2023 Membership and Volunteer Registrations are Open!

October 8th Tournament Lake Whitney

Lake:  Whitney

Ramp: McCowan Valley

Date:  Saturday October 8th.  Tournament times and details will be provided the week of the tournament.

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To Register For Whitney Tournament

Results from September 17th Tournament Lake Grapevine

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to see photos on our Facebook Album

Lake:  Grapevine

Ramp: Meadowmere

Date:  Saturday September 17th.  Tournament times and details will be provided the week of the tournament.

2023 Sponsorship Drive is Underway!

Sign up either by downloading a sponsorship form to mail in or submit to a member, or sign up online.

We will need a vector image of your company logo in order to add to our jerseys and signage and website.  If providing sponsorship via downloaded form, please email your vector image to robertbrown@lonestarjrbassmasters.com.  If providing sponsorsip via online registration, please upload your vector file at that time.  We will go to press with the jersey design Oct 1 and will need all artwork by that time.

Click Here to Read this report below from TPWD website

TPWD Press Release:

TPWD Scale Loaner Program Lends Hand to Lone Star Jr Bassmasters

Aug. 22, 2022

Media Contact: TPWD News,  Business Hours, 512-389-8030

AUSTIN – The Texas Parks and Wildlife Department (TPWD) teamed up with Lone Star Jr Bassmasters (LSJrBM) to promote conservation and healthy fisheries for the club’s Aug. 6 tournament at Lake Tawakoni out of Sky Point RV Park Marina. The event utilized digital scales provided by TPWD’s scale loaner program to incorporate the catch, weigh and immediate release format.

Located in the Dallas Forth-Worth area, LSJrBM club is affiliated with the Texas B.A.S.S Nation (TBN). The club, led by Director Robert Brown, is the first youth/high school fishing club in the state to employ the catch, weigh and immediate release format in an organized competitive youth angling event. Through the scale loaner program, TPWD is partnering with the club to help protect Texas’ fisheries resources.

“I am so thankful for the TPWD scale loaner program and the support and coaching from TBN Conservation Director Dave Terre,” said Robert Brown, Lone Star Jr Bassmasters Director. “A month prior, during our July tournament in the sweltering heat, Dave was walking me through how to prepare our tanks for the weigh-in process, and suggested to me that a catch, weigh and immediate release format could greatly enhance the survivability of tournament fish, especially during these hot Texas days. I said let’s do it for our next event. So, Dave acquired the scales and made the trip to train our captains and support the weigh-in for our August derby.”

During the summer months, the use of these scales is especially important due to the hot weather conditions that are particularly stressful for bass. The added stress on the fish results in rates of high mortality, with a majority of deaths occurring after the fish are released (up through seven days post-release).

“We are in process now of obtaining member feedback on their perspective on the format used at Lake Tawakoni for consideration for future club tournaments,” added Brown.“I believe every LSJrBM member realizes the importance of fish care and how the catch, weigh, and release format can help limit the negative impacts on fish. Being able to instill this perspective into the minds of our youth anglers is pretty awesome.”

Traditional bass tournaments require anglers to hold up to five bass in livewells, removing them from their catch locations, followed by a weigh-in process on stage. According to studies, this format can lead to a fish mortality rate of 15-60 percent, or higher, depending on the water temperature.

“I applaud the LSJrBM club and TBN for their conservation minded efforts in their last tournament, and hope this is a stepping stone for more clubs and tournament directors moving forward,” said Jake Norman, Inland Fisheries Tyler District Supervisor. “While the traditional weigh-in format is heavily engrained in bass anglers, there is no denying the data available on summer-time delayed mortality, especially on larger fish that are targeted during competition.”

The scale loaner program was launched in 2017 and currently has 100 digital scales available for public use. The first 60 loaner scales were originally donated to TPWD for use during the Toyota Texas Bass Classic  (TTBC), the tournament that pioneered the catch, weigh and immediate release format. The scales give tournament organizers the opportunity to host larger tournaments while keeping conservation at the forefront.

“As a management biologist, angler satisfaction is one of my top end goals, but there are only so many management actions we can take to maintain quality fishing opportunities for all,” added Norman. “Anglers such as those in the LSJrBM club taking some action of their own to ensure the greatest survival of tournament caught fish is a major step in ensuring our great fisheries persist for the future generations of anglers.”

TPWD uses Brecknell – Samson digital scales, which are the same ones used by Major League Fishing (MLF) Bass Pro Tour. These scales have been proven to give consistent readings during tournament competition and have the trust of anglers. In addition, they work properly to register a Toyota Sharelunker that might be caught in a tournament.

