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Tournament Highlights |
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Bass Champs in Iraq! |
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Tournament Photos |
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ArmyBassAngler Fishing Articles/Tips |
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Special Report |
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ArmyBassAnglers President/Founder MAJ Cody Roberson is currently deployed to Camp Victory, Iraq with fellow soldiers of the 10th Mountain Division. On the idea of MAJ Mike Regal the Division’s Mental Health Officer to put a team into the Camp Softball Tournament the “Surgeon Sturgeons” were formed from the Staff of the 10th Mountain Division’s, Division Surgeon’s Cell. And thanks to a donation from Texas #1 Team Trail Bass Champs the team was quickly outfitted with custom hats and shirts thanks to the generosity of the entire Bass Champs Family who donated all the shirts and hats to team. “We’re so proud of the opportunity to Support the Troops and all they do—Chad Potts!” Special thanks to Bass Champs and it’s entire staff for the incredible care package. Thanks Bass Champs—HOOAH! |
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The Surgeon Sturgeons From left to right. Top Row: MAJ Thomas, SFC Cruz-Perez, CPT Mrozko, CPT Hiett, MAJ Badzik, CPT Wells. Bottom row: MSG Darroch, MAJ Regal, and MAJ Roberson |
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Skeeter Owner’s Tournament Photos |
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Fish Fishburn interviews the ArmyBassAnglers at the Skeeter Owner’s Tournment—HOOAH! |
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Photos coming from Bass Champs Big Bass on Choke Canyon. |
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Highlights coming from Bass Champs Big Bass on Choke Canyon—HOOAH! |
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Starting on May 31st, the ArmyBassAnglers spent every spare moment in June engaged in at least one of their three missions, sometimes more than one simultaneously. There were sales events at Sportsman’s Warehouse and a weekend at the Skeeter Owners’ Tournament raising awareness and money for Returning Heroes Home, team members deploying to Iraq, and a Bass Champs event in each of the four Texas regions. Following is a brief recap of what proved to be an extremely busy, yet rewarding and fun month.
May 31st: Don and Shayne spent the day on the exciting Choke Canyon fishing in the Southern Region Bass Champs event. It was a difficult day and they chose to commit to the deep bite. It seemed promising when one of the first fish of the day weighed well over seven pounds caught on a swimbait Shayne purchased at Sportsman’s Warehouse. They continued probing 12 to 20 feet of water all day, but could only put a couple of more keepers in the livewell. Imagine the disappointment when their 7.49 pound beauty was not even big enough to get an honorable mention. The team could not be sad…..after all, they were fishing instead of working!
June 7th: The majority of the team spent a beautiful day at the Round Rock Sportsman’s Warehouse sales event. With the Casting Buddies target set up, the newly wrapped Returning Heroes Home Skeeter boat, and a ton of enthusiastic customers, the team members got to talk about fishing and Soldiers…….it was a blast. Over $300 was donated to Returning Heroes Home as the team sold raffle tickets for an inflatable boat donated by Sportsman’s Warehouse. “We would like to thank all of the generous people that stopped by to talk to us today, and especially Sportsman’s for their hospitality,” said Don Bailey at the end of the day.
Mike and Brent spent the day on Choke Canyon fishing in the Central Region Bass Champs event. They too found the lake to be difficult to figure out. With two fish and just under five pounds, they were disappointed with the results, but certainly not unhappy with getting to fish together. This would prove to be Mike’s last opportunity to tournament fish for what will seem like an eternity; he deployed to Iraq seven days later. Not long before, Jarod Shelton left for his own 15 month hiatus to Iraq. Sometimes the fishing isn’t always about how much weight is brought to the scales, but just being on the water enjoying the blessing of being able to try.
June 14th: Another split-operation for the team. Again, the majority of the team spent the day at the San Antonio Sportsman’s Warehouse sales event. This time, the generous visitors to the Returning Heroes Home display donated over $700 and received chances to win the inflatable boat donated by the San Antonio store. Even as the temperature rose into the 90’s, it is interesting how a fisherman never gets tired of talking about his favorite pastime. It is even better knowing that every fish story turns into a discussion about Returning Heroes Home and Fishing for Freedom.
