Post by jkaszuba on Aug 31, 2011 0:01:42 GMT -5
Hey guys,
My name is Justin I am the club secretary and every month here you will find a copy of everything we talk about at club meetings, in case you were ever to miss them or were to forget anything that we talk about.
The FIBC has been a RSO at U of I since 2001, starting out as more of a fun fishing club but over the years has added a competitive side as well. The club is open to all students at any skill level and we are all here to help you learn to fish in any way we can.
Fun Fishing
If theres ever a day you want to get out to a local campus pond and throw a line in, there is almost always someone willing to go with you, all you have to do is post here on the message board. There are a number of small ponds on campus, some are close enough to walk, some you can catch a bus to and some are a short drive away.
Crystal lake is up by Carle Hospital, about a 30 minute walk or you can access it by the buses, this is probably the lake we all go to the most.
Kaufman Lake is over by 72 on springfield, this is one that you usually need to find a ride too.
Motorola Pond is right down the street from Assembly Hall and thats one you can take a bus to.
We also have boats, both club and member boats that we take out as much as we can, and go to a number of lakes within 2 hours of here.
Clinton lake is the closest about 45 minutes away, it is a power plant lake so the water never gets below 70 and we can fish there year round.
Lake Shelbyville is about an hour and a half from here and is one of the better fishing lakes in Illinois.
Newton Lake is another power plant lake, one of the better ones in the country and is about 2 hours from here.
Other lakes that are within 3 hours of here include Rend Lake, Lake Sara, Lake of the Woods, Lake of Egypt, Mill Creek, Lake Jackonsville and Lake Springfield.
Competitive
There is also a competitive side of fishing to our club, where members fish all over the country in fishing tournaments against other schools.
Big 10 Classic: Our biggest tournament in the fall is the Big 10 Classic which is the longest running college tournament in the country and pits us against all the big 10 schools. We are able to take 5 two man teams up there depending on boats, spots are based on points collected from paper tournaments and club events (see below)
FLW Circuit: In this circuit you get to fish with a pro and have the chance of winning some money. The top 5 at qualifier tournaments win money and qualify for the regional and then the national championship. On top of money the clubs also win a Ranger wrapped in their school colors.
Boat US: This is a newer circuit we are getting involved in, very well run tournaments, not as much money at stake but a great stable of sponsors give you a bunch of prizes.
College Bass: This circuit is run by BASS and gets you on ESPN, due to scheduling overlap we have not been as active in this one lately but we are going to get back into this one more.
Illinois State Championship: This tournament is held in the spring between all the Illinois Schools who have teams and theres a little bit of money at stakes and a lot of bragging rights.
Point System
Tournament participation and active member status is determined by points. You can gain points by coming to club general meetings, coming out to club events and fundraisers and fishing in paper Tournaments. Paper tournaments are friendly interclub tournaments meant to determine points standings for tournaments and for awards at the end of the year. We fish these paper t's weekdays and weekends, and even though they have kind of big meaning, at the end of the day they are fun whether your serious about tournament fishing or not, it is something that is fun for all members.
Sponsors
We have a lot of awesome sponsors from the competitive side that are open to all members in good standing (a member who attends 3 general meetings and 2 club events)
Columbia: Gives us a discount on all their products, some of the best outdoor gear you can buy. The top 10 members get a gear donation, last year it was new rain suits.
Dobyns Rods: Give us a really good discount on some of the best rods out there. They help out the club a lot, the owner is very easy to work with and is always willing to help.
Lake Fork Trophy Lures: They give us a really good discount, and also have donated a lot of plastics to us for fundraisers and raffles. Again the owners are very good to us and easy to work with.
Quantum: We get a good discount on all their rods and reels.
Pure Fishing: This is not an official sponsorship of our team but an incentive from fishing in Boat US tournaments, we get a discount on all products of companies owned by them. This includes Pflueger, Abu Garcia, All Star Rods, Berkely and Fenwick among others.
Tacklewarehouse: An online tackle superstore, they give us a good discount on all their products and have some of the best customer service out there.
Spro and Scumfrog: We get a discount and a donation on the products of these companies every year.
Ranger Boats: We are working with them on repairs for our club Ranger (see below)
Advantage Bait Company: This is a new sponsor we have as of last spring, a start up company from Elk Grove Illinois that have some of the best spinnerbaits we have ever used before. Again another great owner very willing to help the club out so we try to help him as much as we can.
