Nearly three decades ago, recalled Bill Harvey who has shepherded the tournament through the years, the Midlands Bassmasters club began a charity tournament to benefit the American Heart Association because one of the members’ parents was having a heart issue.

The tournament raised money for the American Heart Association for nine years until it became part of United Way, Harvey said.

“The United Way people did not understand how fishing tournaments worked so we parted ways.”

Over the next few years the tournament helped the Shriners Hospitals and Secret Santa projects at local churches. The club then chose Toys for Tots as its permanent charity, Harvey said, in order to keep the money raised in local hands benefiting local children.

“We would raise the money and then go to WalMart, Sam’s Target or whoever would give us the best deal and buy $4,000, $5,000 or $6,000 worth of toys every year,” he said. “At that time I worked for the Medical University of Georgia, so we’d give half the toys to the Children’s Medical Center at the Hospital and half to Toys for Tots.”

The main point, Harvey stressed, was that by keeping the tournament and the beneficiary charity in local hands everything raised stays local, too.

“That is a big deal to us. We don’t do this for the kids in California – it is for the kids in the Central Savannah River Area. We take that money and toys and distribute it locally to make sure the kids are getting the toys instead of adults getting the money,” he said. “The foundation and its board of directors don’t get paid. Any money that comes into the foundation goes right back out locally.”

The union between the Toys for Tots Tournament and the Clarks Hill Fish for Life Foundation proved to be beneficial to both, Harvey said.

In 1999 Harvey started the Southern Anglers Challenge Fishing company and was running the charity tournament proceeds through the company account – a process his auditor warned was not a good way to handle it.

His problem was solved when Ron Brown with the Clarks Hill Fish for Life Foundation approached him about consolidating the Toys For Tots tournament into the Fish for Life series of tournaments.

“Last year was the first year we did it and this is our second year with the foundation. It is kind of a perfect fit,” Harvey said. “Last year we had close to 100 boats in the tournament and this year we are hoping to go over 100 boats.”

Registration will be held at Academy Sports and Outdoors in Evans, Ga., from 5 to 7 p.m. Tuesday Nov. 22. Entry fee is $25 plus 2 unwrapped toys worth $10 each, per boat. First place in the tournament will pay $2,500 and the big fish winner will get $500.

Besides being a major sponsor, the registration is being held at Academy Sports as a convenience to the fishermen, Harvey said.

“If they come to register and have forgot to buy their toys, they can get them at Academy and turn them in there when they register. They can also register at the ramp on Saturday morning with no penalty. In that case if they forget to bring toys, they can pay the $40 entry fee plus a $25 donation.”

Anglers should find the fishing good the Saturday after Thanksgiving, said Harvey.

“I’m in renal failure and on the kidney transplant list, so I have not been fishing since back in March, but this time of year the fishing is usually good on Clarks Hill. They should be schooling in some areas and some will be staging and getting ready for winter,” he said. “You can catch those fish with crankbaits, and then you always have the worm droppers who always catch fish. So they should be able to catch fish on about anything.”

The Saturday after Thanksgiving is a perfect time to hold the tournament, too, he said. For years the tournament was always scheduled on the first Saturday in November, but then a local fishing club started having their tournaments on that date, so Harvey decided to move his tournament to avoid the conflict.

“At that time we’d get through Thanksgiving and then that Friday my phone would ring off the hook with guys wanting to know if there were any tournaments that weekend. They’d say, ‘My wife is out shopping and I have nothing to do.’ So we moved it to the Saturday after Thanksgiving and it has worked out.”

The Toys for Tots Tournament is one of three major tournaments held on Clarks Hill every year by the Clarks Hill Fish for Life Foundation. The no-entry fee Anglers Appreciation Tournament will be held next April 21 and the Fishing For Kids Tournament, which is a regular bass tournament held in conjunction with a Kid’s Fishing Rodeo at Wildewood Park, will also be held next spring.

Sponsors include Weinberger’s Furniture, Milton Ruben Toyota, Save Phace, Ben Dreamin Outdoors, Sun Gro, Academy Sports and Outdoors, Wal-Mart, Aaron’s, Coca-Cola, Lincolnton Marine, Columbia County, Southern Anglers Challenge, Kicks Country 99, Power Pole, Owens & Minor, Cliatt Crossing, Fish Stalker Lures, Chick-fil-A, Lincolnton Marine Skeeter and Yamaha, P & D Electronics, Broadway Tackle, First Bank of Georgia, Bruekner’s Fine Meats, Tractor Supply, Eagle Paint & Body Inc., Sasser’s Guide Service, Ray Diamond Glass Co. Inc., Mr. Transmission, Office Max, Pair of Jacks, P & T Inflatables, E3 Sport Apparel, Falcon Concrete Services Inc., Advanced Chiropractic Center, Traditions in Tile and Stone, David Smith Construction, C N Brown Plastics and AnglersChannel.com.

For further information, call Bill Harvey at (706) 294-4732 or call the Fish for Life Foundaion at the two numbers listed below.

 

Clarks Hill Toys for Tots Bass Tournament

Sat. Nov. 26, 2011

Clarks Hill / Lake Thurmond

Wildwood Park

Call 706-359-3349 or 706-833-9660 for information

www.chfishforlife.org