Junior Program

The Ontario Bass Federation youth program is set up to get boys and girls interested in Bass fishing and fishing in general. The program consists of all aspects of fishing including joining a junior bass fishing club with different areas to enjoy. Each club has different things they get involved with including tournaments, conservation projects, Casting Kids as well as helping out with senior club events and fishing shows. Joining a junior club entitles them to participate in all of these different events and also gives them the chance to fish in three tournaments throughout the year to try to qualify for the World Junior Bass Fishing Championships held in the United States each year. To fish in one of these tournaments the junior must be 11 years of age and no older than 18 years of age. They can join a club under 11 and still receive fishing related information from B.A.S.S. and participate in all other events held by the junior club but are not able to fish in these tournaments. The main objective of joining this program is to let the kids have fun, and enjoy the outdoors and to get some knowledge of bass fishing.

Conservation

The Ontario Bass Federation junior clubs are highly dedicated to conservation. As a member of a junior club a junior member must do at least one conservation project per year of any kind. In the past junior clubs and members have done many different kinds of projects including purple loosestrife  management and removal, spawning boxes for Bass, river bank cleanups, Lake cleanups, park cleanups just to name a few. They have also done habitat construction for fish in a couple of lakes in Ontario under the supervision of the Ministry of Natural Recourses and Ocean and fisheries. These habitat projects consist of building and placing structure on the bottom of a lake such as Christmas trees, wood pallets, branches placed in cement in buckets, as well as building and placing a store bought structure known as Fish Habs that are made by Berkley fishing products. These Fish Habs are made of old discarded fishing line that is melted down and made into a build able material that has the consistency of plastic. This is an excellent way of getting rid of unwanted fishing line so it doesn’t end up in land fill sites or in our lakes.

Keeping our water and lands clean is a very important part of the junior program and with the kids doing cleanups they can be sure to have clean water and lands in the future.

Tournaments

Each year the Ontario bass Federation youth have the opportunity to fish and compete in three organized junior Bass tournaments. Two are qualifying tournaments and one is a mentoring tournament.

The mentoring tournament is the first tournament of the year and is set up as follows:

This first tournament of the year will be held on Gloucester Pool out of Bush's Marina on Sunday July 18th. This is a fundraising tournament and assists us with annual operational costs for the junior program and helps raise funds needed to host these events.

Here’s how it Works:
At this team tournament you will be asked to bring your boat to fish with two juniors for the day. Unlike our regular Junior Bassmaster events, you are able to fish yourself and are eligible for cash payouts at the end. The primary goal however is to teach the kids what you know about bass fishing throughout the day. You will serve as their mentor for the day – explaining lure choices, techniques, patterns, fish care, and conservation etc. There will be a five fish limit per team/boat. The team with the heaviest five bass at the end of the day wins!


Cost:
There will be a $50 entry fee for each member of a three person team...i.e. the two juniors and you the senior member. That $150 per team will be used for cash paybacks at weigh-in for the top three teams. Your fuel for the day will be paid for by the parents of the kids in your boat.

Last year this tournament went over extremely well with all of the kids and parents … and the boaters themselves who found the experience extremely rewarding. Everyone had a great time!

Our Junior Bassmasters and their parents really do appreciate the dedication of Ontario’s Senior Bassmasters when they participate in these tournaments. Although some of these kids do fish a fair bit with their parents, others do not – yet they all have a common bond and are crazy about bass fishing. Despite their varying skill levels, your help to get   these kids out on water to combine “Education, Fun and Competition” is proving to be a successful format and one that our Federation Nation is proud to promote.


Gloucester Pool is also the site of the first qualifying Junior Bassmaster tournament for 2010; on the 25th of July so we are happy to give the kids the opportunity to learn on the same body of water as their first qualifier. Their third and final tournament of this year will be on Bass Lake in Orillia on August 15th.

Ontario Junior Bassmasters Do More Than Just Fish:
Our junior members meet regularly just like senior clubs and at each meeting there is a concerted emphasis on teaching basic bass fishing fundamentals. We also stress good sportsmanship and a high standard of ethics for our young anglers is compulsory. Our members are not only expected to each perform their own annual conservation project but also to complete a written report on that project. These are all turned over to the OBFN’s Conservation Director – Wil Wegman who reviews each project.

At each of these two major qualifying tournaments, the Juniors are expected to be able to test their skills without the help of the adult Bassmasters who volunteer their time and bass boat to basically chauffer two keen young Bassmasters around the lake. Once again, your fuel costs for the boat will be taken care of by the parents.

In 2010 don’t miss the boat – sign up today and help shape the direction of our Junior Bassmasters for tomorrow.

Thank you for your support of the Ontario Junior Bassmaster program!

Gerry Heels
Ontario Bass Federation Nation
Youth Director (team)
705-728-7749 days
705-791-8080 night
gheels@tompkinsandheelsmonuments.com 

There are two age groups are for the junior program. Kids 11 years old by March 31, 2009 and no older than 14 as of March 31, 2009 will be in the junior division. In the senior division they must be 15 years old by March 31, 2009 and no older than 19 as of March 31, 2009. At the end of the first qualifying tournament and two weeks before the second qualifying tournament the competitor must have done a conservation project and a write-up telling exactly what he or she had done for this project. This project must be in the hands of the Ontario Bass Federation Youth director two weeks before the third tournament. These completed projects will then be sent to the Ontario Bass Federation Conservation director for his information and for him to evaluate.

Each junior wishing to participate in the junior qualifiers must be a paid up member of a junior club and also a paid member of  B.A.S.S. He or she must also have the tournament entry form filled out completely and in the hands of the youth director two weeks prior to the tournament date. Failing to do so eliminates the junior from entering the tournament.

Each tournament consists of a full day of fishing on three different lakes in Ontario. The juniors are paired up the day of the tournament and in most case paired with a junior of the opposite division than there own.Each junior has half of the day to fish anywhere they like as long as safe condition allow. When it is there half of the day they have full control of where they want to fish and run the front trolling motor. If they don’t want to run the trolling motor they can have the other competitor run it for them. Nets are provide but each competitor must net the own fish with no help from the other competitor or the boat captain.

The tournaments are run on a point system with the winning weight of the day having the most points and also big fish of the day in each division receiving extra points.

After these three tournaments the junior in each division with the most points qualifies to go to the Junior World Championships in the United States.

Casting Kids

In 1991, BASS developed the Bassmaster Casting Kids program, which is similar to the NFL punt pass and kick events. However, in casting Kids the challenge is to flip, pitch and cast a hookless lure to a bullseye target. Mastering these three techniques will give any angler the skills they need to present any lure and catch monster Bass. Scoring is based on a points system so the young angler with the most points wins ! In only fifteen years of existence, with over 17,600 national and international  events conducted to date, participation by more than 1.9 million children  and more than $3.1 million awarded in cash and prizes and scholarships, the Bass masters Casting Kids program is the most successful youth fishing program in the world.

Participants compete in local events conducted by an affiliated BASS Federation Nation club. Each local event has two winners, one in each age group. The winner then proceeds to the Ontario finals in the fall of the competition year. Here out of all of the competitors from Ontario one winner from each division will advance to the Semi finals in the United States. Again one winner from each division will advance to the finals again in the United States. This final event is held in conjunction with the Bass Masters Classic. All expenses are covered for these two final events.

The Ontario Bass Federation youth program is dedicated to good sportsmanship, conservation and encourages kids to have fun in the outdoors.

For more information contact

                    Gerry Heels

         Ontario Bass Federation Nation

                    Youth director

                     705-726-3190

           juniorteam@ontariobass.com