Anglers from many states around the Southeast love to fish the Jim Ledbetter Memorial Team Bass Tournament on so much that the annual event on Lake Norman is closing in on the Million Dollar mark for cancer research.

“It’s called the ‘Cancer Tournament’,” said Allen Eaker of Cherryville, N.C., who has fished the tournament for years. “Most of the money raised, if not all of it, goes to the Jimmy V Foundation.”

The tournament, the longest running fishing tournament in North Carolina, is named for Jim Ledbetter, a legendary television fishing show host and professional angler from the Catawba County, N.C., area who died of cancer in 2002.

Presented by the Balls Creek Bassmasters, it is the largest charity bass tournament in the state and has raised over $800,000 cumulatively to benefit the V Foundation for Cancer Research, named in honor of the late Jim Valvano, the well-known basketball coach who led N.C. State University’s men’s basketball team to a national championship in 1983. Coach “Jimmy V,” as he was nicknamed, formed the Foundation after being diagnosed with cancer in 1992.

“I don’t think there is probably any other disease that affects all families more than cancer,” Eaker said. “It touches everyone in some way and that is the main reason I want to support it. Most of the fishermen who come to the tournament obviously want to to fish, but they also come because it’s for such a good purpose.”

Eaker added, “It’s just been crazy over the years how many boats enter that tournament.”

And, he noted, although winter has found a way to stick around well into March, fishing could be pretty good for Saturday’s tournament.

“We’ve had some really weird weather with it being cold one day and warm the next, but I think the days getting longer is pushing those fish up shallow. With more daylight the fish know it is almost time for the spawn.”

With freezing temperatures at mid-week and mild weather predicted by the weekend, Eaker said the fish are in about all stages right now, which means anglers should be able to catch fish just about anyway they want to fish.

“The weather is holding them back a little bit, but it seems to me that they are getting into that pattern of coming up,” he said. “So, I really think that is going to make for a good tournament. There is going to be a bunch of different ways to catch fish. They are not going to be locked into one pattern, so I think you will probably be able to catch them about any way you want to.”

Seeing Ledbetter’s name attached to the tournament brings back a lot of memories, Eaker said.

“Jim did a lot of fishing in this area and he used to come to the Cherryville Bassmasters and speak to our club. It’s great that the tournament took on his name, and it’s great that the tradition keeps carrying on and it seems like it is getting bigger and bigger every year.”

 

Jim Ledbetter Memorial Bass Tournament

Sat, Mar 8, 2014

Lake Norman

Queen’s Landing

Call Call 704-483-2628

www.teamdenvermarine.com

[email protected]