Jason Townsend and his group of Ark-La-Tex Bassmasters, held a tournament on Sunday, September 26th for students of all ages at local Millwood Lake. “It was the BIGGEST tournament I have ever seen! We had more than 60 boats come out for the event,” said Townsend. Townsend created the Ark-La-Tex Bassmasters program here in the Texarkana area after seeing a need for it for his students. For many students in our area, it is expensive to travel out of state for tournaments. By creating a Bassmaster program for Genoa High School students, he has been able to also help students throughout the local Texarkana area participate in bassmaster tournaments held all throughout the Ark-La-Tex area.
The Ark-La-Tex Bassmasters program is known for also providing scholarship opportunities for qualifying students who weigh in at the top. Several students around the Ark-La-Tex area went home Sunday with money in their pockets, to help them prepare for their futures. A total of 11 teams went home with scholarship money Sunday, including 8 high school teams and 3 junior high teams. Two local teams walked away with scholarships including Landon Graves and Reese Bulkley from Arkansas High School who placed 3rd, and Nicholas Wells and Will Spears from Genoa Central High School, who placed 6th. Presley Jo Cook and Brody Baber from Genoa Central JR walked away with scholarship money as well, with their team coming in 3rd at the tournament for Junior High teams.
According to the Arkansas Youth BASS Nation Facebook page, a total of 349.62lbs were weighed in at the end of the tournament, and they had 97% weigh in fish. Congratulations to our local Bassmasters, and to all of those who competed in last weekends tournament!
