The National Bass Fishing Trail’s Georgia-Alabama District Championship will be held on Lake Eufaula this weekend with 16 anglers qualified – all adults.

“Our junior program has been way off,” said tournament director Jeff Gordy. “One of our main deals in National Bass is to get kids fishing, get them outdoors and off the streets. But we have not been able to accomplish that lately, for some reason.”

According to its Mission Statement, the purpose of NB’s Junior Program “is to provide young people 17 and under the opportunity to participate in tournament bass fishing. Adult anglers provide mentoring while improving angling skills and knowledge that builds a foundation for a lifetime.”

The Junior membership fee is $15 a year and anyone under 17 can fish as a junior angler. Juniors fish with an adult angler, but compete against other juniors.

“We’ve tried several different things to attract juniors, but for the past few years participation has been off,” Gordy said. He urged anyone to contact him with the names of potential junior anglers

“We welcome all new members, and we’d absolutely love to have some new junior members,” he said.

It also has been an off year in terms of participation by adult anglers, who only have to fish three tournaments during the 10-tournament season to qualify for the district champions, he added.

“I think participation has been off for a lot of clubs and tournament trails,” he said. “It’s a combination of gas prices, the economy and the fact that a lot of people are out of work. A lot of our members are retired military on fixed incomes and that has a lot to do with it, too.”

But, he noted, the 16 who will compete on Lake Eufaula this weekend should enjoy some really good fishing.

“The water is low because we have a long-standing drought in the Southeast and also because they are working on a big white water project on the Chattahoochee River upstream and have held the water back. But we are going to have good weather with mild temperatures this weekend, so maybe that will help.”

Gordy said some of the anglers he has talked to are fishing very shallow right now.

“One guy told me he was fishing in two feet of water. But Eufaula has a lot of variance. Usually in December the fish are on a winter pattern – deep water and Carolina rigs. A couple of people will be fishing jigging spoons and they usually bring in pretty good stringers, too. So, hopefully we will see a mixed bag, both shallow and deep water fishermen, and everybody will catch fish.”

 

National Bass Fishing Trail Georgia/Alabama District Championship

Dec 1-2, 2012

Lake Eufaula

Lakepoint State Park

Call Jeff Gordy, 334-297-6003

http://www.nbtbass.com