On May 19^th, 2005 the North Central Region of the Texas BASS federation held its 2^nd quarterly meeting.

 The meeting was called to order at 7:06 by Federation Director, Robert Brown. Representatives from ATX, Bad Boys, Bass Club of Ft. Worth, H.O.T. Bass Anglers, H.O.T. Bass Assassins, Mansfield, Tarrant Christian and Team Bass clubs were present.

The meeting minutes from Feb. 24^th, 2005 were then read. Mark Jarvis made a motion to accept. David Mulcahy seconded the motion and was passed.

Robert reviewed and thoroughly explained the financial report and offered to open the books for anyone to review.

Robert bought an air pump and diffuser for the holding tank, to be used at our region tournaments. Mark suggested using only 7 weigh-in bags at our tournaments to help ensure the fish remain alive and can be released healthy. He also encouraged the use of a live well additive, such as Bass Medics. Robert said he also had some other ideas to help keep the fish healthy. 

Troy Baines made a motion to accept the financial report. CR Craigof the H.O.T. Bass Anglers seconded Troy’s motion and the financial report was accepted.

Robert talked about the outstanding job our region did at the State Tournament. His report is posted on the Region web site.

Robert also reviewed the PVA tournament, held at Lake Conroe. There was a shortage of boaters present to help the disabled fisherman at the tournament. They had to pair up with themselves in order to compete. Next year we hope to have enough volunteers to accommodate everyone.

Mark talked about the “Fishing for Freedom” tournament, held at Lake Belton for our returning vets, stationed at Ft. Hood. James McBride, Troy Baines and others were there to help as boaters for the tournament. Pro fishermen such as Gary Klein and Ken Cook were there. About 328 boats in all competed in the tournament. There were about 80,000 people at the concerts held at the event.   Morris Herring won the tournament.   

Mark Jarvis had a suggestion for our regional tournaments. He said he would like to see the starting order for the tournaments drawn for each day instead of inverting the order after the first tournament.  Robert said he has received good feed-back on the survey posted on our  Region web site. He has decided to accept money at the ramp to encourage more fishermen to participate in our Region tournaments.

Mark volunteered to investigate any ramp fees required and availability for the June Lake Limestone tournament.

Our point of contact at West Bay Marina on Eagle Mountain said they will have someone at the gate to ease entry into the marina for our May tournament.

Registration for the Eagle Mountain/Granbury tournaments will be at the new location for the FUN-N-SUN boat dealership. In case of rain, registration will be held at Rough Creek Park.

Lake nominations are now being accepted for the 2007 State championship. There is a directors meeting in August and the location will then be decided. Anyone can get an information packet to be presented to the area Chamber of Commerce.

Robert brought up the idea that clubs can present logo designs for hats and t-shirts for the State Championship.

James Bayless sent in a report that there are no newly scheduled youth events James would like to see a tournament trail so the junior bass anglers can compete against themselves. Gary Smith wants to combine the Junior Bassmasters and Little Buddies groups to help end confusion between the two groups. Anglers from either group can advance to the State Championship. Gary wants to charge $25 for a young angler to advance to the State Championship. Our North Center Region will not charge the kids anything to compete in our tournaments unless, possibly, if they want to use these tournaments as a stepping stone to advance to the State Championship, then they would need to pay the $25 fee. If our Region does not charge anything to participate in our tournaments, they will not be sanctioned or recognized. We need to figure a way to get around this problem.

Robert passed out packets on how to start a Junior Bass Club. The packet includes charter by-laws, forms and everything needed to start a junior bass club. The packet was put together by Stacy Twiggs, the Youth Manager for B.A.S.S. Stacy is a former N.C.R. director.

Tarrant Christian Bass Club will hold a Little Buddies tournament at Lake Joe Pool.

Robert is looking for clubs to hold/sponsor youth events/tournaments. The Austin area clubs will band together to hold some kind of youth events.

Robert wants a “Point of Contact” for conservation/youth events.

Mark Jarvis spoke on the conservation issue.

The power plants on lakes Trading House and Old Lake Creek have been shut down by TXU because of the price of gas, but permits were sold enabling the building of (2) new coal fired power plants. The problem with coal is that it emits mercury, causes acid rain and a number of other health related problems. They can make coal plants more efficient.  There are 10 states currently being sued to make the plants more efficient. Texas is one of the worst in the country. There are 10 East Texas lakes, as well as the coastal area that have warnings on eating fish caught there. The town of Rissel is in line to receive the worst of the problems caused by coal fired plants. Mark needs help to combat these issues. B.A.S.S. will join forces with other agencies to help preserve our state resources. On June 10^th, Mark would like to see a coalition to go to a meeting either in Austin or Waco to voice opposition to coal powered plants and other conservation relate issues that are a great concern for our immediate area.

Congress recently passed a bill allowing more emission into our air instead of less. Mark has an e-mail and phone list of our elected officials that we should contact to voice our opposition. When you contact them, say “I am a member of the Texas B.A.S.S. Federation and I want to know your stand on these issues.”

 Phil Douocher wants to build 5 new fish hatcheries with the $5 increase of our fishing licenses. There has been 15 million dollars collected that would pay for building all 5 hatcheries and would be able to eliminate the stamp, but the state only wants to give Phil half the money collected and “loan” him the other half and charge interest on that money.

  Using the State’s plan, we will never be in a position to pay off the “loan”.

The Texas B.A.S.S. officials should fax our politicians in Austin on behalf of the Texas bass anglers opposing this action.

Our Central Divisional Tournament will be held June 5^th – 10^th at Lake Amistad.

The next meeting will be held August 18^th.

Troy Bains made a motion to adjourn and David Mulcahy seconded the motion. The meeting was adjourned at 9:00 pm.