The FloridaBass Trail, which was popular in the late ’90s through 2004, is back with one aim for the anglers – have fun.

Scott Scarboro started FloridaBass in 1998 with four divisions and the trail was very successful for half a dozen years. Then Extreme Fishing arrived on the scene and bought him out. Scarboro continued to work for Extreme Fishing until this past year when he decided it was time to resurrect FloridaBass and provide anglers with the chance to have fun while earning good prize money.

“I felt like the last few years the fun just seemed to go out of it. When it gets to where it is not fun for the anglers, it gets to be not fun for the director, too,” he said.

“We always made sure when we had a tournament that the guys enjoyed themselves and had a good time. The last few years it seemed like the only guys standing around when we paid out the checks were the guys who had checks coming,” Scarboro said. “I felt like if we have a group of guys who are all fishermen they might as well stand around and talk fishing. I remembered the days when we’d have the weigh-in at 3 o’clock and we’d still be standing around talking fishing at 4:30 and later.”

Scarboro said a lot of the guys who had been involved in Extreme Fishing and who had been involved with FloridaBass before wanted to see things like they used to be.

“Our goal is to make things more interesting and more fun for the fishermen,” Scarboro said. “Tournaments here have been hit pretty hard by the economy and downturn in construction. When things get tough it’s hard for a fisherman to justify going to a tournament and spending money to fish, along with fuel, entry fees and all that.”

For that reason, the new FloridaBass Trail consists of seven divisions so anglers in the region do not have to travel a great distance to fish one of them. The seven include : St. Johns, Rodman, Lake Rousseau, the Harris Chain, West Lake Toho, Kissimmee and Istokpoga. The St. John’s Division kicks off Saturday out of Welaka and the Rodman Trail starts Sunday out of Kenwood Landing. Istokpoga also starts Sunday out of 98 Ramp.

“Terry Mullis and his wife Kim run both the St. John’s and Rodman Trails. Terry lives on the St. John’s River and in the last tournament of the year he will throw a barbecue for the fishermen and hold the weigh-in at his house, trying to make it more fun for the fishermen.”

Entry fees are $120 per boat for each tournament with $80 of that paid back at the tournament to one in every seven entered, plus $10 per boat paid back for big fish. Then $10 goes to the championship pot, $10 covers trail expenses and $10 goes to the tournament director.

The FloridaBass Trail also has two monthly awards. The divisional tournaments are sanctioned by the Power-Pole Captains Cash Rewards Club. Power-Pole will pay $250 to an angler who wins a FloridaBass event and meets all of the Captains Cash requirements. Anglers must be a member of the Captions Cash Rewards Club to be elgible. In addition to BigBass of the tournament and BigBass of the year the trail also has a BigBass of the Month Employer Payroll Solutions. Anglers can win a monthly bonus of $250 for the largest fish weighed-in for the month.

The top 20 in points in each division qualify to fish the championship, which has a guaranteed purse of $10,000, at the end of the year. Anglers can fish one division or they can hop around and fish several different divisions, but if they do that they must fish at least eight tournaments. Each division will hold tournaments in October and November, skip December and then start back in January and go once a month through June with the championship in July.

The top team in each division will fish against each other in the championship for the title of FloridaBass Team of the Year. The Team of the Year will win a 101-pound Minn Kota Trolling Motor, with anglers choice of hand or foot control, plus a 700 Series Fact Finder Humminbird unit. The total value of the package is about $2,000, Scarboro said, plus the team gets free entry to the 2012 season in one division.

“Since we just got things started back I am working every day to add things and put in new prizes. If I am successful the money will go up,” Scarboro said. “We are hoping to build on that $10,000 purse for the championship in future years, too.”

 

FloridaBass Team Tournament Trail – St. Johns Division

Sat. Oct. 22, 2011

St Johns River

Welaka Public Boat Ramp

Tournament Trail Director, Scott Scarboro, 813-293-3032