Daily Limit: Tourney time in USA

Julie Blaylock videos her son, Keeton, weighing in during a radio station's tournament in Little Rock.

At a marina filled mostly with sailboats, 73 bass boats milling about created a bit of a buzz.

Boats idled around the launch ramp. Some anglers trailered their boats while others docked, the occupants bagging bass from livewells and walking them to a stage transformed from a trailer. A small crowd, made up mostly of spouses, parents and children, milled about waiting to watch their loved ones weigh in.

The scene at WestRock Landing on Lake Maumelle came courtesy of a Little Rock sports/talk radio station holding its fourth Big Buzz Bass Fishing Tournament, yet it’s a scene similarly played out all across the country. Bass fishing derbies come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and these smaller, grass-root competitions fire up tens of thousands of anglers each week all across America.

“I love the competition,” said Keeton Blaylock, who finished second with teammate Van Wise in 103.7 The Buzz’s event. “There is nothing like fishing, period. It’s something you can do all year long, all your life. I love being able to go out. Every time you compete, somebody’s got to win. Why not us?”

It’s that addictive draw that keeps Blaylock heading out to his regular Tuesday night events, as well as searching for any weekend events near home. He even said many Friday date nights have been spent in derbies.

“There’s couple different pages on Facebook,” said Blaylock, who as a member utilizes listings like Arkansas Bass Tournaments. “Once you start getting to be a member, you can find tournaments everywhere. There are numerous events every weekend, just about on every lake.

“In a tournament like this, a team tournament, you just get to enjoy yourself so much with that guy you’re with, or girl. You end up getting to know these guys like your brothers.”

Funny you mention it. Keeton’s brother is Bassmaster Elite Series angler Stetson Blaylock. Their parents, Julie and Jesse, were front and center at their other fishing son’s weigh-in.

At first, Keeton, who was excited to recently be accepted for his dream job as a fireman, grew up jealous that his older brother got to go fish with their uncle before he was old enough. He said Stetson always had that extra special desire to become a pro angler.

“He had it since I can remember — I don’t remember him saying anything other than wanting to be a professional fisherman,” Keeton said. “Everybody has to grow into it.”

Cody Kemp, who owns Mr. Bass of Arkansas, served as weighmaster.

Rising from the minors

While some fish purely for the enjoyment of competing, others fish the Tuesday nighters and weekend events as their first steps up a long ladder. Anglers move up at their own rate, rising to fish circuits like Mr. Bass of Arkansas and from there, who knows.

Cody Kemp, who bought the 46-year-old Mr. Bass circuit two years ago, said it has long been a breeding ground for pros. Graduates from the circuit include the likes of Bassmaster Classic champion Mark Davis and longtime pros Stephen Browning and Ron Shuffield, among others.

“It’s really a lucrative thing for the guys here in Arkansas,” Kemp said. “You fish against a small field on your home lakes, and it’s for a good prize (a boat).

“It’s the best guys here in the state, guys who could go and fish the tour, the Opens, but they work and they just want to fish at home. That’s our slogan, a breeding ground of champions. Legends are born here.”

In most every state, there are anglers who dominate similar local competitions, yet they never try their hand at the national level, for a variety of reasons. It’s always said for every angler on the pro level tours, there’s several others from their area who might just be better pure fishermen and would tear up a pro circuit if given the chance.

“Tournament fishing is an expensive sport,” Kemp said. “A lot of these guys, they’ve got their careers. They make their living, provide for their families and they don’t see themselves as being able to go do it the way they want to because they worry about money, time off from their jobs.”

Kemp, a fixture on the Arkansas tournament scene, said anglers who aspire to move on up can find plenty of competition within or just beyond their state borders. While he agreed that B.A.S.S. made the right call by eliminating co-anglers in the Elite Series, he thinks non-boaters receive great learning opportunities in the minor-league circuits like Mr. Bass.

“There was all this talk about getting rid of co-anglers, but at this level, you want those guys learning from those other guys,” he said. “Those guys could be the next KVDs, the next Stetson Blaylocks.”

And with the advent of high school fishing, as well as increased youth and college competitions, Kemp sees a lot of young but seasoned sticks on the horizon. The expanding opportunities for youth have helped develop anglers who can plug in and play on the top circuits, Kemp said, and he thinks this youth wave will keep the fishing industry going strong for the foreseeable future.

“What’s really interesting, high school fishing has gotten so big — it’s blowing up,” he said, noting decent numbers of prep anglers have infiltrated Mr. Bass co-angler divisions with top 10 finishes. “What that tells you — they’re fishing against guys who are lifers — these high school anglers are so much better than we were at their age, and they’re going to be so much better when they get to our age.”

Part of that is the fishing information at their fingertips, but another is connecting on social media with others who are learning along with them and sharing knowledge about tactics, trends and patterns on particular fisheries. Probably more beneficial is the experience they gain in simply just having more tournaments to fish.

Cameron Nesterenko and Andrew Wooley won the event.

That’s why derbies like this one on Lake Maumelle are important in the big scheme of things. A pair of young anglers in their early 20s came away victorious in the Big Buzz event. Cameron Nesterenko and Andrew Wooley weighed a limit of five totaling 11.94 pounds to edge Blaylock and Wise (11.74) and take the $3,000 first prize.

Tapping the Natural State’s outdoorsmen

Sponsored by local boat dealer Bradford Marine and ATV, the tournament had to be moved from the flooding Arkansas River to the lake. R.J. Hawk of the Buzz said the decision was easy when he scouted a Tuesday night event on Lake Maumelle and saw the winning catch approach 20 pounds.

“We didn’t want to kill it because we would alienate a section of our listeners,” said Hawk, who ramrodded the event for the station. “This is Arkansas, a lot of guys fish. We do a lot of things that are barbecue related, that are charity related. This one we were able to reach out to outdoorsmen, and it’s something different that we do.”

The radio station, which airs sports talk along with Arkansas Razorbacks and other state college sports events, has received great response from its forays into the bass tournament scene, with many competitors telling Hawk they’ll be back.

Aside from sponsors, the biggest partner for the Buzz is the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, which sent a crew to handle the safe release of the bass. Trey Reid, host of AGFC’s TV show, served as emcee with Ray Tucker, who hosts an outdoor radio show on the Buzz.

“They came to us and said this is not our area of expertise, and really tournaments aren’t Game and Fish’s either, but we do know how to take care of fish,” Reid said. “It’s really become kind of a symbiotic relationship.

“A lot of times anglers don’t think that Game and Fish pays enough attention to bass fishing, that we’re only interested in catfish and trout. But we know that there are more bass fisherman than anything else in Arkansas, so this is a way to show we’re in the bass fishing community.”

It seems more and more different kinds of entities are getting involved in bass fishing. The Arkansas Bikers for Children held a tournament in late July to benefit Arkansas Children’s Hospital, repeating the scene on Lake Maumelle.

The American Sportfishing Association, which just wrapped up its largest industry only show, ICAST, reports that there are 49 million anglers in the United States, and black bass remain the most pursued species with 40 percent, or around 20 million anglers. Tournaments have been around for some time, but across the nation there are more and more offerings from pro to co to regular Joe.

It’s tourney time in America.

Keeton Blaylock, who took second with Van Wise, enjoys competing anywhere.