TrophyCatch to give away new bass boat at high school tournament

  • One of these qualifiers will win a new bass boat thanks to Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. PHOTO/MY FWC
    One of these qualifiers will win a new bass boat thanks to Florida’s Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. PHOTO/MY FWC

One lucky TrophyCatch registrant is going to win a brand-new bass boat this weekend, and the public is invited to join the festivities. Thanks to conservation partnerships, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) TrophyCatch program will be awarding a brand-new Phoenix Bass Boats Pro 819 to one of five randomly selected finalists.

This boat is powered by a 200hp Mercury Marine motor, guided by Lowrance HDLive electronics and Ghost Trolling Motor, anchored by Power-Pole Shallow Water Anchor System, supported by MotorMate and lettered by WrapThis.

The drawing for this $60,000 boat package will take place Saturday, following the 2 p.m. weigh-in for the Bobby Lane High School Cup fishing tournament at Camp Mack Marina & RV Resort. Osceola County has varsity teams that will be competing.

The Bobby Lane Cup is a nonprofit youth tournament held annually to raise funds for educational scholarships for high school seniors who have an interest in bass fishing. Teams from southern states come to compete for the title of BLC Champions.

“It’s time again to award our incredible $60,000 boat package to one lucky winner. This would not be possible without our amazing partnerships with companies including Phoenix Bass Boats and Mercury Marine and many others.” said Thomas Graef, director of FWC’s Division of Freshwater Fisheries Management. “We are grateful to all anglers who have submitted fish into our TrophyCatch program this season. Each approved fish has helped FWC gain valuable data about Florida’s incredible bass fishery and will help to ensure Florida remains the trophy bass capital of the world.”

The five drawing finalists were randomly selected from 36,237 TrophyCatch program registrants and club winners. The finalists are Clinton Kilgore, Loren Perez, James Boggs, Jessie Riddle and James Bernard. The drawing will determine which of the lucky finalists will go home a winner of the new Phoenix bass boat package.

TrophyCatch is a citizenscience conservation program that rewards anglers who catch, document and release largemouth bass heavier than 8 pounds throughout Florida. Data collected by the program help the FWC better enhance, conserve and promote trophy bass fishing. Anglers who wish to participate — and who want to be included in next year’s boat drawing — can visit TrophyCatch.com to register and learn more.