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TBF Report

Fuchs wins TBF Dream Package and Entries to All-American and FLW SeriesFuchs wins TBF Dream Package and Entries to All-American and FLW Series

John Fuchs from Mishawaka won the Co-Angler division at The Bass Federation (TBF) National Championship on Kentucky Lake recently.

Fuchs, a member of the St Joe Valley Bass Masters, won the three-day event with 28.5 pounds of bass which was almost 7 more pounds than his next competitor.

The event attracted 102 TBF State Champions who traveled from across the US and Canada.

He was awarded the $30,000 “Living the Dream” prize package to include a $20,000 prize check and fully paid entry fees into the FLW Series division of his choice. He also won an entry into T-H Marine BFL All-American Tournament which will be held on the Potomac River in June.

He earned a berth in the National Championship by placing in the St. Joe Valley Bass Masters’ top 8 then placing high enough in the Top - 8 Tournament held on Lake Wawasee. That qualified him for the Indiana/Illinois National Semi Finals at Patoka Lake where he finished second in the Co-Angler division. Indiana was allowed to send the top 2 anglers and top 2 co-anglers because of the number of entries they had had qualify for the National Semi Finals.


By Al McGuckin

VanDam’s 3 Top Lures for Early SpringVanDam’s 3 Top Lures for Early Spring

If you live in Texas, Florida, Southern California, Arizona or Cancun you may decide to scroll ahead.

But if you live within 300 miles of Charlotte, St. Louis, Nashville, Syracuse, Minneapolis, Tulsa, Indianapolis, or anywhere else where snow flurries still threaten to fly, the “Kalamazoo Kid” has chosen three lures you might want to make sure you have ready for your first big bass fishing trip of the new season.

“The first fishing trip of the year for most people involves water temps in the 40s or really low 50s. So the three lures I’m choosing here are among my three favorites to cover a variety of conditions when the water is still really cold,” says VanDam.

½-ounce Strike King Red Eye Shad – “It’s hard to beat a lipless crankbait in some shade of red or crawfish in late winter or early spring. It really shines well if there’s aquatic vegetation – but that’s not critical. It wasn’t critical when I won the 2010 Classic on Lay Lake with a Red Eye Shad, and there was actually still a thin layer of ice on some of the backwaters when we started practice that week in Alabama,” remembers the Team Toyota angler.

As many of the state and federal natural resource managers near retirement age, there will be a need to fill vacant positions with qualified individuals who understand and have a passion for sport fishing. To ensure that a pool of well-trained applicants is available for employers to choose from, Shimano and the B.A.S.S. Nation (BN), are offering $2,000 college scholarships in 2019 for students seeking a bachelor’s or master’s degree in a natural resource field.  This award will be made directly to the student and not the student's educational institution, and can be used for tuition, textbooks or living expenses.

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