“I knew someone who babysits one of their kids,” Brown said. “I said we will hold a small benefit fishing tournament. These families have kids that will soon start back to school and will need school clothes, school lunch money etc.”

Brown, who founded the Hydrilla Hawgs bass club to conduct a benefit tournament for devastated families in Ringgold, Ga., where he lives, following a tornado there in April 2011, soon realized “small” was not the operative word for the NoogaStrong Memorial Bass Tournament. To hold the tournament, he had reserved Chester Frost Park which is a main launch site for tournaments on Lake Chickamauga.

“Within five days I knew I was in trouble,” he said. “Chester Frost holds 154 boat parking spaces. There was no way it could hold the tournament.”

Brown contacted Shane Frazier, president of the Chattanooga Bass Club which has held tournaments on Chickamauga for 38 years and has drawn as many as 90 boats for regular season tournaments this year, for help. The two of them approached Dennis Tumlin, director of the Fish Dayton organization and the Rhea County Economic and Tourism Council, who welcomed the tournament to the Dayton Boat Dock, a mega-event facility capable of handling major tournaments.

The Heartland Anglers Trail held a tournament out of the Dayton Dock with 386 boats. Brown said there are currently 157 boats registered for the NoogaStrong tournament, but he expects a lot more fishermen to show up for the tournament.

“We can put eight boats in at one time at the Dayton Dock,” he said. “One ramp is five lanes wide and we will launch the pre-registered boats at that ramp. The other is three lanes wide and ones registering at the tournament will launch on that ramp. We’ve got a bunch of golf carts donated, so as soon as they get their truck parked we’ll load them up and carry them to their boats.”

Brown said he expects around 150 more boats to enter the tournament by the time of the launch on the morning of Saturday, Sept. 12, but he’d love to see even more.

“The Heartland had 386 boats. I’d love to be able to say we had 387,” he said.

The event got a huge boost when FLW Fishing stepped to the plate and arranged to bring its Rayovac weigh-in team to the event. FLW will provide the weigh-in stage and equipment, event staffing and promotional support. Brad Knight of Lancing, Tenn., who won the 2015 Forrest Wood Cup on Lake Ouachita in Arkansas Aug. 23, plans to participate and other FLW pros have indicated they will be there as their schedules allow.

“We have a rich history with the Dayton and Chattanooga communities, so to have the opportunity to help these families is truly an honor and a privilege,” said Bill Taylor with FLW.

Entry fee for the event is $100 per boat, $75 for active duty or retired service members, or police, fire and emergency medical service members. Payback will be determined by the number of boats registered.

Brown said the goal is to raise $75,000 for the families of the slain servicemen. Part of it will be raised by entry fees and the rest from auctions and other activities the day of the tournament, he said. Moccasin Creek, a Southern country/rock band will perform following the weigh-in.

“We are going to have activities and live music there all day. We’ll have a kid’s zone, corn-hole games, kayak rides and other activities. Walmart has donated 2,000 hamburgers and 2,000 hot dogs and we will be cooking all day, serving plate lunches at 5 dollars. And when the anglers come in we will feed them, also.”

Anglers can learn more or register for the event at noogastrong.fish. You can also mail donations to:
Chattanooga Bass Association
Attn: NoogaStrong Benefit Tournament
PO Box: 22605
Chattanooga, TN 37422

 

Chattanooga Strong Memorial Benefit Tournament

Sat, Sep 12, 2015

Chickamauga Lake

Dayton Boat Dock

www.noogastrong.fish