Cartwrights Win Norris Askew Classic Award At SCBA Banquet; Wells, Koonce Anglers Of The Year

March 22, 2017 - (Photo Album) - The Shelby County Bass Anglers (SCBA) awarded many during their annual banquet with Norris Askew Classic Award going to Frank Cartwright and Selvin Cartwright and Anglers of the year going to the team of Brandon Wells and David Koonce. The event was held at the John D. Windham Civic Center on January 19, 2017.

Emcee for the event was Jason Wells who thanked all of the sponsors of the SCBA from throughout 2016 and the Shelby County Cookers for providing the banquet meal.

"Last year we had a very unusual year due to record flooding, y'all know our sand bass tournament got cancelled in March as well as our March bass club tournament," said Wells. "I believe, if I'm not mistaken, we checked back and that's the first tournament that's ever been cancelled for the bass club."

Wells reminded everyone the SCBA lost Stanley Burgay, a long time member and friend, in 2016, "The club was fortunate enough to be able to contribute and start another Catherine Pinkston fund in his memory."

The SCBA was able to give $25,000 in general scholarships in 2016, according to Wells. He then recognized the winners of 2016 tournaments.

  • February - Josh Sowell and John Paul Packard: 23 pounds, Sam Rayburn.
  • April - Bobby Addison and Clarence Sanderson: 23.53 pounds, Sam Rayburn.
  • May - Jake Permenter and Cody Barton: 19.92 pounds, Toledo Bend.
  • June - Powell Parks, Darren and Jarrod Wiggins: 19.92 pounds, Sam Rayburn.
  • July - Ryan Pinkston: 16.83 pounds (lowest weight to win a tournament for the year), Toledo Bend.
  • August - Andre and Chris Cartwright: 21.94 pounds, Sam Rayburn.
  • September - Ryan Pinkston: 24.01 pounds, (top weight of the year), Toledo Bend.

"Last year, our Texas Association of Bass Clubs team went to Lake Livingston in September and we were able to capture another state championship, and that's back to back championships," said Wells. "That team consisted of David Koonze and Darren Wiggins fishing together Moon Pie and Ricky Sims, Cody Barton and Lance Hughes and myself and Jake [Permeter]."

Lynn Stanford, Shelby County Junior Bass Anglers Advisor, spoke on the fantastic season the Junior Anglers had and gave an update on their projects. He remarked one team from the previous year is now fishing for SFA and another for ETBU.

"The high school fishing has gotten so big that there are scholarships out there for these kids. It is growing, and growing every year," said Stanford.

Stanford informed everyone, just before the banquet, the first SCTX fishing tournament of the year was held with 516 teams (over 1,000 high school participants) in attendance.

"This is our third year, beginning our third year of being in this program and every year, we thought 292 was big, we thought 390 was big. Last year we thought 490 was big and now we're over 500. They're actually turning down high schools just to keep it at a level that they can manage right now," said Stanford.

Stanford said Shelby County was represented well last year with three teams. The team of Chandler Burgay and Hunter Smith finished fourth place overall with 74.15 pounds over 400 teams. Burgay is fishing for the SFA team. Brett Clark and Holly Hughes finished in 14th place overall with a 64.13 pound total for the year.

"At the beginning of the year this year, the team of Brady Wells and Alejandro Flores out of the 516 teams, they finished in 15th place. They weighed in 15.38 pounds," said Stanford. "We also had another team of Jacob Stanford and Camden Cordray, they finished 82nd with 11.22 [pounds]."

Stanford encouraged anyone that knows kids who would like to fish, or any kids grades 7 through 12 who would like to fish to contact him.

Wells thanks Stanford and his wife Diana for making the Shelby County Junior Bass Club a success. He then presented several special awards to members.

  • The "Retirement" award -  Zack Clark
  • The "KVD" award - Michael 'Lil Man' Gardner
  • The "Where's My Biscuit" award - Jacob Permenter
  • The "Bumpy Bridge" award - Chris Cartwright
  • The "Custom Jersey" award - Matt Wood
  • The "Lost Key" award - Gary McDonald
  • The "Kodak Moment" award - Andre Cartwright

Wells introduced the speaker for the evening, Tommy Martin. According to Wells, Martin started fishing at the B.A.S.S. in 1974 winning the Bassmaster Classic in the same year. Martin also has qualified for 19 Bassmaster Classics.

Martin spoke of his love for fishing and that of any other avid fisherman out there and their passion for the sport.

"I love to fish, I've done it for years and years, for 50 years now. It's how I've made a living, but I really enjoy it," said Martin.

Sometimes fishing can be very fruitful and as Martin explained it can also be at the other end of the spectrum where nary a fish will bite. He said how necessary it is to have positive thinking in fishing and how very important that is in tournament fishing.

Martin shared it was a lot harder for anyone such as himself to learn how to fish before 1970, because there were not a lot of articles written on fishing and the internet did not exist to help share such information. Television programs didn't exist that featured fishing, and there wasn't much luck finding any information at the tackle shop.

"Think about it, if you didn't have the bass club, that's one thing that's so great about bass clubs. You all learn from one another, you share knowledge," said Martin.

He said it was important for the stronger fishermen to share their knowledge with fishermen who were not as successful as they are.

"Stan Burgay and I were real good friends, not close friends, but real good friends and I imagine Stan had an influence on a lot of you in this club. He was a great fisherman and a wonderful guy," said Martin.
 

Chelsea Elliott accepted the Most Total Weight award on behalf of Josh Sowell and John Paul Packard.

Following Martin, Wells presented End of the Year Awards and they were presented as follows:

  • 2016 Big Bass of the Year - Ryan Pinkston (9.16lbs)
  • 2016 Largest Stringer of the Year - Ryan Pinkston (24.01lbs)
  • 2016 Horizon Award - Lane Jackson and Michael Andrews
  • 2016 Most Total Weight for the Year - Josh Sowell and John Paul Packard (105.23lbs)
  • 2016 Anglers of the Year - David Koonce and Brandon Wells
  • 2016 Norris Askew Classic Championship - Frank Cartwright and Selvin Cartwright (Day 1 Toledo Bend: 11.25lbs, Day 2 Sam Rayburn: 20.48lbs, Total: 31.68lbs)
  • 2016 Shelby County Junior Bass Anglers of the Year - Hunter Smith and Chandler Burgay
  • 2016 3rd Place Team of the Year - Ricky Sims and Nic Sims
  • 2016 2nd Place Team of the Year - Jacob Permenter and Cody Barton

After the presentation of awards, door prizes were given out and the winner of the Shelby Savings Bank donated Ruger 260 was Stacie Clark.

To learn more about the SCBA, visit them online http://www.shelbycountybassanglers.com.

Brandt Wells commandeered the microphone during the event and he shared some of his thoughts including he likes Mercurys, but not Yamaha. He likes Jets, has a Bass Cat boat and used to have a Champion.