Ray Roberts Lake fishing tournament draws anglers

By Basil Gist

Staff Writer

       Fifty anglers set sail on Saturday to compete in the Pilot Point Chamber of Commerce’s Buddy Bass Fishing Tournament.

       Lloyd Walker and Russell Lee took home the first prize with a 19.19-pound bag while Jay Bartlett and Les Tribble reeled in the biggest bass at 6.25 pounds.

       “The prize money is what they’re fishing for,” Chamber Executive Director Evon Lusk said. “We hire Media Bass to do our weigh ins, he did them last year, did a wonderful job, and did a wonderful job this year, too.”

       AJ Korbel with Media Bass praised the quality of the growing event.

       “I thought it went fantastic, from beginning to end there were very few hiccups,” Korbel said. “There were very few dead fish weighed in. I think we only had one. It was almost eight hours of fun for everyone.”

       Lusk explained the Chamber intends to continue expanding the event each year and said the anglers are on board to help make it happen.

       “Several of the anglers came over and said they were so thankful the Chamber was doing this event and that they wanted to work with me next year to publicize it more,” Lusk said. “Now that we have support from the angler community, I think it will be bigger and better next year.”

       Korbel said there are two general directions the Chamber could take to expand the event, either by opening it up to additional species, which would create or more inclusive, family-friendly event, or generate more exposure to the right communities to draw in more hardcore anglers.

       “We’re trying to grow both angler count but also grow the sport, which is one of the bigger fishing terms right now which is keeping that sport alive with the younger generation,” Korbel said of the fishing community. “We want to start bringing it in for them as well and start molding some of the kids to go out and enjoy what tournament fishing is.”

       Lusk said she’s interested in taking the event back to shore by hiring a caterer to meet anglers as they leave the water.

       “Next year we want to have a tailgate and hire a caterer, … just to have them their onsite knowing they’re going to be feeding 50+ anglers coming off the lake. They’ve been on the lake all day and will be hungry,” Lusk said.

       This year’s raffle prizes included five $100 gas cards from Tiger Mart as well as a family fishing pass for private water fishing from Reel Fishing Solutions valued at $850 in addition to the cash prizes for first, second, and third place.

       Lusk said an immediate option for growing the event comes on the prize front, a sentiment Korbel also held.

       “We could do a side pot when they get there to bet on themselves, at the end of the tournament, they also get x amount of money from the side pot,” Lusk said. “There are just a bunch of fun things you can do with it. We can also give out more gift cards to Scheels and Academy and things like that.”

       Korbel said the focus should remain on the fun as the event continues to grow.

       “There is always room for improvement, … but our goal is to make it as transparent as possible and when people are out doing their angling they’re having a great day, they’re enjoying it,” Korbel said.