“No backup lines, no boats bumping against each other, no waiting on anybody – you just go where you want to fish and make your first cast at the same time everybody else does. Everybody starts at the same time and everybody quits at the same time. Nobody has an advantage and nobody is at a disadvantage,” said Flynn Gerald, tournament director.

“We’ve got the biggest and best tournament in the State of Alabama, the biggest and best payback tournament in the state and we make it as easy as we can for the fishermen.”

Gerald explained how the tournament works:

“On Saturday morning all they have to do is go fishing. You can put in anywhere on the lake, upriver, down the lake, wherever. Then, once you are on your spot, you make your first cast right at 5:30 a.m. You have to quit fishing at 3 p.m. and you have one hour to get to Paradise Point Marina with your fish. You can come by land or by water, but you have to be there by 4 o’clock or be disqualified – no exceptions.”

First place pays $5,000 and there is a guaranteed payout of $45,000, including $25,000 in draw prizes, Gerald said. There is also a $5,000 bonus to the highest finisher in a qualifying boat – an originally owned boat brought from Airport Marine two years old or newer from the date of the tournament.

Even those who don’t weigh a fish may win some money, he added.

“Everybody who does not catch a fish puts their flight card in a box and we draw five of those cards out for $200 apiece, the same as the cost of the entry fee.”

The $200 per team entry fee covers the boat launch, Big Fish, and donations to the Boys and Girls Club of Central Alabama – and it’s tax deductible! But, the prize money distribution is just getting started by then, he noted.

“After the tournament we are going to give away $25,000 in cash to the fishermen. We’re going to draw 50 names for $500 apiece. Every angler has a one in four chance to win that $500. We had a team last year that won $1,000 and never caught a fish,” Gerald said. “I don’t know of any tournament that has ever done that and I think if people knew about it they would fish it next Saturday. Nobody can touch it.”

Last year the tournament drew almost 200 boats and Gerald said he needs at least 50 more to enter this year’s tournament to break even. Just to keep everything above board, Gerald said a polygraph test will be given randomly to three or four teams.

Registration will be held at Airport Marine, 424 Highway 87, Alabaster, Ala., 8 a.m.-6 p.m., Monday through Friday.

“If they can’t make it during the week I will be at Paradise Point to take entries from 3 o’clock on Saturday morning,” her said.

Anglers should find excellent fishing early in the morning, he said, but it probably will drop off some once the sun gets up high.

“It’s the time of year for those fish to go deep, but on Lay Lake that’s about 10 to 12 feet,” he said.

Over the past 110 years, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Central Alabama, which began with the Boys Club of Birmingham in 1901, has helped shape the lives of thousands of children. The Club conducts outreach programs in cooperation with local schools, breaking geographical barriers and allowing children access to academic help and character development activities through the Bubba Bear Program and Homework Helpline.

 

Airport Marine Charity Bass Tournament

Sat, May 28, 2011

Lay Lake

Paradise Point Marina

Call Tournament Director Flynn Gerald at 205-678-9666 for information

http://www.airportmarinetrails.com/tourn11C.html