The Oklahoma Bass Federation will start the 2016 year by completing the 36 year old program and start our new, future program.

First, we’ll again qualify a 12 man team to fish the final Central Division Tournament on Truman Lake in Missouri, June 19-24. This will be the top 6 boaters and next 6 highest finishers at our three state qualifying tournaments (SQT). These events will be at Texoma, March 12-13, Eufaula April 2-3 and Muskogee, April 30-May 1. Each weekend event will be two separate tournaments with the winner getting 100 points, 2nd 99 and one less for each place. The final results will be the total of the four highest days. The top two team members at the Divisionals will advance to the National Finals with the highest being the boater and the other the co-angler.

Now the second part, the new program will run parallel to the above in 2016 and then stand alone in 2017 and the future. In 2016, we’ll run this along with the 12 team qualifying event. Here’s the difference; we’ll qualify 10% of the field to the Nationals Semi-Finals (NSF). That will be 10% of the total individuals with paid entry to our SQT’s along with the Top 6 and the State Team tournament. The Top 6 and the State Team event will be held at Muskogee, September 17-18.

An example of this is as follows: if we have 50 contestants at each of our 6 qualifiers that would give us 300 contestants allowing 15 boaters and 15 co-anglers to advance to the NSF. Likewise, using this past year’s numbers, we had 48 in the Top 6 and 54 in the State Team events. That would allow 5 boaters and 5 co-anglers, in addition to, the SQT qualifiers. The new program allows each club to send a boater and co-angler to the NSF. For a club to be eligible, they must have at least 2 entrants in any of the above events (it requires the two to enter and attend at least 2 of the SQT weekend events). The NSF will have an entry fee of $200 for boaters and $100 for co-anglers. This event will be run using rules establish by the TBF and all entries will be made through the TBF office.

The NSF will be held in Muskogee Sept. 24-25. We’ll fish with Arkansas in this event in a home/home format, next year, we’ll fish in Arkansas. We’ll advance the top boaters and co-anglers to the TBF National Championship. Those advancing will be based on one pair for every 50 entrants in the NSF. In the example above, we would send the top 2 boaters and co-anglers to the Nationals along with the two qualifying from the Central Division Tournament. At Nationals, our three boaters and three co-anglers will compete on Monday and Tuesday in an elimination tournament with the top boater and top co-angler advancing to the National Finals.

This is open to all Members meeting the requirements of the OBF. If you are interested, call 580-761-8094.

The Oklahoma Bass Federation held their 2015 State Top Six Tournament on the Arkansas River out of the Three

Oklahoma Top 6

Forks Marina in Muskogee, Okla., September 12-13. The weather during practice days met us with fairly warm temperatures. Most reported limited success during practice with catches mostly of smaller, 14inch fish. But, due to a front Friday night, the tournament and surface temperatures were more appealing to both the fishermen and the fish. Continue reading

Johnny Babb and Stewart Ryan Advance To

2016 TBF Nationals

The Oklahoma Bass Federation defended their position as the Central Division Champs by winning the Central Division Tournament taking the title on the Tenn-Tom Waterway in Aberdeen, MS.  The team took the 2014 title on Eufaula Lake in Oklahoma and now has added the 2015 title, being one of the few State Teams to ever have back-to-back Divisional Championships.

Day 1

The practice days were hampered by rain, swift river currents, and ever changing weather.  However, as the tournament started the water calmed, the skies cleared, and many of the things learned during the practice went out the window and the anglers had to change with the conditions.  The team weighed in only 12 fish, tied for the 5^th ranking State of fish weighed in as a team total, however, our weight per fish averaged 2-9 pounds and placed the OBF in 3^rd after the initial day of competition.  Johnny Babb let the team with a two fish catch weighing 6-15 pounds followed by 4 plus pound stringers from Brandon Moss, Mike Zachary, Ron Fuller, and Gene Vogt.  Brandon and Ron had only one fish each but they were 4-14 and 4-09, respectively.  Stewart Ryan (3-07) and Jackie Husmann (2-04) rounded out the 30-15 pounds total leaving us behind both Kansas and Mississippi by only 3 pounds.  After day one Johnny ranked 3 overall for the tournament with Brandon at 14, Mike at 18 and Ron at 20.  Only 57 of the 94 contestants weighed in fish the first day, 102 fish caught for a total weight of 211-13.

Day 2

Johnny Babb and Stewart Ryn 2016 Nation Qualifiers.

During our team meeting following the 1 day, we were able to reevaluate and change our approach for competition the second day.  The result proved to really pay dividends.  Our team brought 22 fish to the scales owith an average, again, of about 2-8.  Johnny improved his first days catch with 4 fish weighing 9-10.  Mike and Gene also put 4 fish on the scales with 7-11 and 6-13. Brandon had 3 for 6-6. Ron Boyd and Ron Fuller brought in two fish  each weighing 5-6 and 4-11, respectively.  ( Ron Boyd’s  first day partner wanted to go up the river 5 locks and due to lock delays did not get back in time to weigh in.  It was a team decision for Ron to take the “adventure” trip.)  The only team close to us in number of  fish was Mississippi with 21 fish, however, their fish averaged only 1-10.

After the day 2 weigh in Oklahoma jumped from 3 to first with a 9 pound lead over Kansas and an 11 pound lead over Mississippi. We had four team members in the top 10, Johnny at 2, Mike at 7, Brandon at 8 and Gene at 9.  Ron Fuller moved up from 20 to 16 while Stewart advanced 3 places from 29 to 26.

Day 3

The final day started with our team going out to maintain our lead.  The big stringer for the final day for us  was a 5 fish limit weighing 10-6, one of the largest of the tournament, by Stewart.  Johnny continued to increase his daily total with 9-15 being the only angler in the tournament to increase his catch each of the three days.   On the last day, many of the anglers from other states was more interested in going home than catching fish.  Two our anglers, Brannon Whipple and Chuck Nelson had a difficult draws and had not weighed fish on day 1 or day 2, rather than be discouraged they combined to bring 6 fish to the scales for a total of 11-15.  Brannon had four weighing 8-13 while Chuck had 2 at 3-2.  (Our margin of victory turnout to be 11-14.)

Oklahoma won the tournament with a total catch of 122-10 followed by Mississippi with 110-12 and in third was Arkansas with 97-3.  OBF had 22 fish the last day with a total of 44-10 while Mississippi had 21 fish to move into second.

On the individual level, Johnny Babb was crowned the Central Division individual Champion and also won a $500 Ranger Cup bonus for himself, as he did last year, and $500 to be shared by other Ranger Cup qualified team members. Johnny, already a BFL All-American from his efforts in the 2015 TBF Nationals, qualified at the Boater in the 2016 TBF Nationals.   The big gest jump in the  standings was Stewart Ryan with a move from 26 to 6.  This qualified Stewart to be the non-boater at the 2016 TBF Nationals.  Mike ended with 10 place finish with Ron Fuller at 12, Brandon Moss at 16 and Gene Vogt at 20.

This makes the second year that we have won the Division Championship, the individual champion ( Dean Matts was the 2014 Division Champ), and had the winner of the Central Division Ranger Cup competition.

For additional info and the daily standings go to www.bassfederation.com.  Go to Tournaments, Tournament Results, then Division Tournament Results, and TBF Central Divisional Championship.

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