"Building Champions of Character On and Off the Water."  

 Collegiate Bass Anglers Association Selects Brookville Lake as Championship Venue.

Plymouth, Indiana (April 1^st)  - What started over a decade ago has become the grandfather of collegiate tournament angling and has spurred on a force that has become a brush fire among amateur athletics, collegiate bass fishing!  The 2009 championship makes its way back to Hoosier waters for consecutive years with Brookeville Lake being selected by student leadership and the CBAA as the championship venue for this year’s title event. The championship was last contested on Indiana waters in 2008 (Lake Maxinkuckee). 

“This competition dates back to 1996 when it was first contested on Lake Freeman (IN) where student anglers from Purdue University captured the inaugural Big Ten championship… This event (Big 10) is also considered by historians to be the first national championship of the sport as well.”  Said Troy Heckaman, CBAA Commissioner.   

Brookville Lake  is  one  of  Indiana’s  recreational  jewels as it’s  5260  acres  of  moderately  clear  water and  vast  shoreline offers some of  the best fish  populations  in the state.   Brookeville was impounded in 1974 by the Army Corps of Engineers.    The reservoir is located in Franklin and Union Counties with the dam located just north of Brookville Indiana.  Brookville is renowned for its rich walleye history, but also offers tournament anglers a health populations and opportunities for keeper (14 inch) black bass.  Smallmouth bass, while not quite as numerous as largemouth bass, actually outnumber largemouth below the Fairfield Causeway in the lakes southern reaches.    Local Brookville expert and event volunteer Curt Cox (Gadabout Bass Masters) related that “if the weather holds up for the next couple of weeks, the lake should be right for the smallmouth spawn and things could be really exciting”.     

 “This event is a true gem of the sport and we try to provide as many opportunities for these student athletes to get on the water and that where we ask for your assistance.  Many of these teams relay and count of volunteer boats to be able to participate in this event and we are in need of a few more volunteer boats to   be able to get all of these anglers on the water.  If you and/or your club can assist these young men and women of the Big 10 by being a boat volunteer, please let us  know as soon as possible so that  they can plan accordingly”   Troy Heckaman, CBAA Commissioner. 

This year’s field will be headed by the defending Big 10 Champions Purdue University (2008, 2002, 2000, and 1996) and will welcome the return of University of Minnesota anglers to the Big 10 competition.   Former Big Ten Champions Indiana University (2003, 2001, 1998,  1997), University  of Illinois  (2007,  2006), University of Michigan  (1999), and Michigan State University (2004), along with Penn State University, University of Iowa, University of Wisconsin, Ohio State  University,  and Northwestern University, round out the possible contestants for the 2009 title.   

2008 Championship Results Champion – Purdue; vMichigan State; wWisconsin; xIllinois; yOhio State; zIowa; {Michigan; |Indiana; ë Penn State, Northwestern, and Minnesota did not compete. 

Collegiate Bass Anglers Association is excited to bring this event to  Franklin County and the Brookville community.  We look forward working with local business and organizations as we build partnerships for the championship in support the student anglers of the Big Ten.  For information on partnership opportunities and the Big10 please contact the CBAA at troy@collegiatebass.org or via phone at 574.780.4390.      

The Collegiate Bass Anglers Association Inc. (CBAA) is the sanctioning body of collegiate bass fishing, functioning uniquely as a national not-for-profit  amateur athletic organization, and is dedicated to the recruitment and retention our next generation of anglers, vigilantly pursuing the promotion and enhancement of intercollegiate angling as a unified recognized collegiate sport.  CBAA 2009 < ’ ) ) ) ><