Duce Construction: Duce has let us store our boats at their yard for a number of years and they have helped us with repairs in the past.
We also try to work as much as we can with High School teams and want to do more, so if your old high school needs some help let us know and we will do everything we can to help.
We also work with a couple of local tournament trails and clubs, the Illini Team Trail, The Champaign-Urbana Bass Club and the Champaign County Bass Masters. A few of us are members of these clubs and go out fishing with them, if you do you can learn a lot from these guys and have a good time doing it.
Brad Lutz: He is an employee of the University and is on the Dobyns pro staff, and he helps us out a lot with random needs we have as a club, such as sponsors and fundraisers.
Tom Redington: An alumnus of the University who owns a guide service in Lake Fork Texas, he has also helped us out with sponsorships in the past.
Membership
Dues are $30 and go towards the insurance for our boats so all our members can get out on them. If you pay you are considered a member in good standing and can become an active member when you attend three general meetings and 2 club events. Active members get access to our sponsors and are able to fish tournaments.
We have general meetings every month and executive board meetings every month and although you don't get points for executive board meetings, they are a good time, we go to Geovanti's on fourth street and we have a lot of fun at them, so you should definitely check at least one out.
Club Boats
The club has 2 boats, a 1980 fish and ski I/O ranger and a 1976 Quachita Jon boat that were donated by Professor Clyde Kessler in 2005. We have been working on updating the Ranger with new electronics so we can take it to more Tournaments and we are working with Ranger Boats to restore it and that is the goal of club fundraising at the moment.
Fundraising
We are working on more fundraisers to give the club more flexibility financially, we are planning a raffle for the fall and are working on making club shirts to bring money in. We also host a fundraising tournament in the spring to bring in funds, this spring would be our 3rd annual. We are always looking for fundraising help so if anyone has suggestions please let us know.
Social events
We are going to host more social events this year that could be anything from a bar crawl to Lure building days, to camp outs to grill outs, pay attention to the message board and meetings for more information on this, any event we do as a club ends up being a lot of fun and something you definitely do not want to miss.
I know its a lot of information guys but we want you to know as much about the club as possible. It is not a club that requires a lot of time commitment or work, at the end of the day we all like fishing and being on the water. The main purpose of this club is to have fun, fish and teach each other what we know and we are looking at reaffirming that this year. If you have any questions on any of this feel free to post on here or ask one of us directly.
See you guys out there!
My name is Justin I am the club secretary and every month here you will find a copy of everything we talk about at club meetings, in case you were ever to miss them or were to forget anything that we talk about.
The FIBC has been a RSO at U of I since 2001, starting out as more of a fun fishing club but over the years has added a competitive side as well. The club is open to all students at any skill level and we are all here to help you learn to fish in any way we can.
Fun Fishing
If theres ever a day you want to get out to a local campus pond and throw a line in, there is almost always someone willing to go with you, all you have to do is post here on the message board. There are a number of small ponds on campus, some are close enough to walk, some you can catch a bus to and some are a short drive away.
Crystal lake is up by Carle Hospital, about a 30 minute walk or you can access it by the buses, this is probably the lake we all go to the most.
Kaufman Lake is over by 72 on springfield, this is one that you usually need to find a ride too.
Motorola Pond is right down the street from Assembly Hall and thats one you can take a bus to.
We also have boats, both club and member boats that we take out as much as we can, and go to a number of lakes within 2 hours of here.
Clinton lake is the closest about 45 minutes away, it is a power plant lake so the water never gets below 70 and we can fish there year round.
Lake Shelbyville is about an hour and a half from here and is one of the better fishing lakes in Illinois.
Newton Lake is another power plant lake, one of the better ones in the country and is about 2 hours from here.
Other lakes that are within 3 hours of here include Rend Lake, Lake Sara, Lake of the Woods, Lake of Egypt, Mill Creek, Lake Jackonsville and Lake Springfield.
Competitive
There is also a competitive side of fishing to our club, where members fish all over the country in fishing tournaments against other schools.
Big 10 Classic: Our biggest tournament in the fall is the Big 10 Classic which is the longest running college tournament in the country and pits us against all the big 10 schools. We are able to take 5 two man teams up there depending on boats, spots are based on points collected from paper tournaments and club events (see below)
FLW Circuit: In this circuit you get to fish with a pro and have the chance of winning some money. The top 5 at qualifier tournaments win money and qualify for the regional and then the national championship. On top of money the clubs also win a Ranger wrapped in their school colors.
