championship.

“Whatever money we have left over we donate to a couple of charities,” DeLuca said.

For the past 12 years, the Housatonic Valley Bassmasters have presented an annual Open Team Tournament in memory of Bryan V. Kerchal each April at Candlewood Lake in Danbury, Conn. Kerchal is a former Housatonic Valley club member who qualified for two Bassmaster Classics and became the only B.A.S.S. Federation angler to win a Classic in 1994. His promising career was cut short when he was killed in a plane crash shortly after his Classic victory.

This team tournament benefits the Bryan V. Kerchal Memorial Fund, which provides and supports youth fishing across the nation. The event usually draws 70-80 boats each year and has helped the club raise $26,200 for the fund the last 12 years.

Picking A Date

One of the first steps a club needs to take if it wants to hold open tournaments is to choose the best dates and times for holding such an event.

The club organizers need to pick a date that doesn’t conflict with other tournaments.

A successful open tournament needs enough manpower to make it run smoothly. St. Louis Bass Busters member Scott Sommerkamp helps his club with its open tournament by weighing in fish.

“You obviously don’t want to schedule a (weeknight derby) on the same night that there is another well-ran tournament because you just won’t draw,” Morris warned.

Doing some research helps a club find out when other tournaments will be held.

“The resources to do that are readily available. There are so many web sites you can log on to and see what is going on,” DeLuca said. He also notes Missouri tournament organizers can visit the State Water Patrol website to see where and when regatta permits have been issued for tournaments throughout the state.

The Eldon club’s close proximity to Lake of the Ozarks allows it to have a short night tournament (6:30 p.m. to 10 p.m.) during the week. The tournament starts late enough to allow the contestants to come home from work and fish that evening. It also ends early enough so they can go home and still get enough sleep if they have to get up early for work the next morning.

“I still have time to drive home, get my boat and something to eat and make it down there in plenty of time for the takeoff and then I am home by 11 p.m. or 11:30 p.m. that night,” Morris said.

Setting Paybacks and Rules

Since they have an open tournament every Thursday night throughout the summer, the Eldon Bassmasters set a low entry fee ($30 including the big bass pot) to draw more anglers “It’s not a big payback, but I don’t think these tournaments are about the payback,” Morris said. The club pays 80 percent back to the contestants for each tournament.

The Bass Busters also try to avoid a prohibitive entry fee for their tournament by charging $100 per boat. “We want a bunch of people to come out and have fun,” said DeLuca, whose club has a 70 percent payback schedule for its open tournaments.

A good payout helps the Housatonic Valley club draw a big field for its benefit tournament. “We do have a very healthy payout,” said Paul Hopco, the club’s president.

“The more sponsors we get the better and with the better turnout there is more payback to the field because there are more entries.”

The club charges $200 per team for entry fees, which includes the lunker pot, and usually pays back 15-20 percent.

When planning an open tournament, clubs can use the same rules their members abide by in their club tournaments.

“Come up with a set of simple rules that cover the basic necessities so that you don’t overwhelm people,” recommended Morris. “We don’t want to run things real tight because we don‚t want to run people off.”

However safety rules, such as wearing life jackets whenever the outboard motor is running and hooking up kill switches to life jackets, should be strictly enforced.

"Safety comes first. We will not compromise when it comes to safety,” Morris said.

Luring Them In

All three clubs rely on the Internet to spread the word about their open tournaments. Fliers and tournament entry forms can be posts on a club’s website or on the various fishing sites across the World Wide Web.
“The members of our club all take a handful of fliers and spread them out in bait stores, gas stations and even schools. Young kids take them home to their dads so they can fish together too.”

The club also keeps its entry forms from each tournament to collect a mailing list of the contestants.

“Next spring we will send out an entry form to everybody that entered this year. We just remind them that we are starting up again and give them an entry form and invite them to fish with us,” Morris said.

The Bass Busters have been able to cut down on expenses for their tournament by eliminating the mailing of entry forms.

“The way people are using the Internet now, we have found that we don’t need the mailing anymore,” DeLuca said.

The club has also been successful at promoting its tournament by placing posters of the event at various bait-and-tackle shops throughout the state.

Local newspapers, fishing magazines and the Connecticut BASS Federation Nation web site are the media the Housatonic Valley Bassmasters rely on to advertise their benefit tournament.

Maintaining Manpower

Strong support from the club is critical to the long-term success of an open tournament. “You want people who if they say they are going to run it this week they are going to be there and do it. You don’t want to have a bunch of people show up to fish a tournament that nobody shows up to run,” Morris said.

Small-scale events such as the Eldon club’s Thursday night tournaments can run efficiently with two members.

“If we find only two people to do it we’ve always got club members pitching in to help weigh fish or other things,” Morris said. Prior to the take-off, one club member collects the entry fees and the other conducts livewell checks. During the weigh-in, one of the club members measures and weighs the fish while the other records the catches.

The larger opens require more manpower.

“Guys can just show up for our tournament because we don‚t charge any late entries, so I have four guys help me do the signups in the morning and then I have about five guys who help me with the weigh-in,” said DeLuca, of his staff for the Bass Busters open event.

Club members are needed for a variety of duties, including checking in boats, when a club holds an open tournament.

Hopco needs a bigger staff for the Housatonic Valley benefit event to handle parking, registration and livewell checks in the morning and setting up banners and weigh-in equipment later in the day.

“A successful tournament can have a minimum of six guys running it, but it should really be more than that. Eight or above is crucial,” Hopco said.

If your club has a loyal following and runs a smooth tournament for the members, it should be successful at holding open tournaments to raise funds for its treasury.

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