Keowee Bass Tournament To Benefit Wounded Warriors In The Carolinas

Tournament anglers are noted for two characteristics that are not necessarily related to fishing – most are very patriotic and they love to support charities, especially if they can do it while fishing. So the first ever Wounded Warrior Project Benefit Bass Tournament that will be held on Lake Keowee Saturday is the perfect combination.

“A friend of mine down east in North Carolina joined a club that takes wounded veterans hunting,” said Bryan Yates, a member of the Mountain Elite Bass Series, an open club in Waynesville, N.C., for anyone who likes to fish. “We do a charity each year and we were trying to figure out which charity we would support this year. We decided to do a bass tournament and raise money for the Wounded Warrior Project.”

Yates registered the tournament with WWP and plans are to make it an annual event, he said. Partnering with Upstate Warriors Solution in Greenville, S.C., the money will be directed to wounded warriors in the Carolinas to pay for treatment and equipment not covered by insurance.

“It blows my mind,” Yates said. “They go over there and fight and you’d expect our government would pay 100 percent, but unfortunately, that is not the case.”

Yates said almost 50 anglers had registered by the first of the week and more are expected by tournament time. The tournament received a big boost during the weigh-in at the Bassmaster Classic last weekend when pro Edwin Evers urged anglers to support it.

Evers, from Talala, Okla., took a brochure from an information box at the launch ramp and read it onstage, telling the crowd how important it is to support the effort to help the Wounded Warriors.

Yates said the tournament will feature 10 special guests – all Purple Heart recipients, three of them Medal of Honor winners – plus the fathers of two soldiers who were killed in action. Capt. Bill Plumley, owner and operator of Capt. Bill’s Fishing Adventures on Lake Hartwell will bring his 26-foot boat and take some of the wounded veterans in attendance out on the lake. Other wounded vets, some in wheelchairs, will be ferried on the lake by other anglers.

Entry fee for the tournament is $100, with payout to the top three places plus Big Fish. After the payout, which will be about 20 percent of the total from entry fees, 80 percent will go to the Wounded Warrior Project. Barbecue will be served at $10 per plate, with 20 percent of the total going to WWP and special T-shirts will sell for $20 each with 100 percent going to WWP, Yates said.

“I think this shows how us in the outdoors support our wounded veterans,” Yates said. “They go and fight to give us the freedom to do what we like to do.”

 

Wounded Warrior Project Benefit Bass Tournament

Sat, Feb 28, 2015

Lake Keowee

Gap Hill Landing

Call Bryan Yates 828-506-2034

Email: [email protected]