Richard Laxson, Director of the Shoals Youth Bassmasters (Northwest Alabama) has announced the club’s first tournament will be held on Wheeler Lake from the First Creek ramp.

This week on Americana Outdoors, we’re in Texas on Fayette County Reservoir bringing you exclusive coverage of the Ranger Cup University Team Of The Year Challenge! The qualifying anglers for this year’s event include Carter McNeil and Cole Floyd of Bethel University, and Adam Puckett and Blake Albertson from Murray State. These two universities are powerhouses that have dominated the collegiate bass fishing tournament circuits for many years, both of whom have won the Bass Pro Shops BoatUS Collegiate Bass Fishing Championship in the past!

Ronnie McDonald
Publisher & Editor, Southern Fishing News

BBZ JC BREAKING NEWS- March 16   All Big Bass Zone Junior Championship state qualifiers that guarantee their attendance at the BBZ JC finals in Idaho Oct 2/3 the BBZ JC will send EVERY parent a check for 1200 cash to travel there. A 2-night stay is paid for along with 2 dinners and breakfast on tournament day. That will be 104,000.00 being given back to the parents and youth. 

I first learned about the Big Bass Zone Junior Championship in James Hall’s (Editor-in-Chief) column in the March 2020 issue of BASSMASTER Magazine. The competition concept of what the Big Bass Zone was doing really sparked my interest.

By DAVID RAINER,
Alabama Department of Conservation and Natural Resources

The Alabama Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries (WFF) Division was both enjoying the spotlight and working behind the curtains during last week’s 50th Bassmaster Classic weigh-in at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center (BJCC).

Spencer Truitt of the WFF hatchery staff dumps the lively largemouth bass into the holding tanks during the Classic weigh-in. Photo by Billy Pope

Professional, collegiate and state-level bass fishing tournaments are being canceled, postponed and rescheduled due to the threat of Coronavirus infection. The Alabama B.A.S.S. Nation, Bassmaster, and Big Bass Bash have all released information regarding their individual tournament events.

Major League Fishing photo

UPDATE ON THE “Tragedy on Pickwick Lake” STORY HERE ON FEBRUARY 26, 2020

HARDIN COUNTY, Tenn.— The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency has recovered the body of a missing boater from the Tennessee River. Search crews recovered the body of a John Doe around 4:30 p.m. this afternoon around Shiloh National Military Park on the Tennessee River. The body has been sent to the Medical Examiner’s office in Memphis for an autopsy and identification.

That largemouth bass you’ve been battling with is now in your boat. It’s huge. Could it be the new state record? And if it is, how do you certify it?