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Good Ole Boys Junior Bassmasters
 We often speak about the road to the Bassmaster Classic and inadvertently forget that this prestigious trip, at times begin with our junior clubs.
The Good Ole Boys Junior Bassmasters (GOB) of Central Square, NY are a primary example of a beginning.
We founded our junior club 3 years ago with 10 ambitious youngsters along with their parents and have since grown the club to 18 minnows, juniors and junior-pros. Our club has already accomplished a true non-profit 501 (c) (3) tax status, sent a youngster to Lake Winnipesauke in Laconia, New Hampshire for the BASS Federation Eastern Divisional’s in 2008, to Lake Simcoe, Ontario, Canada in 2009 and will also send a representative to Candlewood Lake in Connecticut in September of 2010. Reaching the divisional’s, is not an easy task in New York State as we typically have 7 junior clubs to compete against, all with very capable anglers.
The GOB juniors also captured top honors in the 2009 NYS Junior BASS Federation Club Team Championship. A total of 42 anglers and 7 alternates participated in the 5th Annual CTC. Our GOB anglers fought off the tough conditions of Onondaga Lake to bring home the 1st place awards and bragging privileges for at least the next 12 months. To accomplish this feat, the GOB anglers had to beat out 6 other state clubs by attempting to trigger bass that had become very lethargic because of weather fronts dropping down from Canada and across the Great Lakes.
Our GOB juniors grow their wealth of angling knowledge because of the support and leadership from our senior GOB members. We compete in 6 club and 3 state tournaments each year coupled with multiple practice sessions and in most of these cases, our GOB youngsters are fishing from the deck of a GOB senior’s bass boat.
To coordinate this many events in northern New York where we only have about 16 or maybe 18 weekends and many, many club & BASS tournaments, it becomes a “reel” team effort on behalf of all our juniors, boaters and parents.
While much of the emphasis has been on our juniors and junior-pros, we conduct Shore-Line Fishing Tournaments for our “minnows” (youngsters under 11 years of age) while our juniors and junior-pros are out competing on the water.
We always have a GOB adult on hand to assist and walk the minnows through the proper techniques that will yield them results with special emphasis on the safety of handling rods, reels, hooks and lures. Our minnows are only allowed to use applications and lures that have one single hook. Treble and multiple hooks are taught as they move up to the junior division.
Our ability to help defray the costs for our junior tournament entry fees, tackle, lodging, fuel and other expenses comes from our relentless fund raising activities. We must also acknowledge that our dedicated and generous sponsors are also one of the primary reasons we can operate the way we do.
To balance off our desires against our contributions we also allocate the time required to participate in various community functions. Our most recent event was to assist in the kick-off of the 2009 boating season for our NYS Canal System.
 Members of our club participated in the 4th Annual Canal Clean Sweep Campaign which marked the 184th consecutive navigational season of our NYS Canal System.
This was a weekend project and our juniors, along with some parents, donned with the appropriate Tee-Shirts, gloves, plastic bags and bottled water, all provided by the Canal Corporation, joined over 85 communities, trail groups and businesses in this massive clean-up campaign. This beautification project was carried out in segments along the canal system, canal parks and trails which spans approximately 524 miles across the state.
Our junior club holds meetings at our Central Square fire station every month throughout the year planning out our programs and strategies. We hold a banquet each January, highlighting our past year while proudly acknowledging our members activities and accomplishments with certificates and plaques.
Please visit our website at http://www.gobjuniorbassclub.com/ and enjoy our youthful slice of the Good Ole Boys.
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