Randy and Chad were absent from the San Antonio event attempting to figure out the monstrous Sam Rayburn lake for the final Eastern Bass Champs tournament. They worked extremely hard, put a lot of miles on their new Skeeter ZX 225, and hauled in numerous fish with their Castaways. However, they still only managed about twelve pounds, not even close to being competitive on a lake of that caliber. But, like everyone already knows, Chad Potts and the rest of the Bass Champs staff run an extremely professional event and it is a privilege and a lot of fun to participate.
June 19th-22nd: The Skeeter Owners’ Tournament, the event the team has been looking forward to for months proved to be well worth the wait. Five of the team members were able to make the trip to Lake Fork, TX and the rest of the team were understandably disappointed that they couldn’t, especially after the e-mails and phone calls coming from the lucky five. Following the set-up of the Returning Heroes Home display and two of the wrapped Skeeters, the team was asked to distribute 60 rubber ducks on the lake. The ducks were numbered and used for prizes for any tournament participant bringing one to weigh-in. The word spread quickly that the “Army guys” hid the ducks and many anglers tried to get locations, but the team remained strong. It did, however, provide many opportunities to increase awareness about Returning Heroes Home. By the end of the weekend, the team raised over $600 in donations from the fans and participants. There were other incredible fringe benefits: First, the Skeeter family (its employees, boat owners, and pro staff) displayed unbelievable support for the ArmyBassAnglers and the Returning Heroes Home SUPPORT mission. “We are extremely fortunate to have this opportunity with Skeeter. I have never been involved with an organization where every single person I come in contact with is as equally polite, friendly, and supportive as the next person,” a sentiment shared by all of the ArmyBassAnglers. Second, spending time with many of the Skeeter Pro Staff that we read about and watch on TV…. Zell Rowland, Jared Lintner, Alton Jones, Dean Rojas, Kelly Jordan, Clark Reehm, and Cory Waldrop to name a few. In fact, the team was surprised as Dean Rojas stripped off his tournament jersey and presented it to Randy Sitz and Don Bailey following his weigh-in for the shoot-out. He said he wanted to present it to show support for all of the sacrifices by the military, but especially by the wounded Soldiers that will benefit from the generosity to the Returning Heroes Home project. “It was one of many examples of the type of people these guys are and it was a real honor to get to spend some time with them. I think most would be surprised just how cool these guys are and it was like hanging out with any of my buddies, just very comfortable,” is how Chad Nelson described the experience. Finally, while the team was unable to fish in the actual tournament, it did not prevent them from spending a little time on the world famous Lake Fork. Everyone caught some real quality fish, but none could match the 8 ½ pounder hauled in by Brent Homan. The entire team is looking forward to any and all events hosted by Skeeter…..they are sure to be life enhancing experiences.
June 28th: Ron and Al fished in the final Bass Champs tournament of the season on Richland Chambers. With only one previous day spent on this lake between the two of them, they expected it to be difficult. They neither expected it to be quite so tough. Dynamite was about the only thing they didn’t tie on, and they weren’t convinced that would have put any fish in the boat, either. Deep or shallow, it just was not their day to catch a keeper. Nonetheless, they enjoyed the experience and are looking forward to the next season where they will have the chance to redeem themselves.
As we wrap up the FISHING season and begin the SUPPORT phase in earnest, a special thanks to our Sponsors: Skeeter Performance Fishing Boats, Aggregate Haulers, FirstCommand (Killeen & San Antonio), Malibu Kayak Company, Images by Jay, Fox’s Pizza Den, First Continental Mortgage Company, Realty Executives (Leslie Diotte), Geneva Enterprises, Tri-County Photography, Returning Heroes Home, Pack & Mail Plus, CastAway Graphite Rods, LINE-X, JaROD Tackle LLC, & Sportsman’s Warehouse, and our newest sponsor, OTBBOOTS! We owe all our support to our sponsors and our families! Thanks so much. HOOAH! |
