The year for the ALBC is going very good. All the ALBC tournaments are scheduled and being supported by organizations that are interested in working with the association.

Club rosters have been turned in and it appears the number of clubs in the association may have increased a club or two. We have also noticed that some clubs are really growing in numbers. Both are good signs for the association.

The ALBC had another great Best Six in participation, fish caught, weather and support. We really need to thank all the sponsors of the Best Six tournament because without their support it would be very difficult to put the tournament together. The sponsors are recognized and listed in another section of the magazine. I also need to thank the ALBC Board of Directors, our family members and volunteers that gave us support and help to make the tournament a success.
We had 86 teams participating this year which is really the same as last year. We thank all the clubs for participating. A lot of fish was caught during the tournament, especially Saturday, when 75 out of the 86 teams caught a limit of fish... I would like to thank the two special guest that attended the tournament, Judy Wong visited on Saturday and Tommy Martin on Sunday. Both guest talked to the audience and spoke individually with them and were a big hit. We need to thank the four vendors that were present and donated to the tournament and had items for the participants to purchase.
This is the 40th anniversary of the ALBC. There was a cake for the participants and t-shirts were designed to celebrate the occasion. Hope everyone enjoyed it.
Congratulations go out to the Calcasieu Bass Busters for winning this year’s Best Six tournament. The tournament standing is also posted in the magazine. Also, a first this year was that the club that won the tournament, also won the club boat.  Calcasieu Bass Busters were very happy people. The winner of the raffle boat drawing was Blair Warnke of Gibson, La.

The State Team tournament is the next event for the ALBC. The tournament will be held at Toledo Bend at San Miguel State Park on June 26 & 27. THIS TOURNAMENT IS OPEN TO ALL ALBC MEMBERS. Tournament applications have been sent to all members and the application is also posted in the magazine. Make your plans to attend.
The State Team tournament is sponsored this year by Academy Sports and Outdoors. They are the main sponsor of the tournament and they are excited about sponsoring the event and look forward to help us grow the tournament in to a large event. We need our members to help make that happen.

The Tournament of Champions (TOC) will be held on the Red River at Red River South Marina, just south of Bossier City and will be hosted by the Shreveport Sports Authority. The tournament dates of Sept 18 & 19. These are different dates that had been posted earlier but there were conflicts with another tournament on the dates we had previously, so we changed the dates to make everything work out.
The (TOC) is a qualifying tournament. You must fish your District Top 25 tournament to qualify to fish the (TOC). Districts will be holding their Top 25 tournaments soon. Check with your District Director or check the web site, basslore.com, to see when and where your district tournament will be held.
Each District will be conducting their District Youth Fishing tournaments. Please give them your support and take a kid fishing. They are our next generation of fisherman and we need to keep it alive. The web site contains the dates and location of each District Youth Fishing tournament.

We need to thank the clubs that sold boat raffle tickets for this year’s event. Raffle sales were good and that is what keeps the association doing the things is does for the members and it also financially helps the clubs that sell tickets. Negotiations are going on now on the next raffle boats. We should be able to make a decision within the month on a boat manufacture and have the boats ready to begin selling tickets by the first of September. Clubs need to remember to schedule the boat with Ronnie if you want to use one of the boats to help sell tickets. Spots on the calendar will go fast now that clubs can sell raffle tickets in front of Academy. However, you must meet and talk with the Academy store director and schedule your club a date with them to display the boat and sell raffle tickets. That is all they ask and we need to acknowledge that.
The ALBC is still working with LSUA on the Bass Tournament Scholarship Foundation to be held August 14 on the Red River at the Colfax Landing. Information and rules are being put together for the event. More news to follow soon.

Thanks for the support you give the association and good fishing.