5280 Youth BassHunters Club

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Colorado Youth State Team Qualifier

Joseph's Journey Big Bass Challenge

Welcome to 5280 Youth BassHunters!

Welcome to 5280 Youth BassHunters! Our goal is to get kids excited about fishing, teach conservation, and allow kids to take responsibility for their natural resources. As Youth Director for 5280 BassHunters I hope to instill in our kids the responsibility to manage club finances, and collectively work as a group to develop ideas to preserve the legacy of fishing in Colorado. This year will be a true milestone for the State of Colorado, with our partnership with TBF and FLW we will be the first club to qualify and send two kids to represent Colorado at the National Guard Youth World Championship in Columbia, South Carolina. These kids will be fishing with the FLW Pros in a three day event and competing for over $30,000 in scholarship money and prizes. Last year's event drew 20,000 spectators to watch the kids weigh-in.

This year the 5280 Youth BassHunters will also compete in a round-robin tournament on a private parcel of land in Northern Colorado. Two kids will be on each pond and will rotate to a new pond every hour. The unique aspect of this tournament is that each pond has a greater majority of each species of bass, meaning, one pond is dominated by smallmouth, one by largemouth, and one by spotted, so the tactics will need to change at each location. This is sure to be an exciting event!

Along with fun and exciting outings, The 5280 Youth BassHunters will also be participating in charity benefits and clinics throughout Colorado. On August 3, 2008 the 5280 BassHunters will be hosting the Military Kids Scholarship Fishing Tournament at the beautiful community of Water Valley in Windsor Co. 30 kids from our local military families will compete for 4 scholarships and many prizes in a one day fishing tournament alongside one of our 5280 BassHunters. The 5280 Youth BassHunters will be helping to set up a BBQ for the families, operate the weigh-in, and they just might have a chance to wet a line in one of Water Valley's beautiful lakes. The next big event will be the Children's Hospital Cast for a Cure Event. The 5280 BassHunters will host a clinic and benefit with all proceeds going to Children's Hospital. The world's largest trout tank will be shipped in and filled with fish and people from our local community will have a chance at casting into it to try and catch a fish. We will also be having a BBQ, music, a 9-hole casting competition, selling t-shirts, and have games set up, all to raise funds for Children's Hospital. All of the Youth BassHunters will have a responsibility at this event and all will be needed.

Our outlook for 2009 looks very promising with many sponsors showing interest in partnering with our Youth in Colorado. We will have a series of outings and tournaments and a spring State Qualifier for the 2009 Youth World Championship. The Children's Hospital Benefit will be in it's second year and we hope to make it even better for 2009. There are unlimited opportunities; it's up to our Youth to grasp them.

I will leave you with one quote from a brilliant man "It is every man's obligation to put back into the world at least the equivalent of what he takes out of it." -Albert Einstein.

I look forward to meeting you all and good fishing!!

Sincerely, Erick H. deLumeau

720-810-1097
5280 BassHunters Youth Director