For organizations interested in borrowing the scales, the dates should be reserved in advance and need to be picked up and returned by the borrower. TPWD loans the scales free of charge. For more information about the scale loaner program and to make reservations, contact Todd Driscoll at todd.driscoll@tpwd.texas.gov or at 409-698-9114 ext. 229.

Click Here to Read full report from BASSMASTER!

Written by

David A. Brown

STAFF

Photography by

Laura Agee

STAFF

HUNTINGDON, Tenn. — Victories are not always dramatic and glamorous, but Mark Cerja Jr. and Gus Richardson of the Lone Star Junior Bassmasters were proud of their gritty, gutsy effort.

Grinding through a stingy final round, they tallied a two-day total of 18 pounds, 5 ounces and won the Bassmaster Junior National Championship at the Carroll County 1000 Acre Recreational Lake.

A Day 1 limit of 10-7 put Cerja and Richardson in second place. Catching another limit of 7-14 in the final round, they claimed the top award — a $2,000 scholarship they’ll split.

“I’ve been fishing since I was 2, and I was taught to fish hard and grind and never give up,” Cerja said. “Today was a tough, tough bite; we didn’t get our limit until about noon, whereas yesterday, we were culling at 10 a.m.

“It’s just an exciting feeling to go home national champions. I’ll sleep well tonight.”

After capitalizing on the barometric fluctuation of Friday’s passing storm system, which triggered aggressive feeding, Cerja and Richardson found the bass less active on the final day.

“I think it was pretty hard on the fish because they had just been fished,” Richardson said. “This is a pretty small lake and 65 teams were hitting the same spots (multiple times).”

As Cerja explained, their winning strategy was pure persistence, with a good dose of mobility.

“We started fishing War Eagle Creek but only had two in the box, so we went over to Jaguar Creek and caught one that was about 12 1/2 (inches),” Cerja said. “We said ‘We need a couple of big ones if we really want to win this.’

“So, we went to Rocket Creek — that’s where I caught a 4 and (Richardson) caught a 2 1/2.”

Cerja said he and his partner caught their fish in 8 to 10 feet of water. Docks with grass and brushpiles were best, but they also fished the backs of shallow creek channels.

On Day 1, Richardson caught a 4-7 on a white fluke. The winners caught their other fish on 4-inch plum finesse worms, 7-inch Berkley Power Worms in blue fleck and Zoom U-Tale Worms in tequila green flake. The latter produced their largest Day 2 catch — the 4-pounder.

“We thought it was better just twitching it pretty slowly and making sure we paid attention to the action — just making it look like something a bass would want to eat,” Richardson said.

Owen Ray and Camdyn Cranfill of the Rhea County Eagle Anglers finished second with 17-3. After placing third on Day 1 with a limit of 10-3, they added a three-fish bag of 7 pounds.

Repeating their Day 1 game plan, Ray and Cranfill again targeted deeper docks. Unfortunately, the bass were less cooperative the second time around.

“It was a lot slower bite today; our offshore stuff where we could get a limit (on Friday) did not work today,” Cranfill said. “We threw a glide bait around docks and ended up with two decent ones. We caught one small one on a drop shot.”

Ray said the day’s cloudy conditions limited their opportunities. As he explained, they needed more sunshine to position bass on the docks.

Ander Cowan and Alex Fitzpatrick of the PA Bassin Juniors finished third with 17-2. Day 1 saw them place seventh with four bass that weighed 7 pounds, but they gained four spots by adding 10-2 during the final round.

Cowan and Fitzpatrick also missed their final-round limit by one fish, but anchoring their bag with Cowan’s 7-1 made their day. The fish bit a 1/4-ounce shaky head with a trick worm in the bruised banana color.

The bite, Cowan said, was pretty subtle — he simply lifted his rod and felt pressure. The most memorable part of the story was the utter fiasco that occurred during the netting process.

“The net got tangled with one of our poles and we actually netted that fish with the pole still in the net,” Cowan said. “That was a very good comeback; I was definitely not expecting that.”

Fitzpatrick said the key to his team’s success was fishing deep.

“A lot of the lake’s docks had been overfished,” he said. “We were sitting in about 18 feet of water and fishing in 20.”

Landon Gabby and Carson Bruner of Marion, Ill., won the Big Bass award with their 8-3.

The Bassmaster Junior Series National Championship was hosted by the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce.

2022 Texas BASS Nation State Championship

Click Here for Final Results