Boat US: This is a newer circuit we are getting involved in, very well run tournaments, not as much money at stake but a great stable of sponsors give you a bunch of prizes.
College Bass: This circuit is run by BASS and gets you on ESPN, due to scheduling overlap we have not been as active in this one lately but we are going to get back into this one more.
Illinois State Championship: This tournament is held in the spring between all the Illinois Schools who have teams and theres a little bit of money at stakes and a lot of bragging rights.
Point System
Tournament participation and active member status is determined by points. You can gain points by coming to club general meetings, coming out to club events and fundraisers and fishing in paper Tournaments. Paper tournaments are friendly interclub tournaments meant to determine points standings for tournaments and for awards at the end of the year. We fish these paper t's weekdays and weekends, and even though they have kind of big meaning, at the end of the day they are fun whether your serious about tournament fishing or not, it is something that is fun for all members.
Sponsors
We have a lot of awesome sponsors from the competitive side that are open to all members in good standing (a member who attends 3 general meetings and 2 club events)
Columbia: Gives us a discount on all their products, some of the best outdoor gear you can buy. The top 10 members get a gear donation, last year it was new rain suits.
Dobyns Rods: Give us a really good discount on some of the best rods out there. They help out the club a lot, the owner is very easy to work with and is always willing to help.
Lake Fork Trophy Lures: They give us a really good discount, and also have donated a lot of plastics to us for fundraisers and raffles. Again the owners are very good to us and easy to work with.
Quantum: We get a good discount on all their rods and reels.
Pure Fishing: This is not an official sponsorship of our team but an incentive from fishing in Boat US tournaments, we get a discount on all products of companies owned by them. This includes Pflueger, Abu Garcia, All Star Rods, Berkely and Fenwick among others.
Tacklewarehouse: An online tackle superstore, they give us a good discount on all their products and have some of the best customer service out there.
Spro and Scumfrog: We get a discount and a donation on the products of these companies every year.
Ranger Boats: We are working with them on repairs for our club Ranger (see below)
Advantage Bait Company: This is a new sponsor we have as of last spring, a start up company from Elk Grove Illinois that have some of the best spinnerbaits we have ever used before. Again another great owner very willing to help the club out so we try to help him as much as we can.
Duce Construction: Duce has let us store our boats at their yard for a number of years and they have helped us with repairs in the past.
We also try to work as much as we can with High School teams and want to do more, so if your old high school needs some help let us know and we will do everything we can to help.
We also work with a couple of local tournament trails and clubs, the Illini Team Trail, The Champaign-Urbana Bass Club and the Champaign County Bass Masters. A few of us are members of these clubs and go out fishing with them, if you do you can learn a lot from these guys and have a good time doing it.
Brad Lutz: He is an employee of the University and is on the Dobyns pro staff, and he helps us out a lot with random needs we have as a club, such as sponsors and fundraisers.
Tom Redington: An alumnus of the University who owns a guide service in Lake Fork Texas, he has also helped us out with sponsorships in the past.
Membership
Dues are $30 and go towards the insurance for our boats so all our members can get out on them. If you pay you are considered a member in good standing and can become an active member when you attend three general meetings and 2 club events. Active members get access to our sponsors and are able to fish tournaments.
We have general meetings every month and executive board meetings every month and although you don't get points for executive board meetings, they are a good time, we go to Geovanti's on fourth street and we have a lot of fun at them, so you should definitely check at least one out.
Club Boats
The club has 2 boats, a 1980 fish and ski I/O ranger and a 1976 Quachita Jon boat that were donated by Professor Clyde Kessler in 2005. We have been working on updating the Ranger with new electronics so we can take it to more Tournaments and we are working with Ranger Boats to restore it and that is the goal of club fundraising at the moment.
Fundraising
We are working on more fundraisers to give the club more flexibility financially, we are planning a raffle for the fall and are working on making club shirts to bring money in. We also host a fundraising tournament in the spring to bring in funds, this spring would be our 3rd annual. We are always looking for fundraising help so if anyone has suggestions please let us know.
Social events
We are going to host more social events this year that could be anything from a bar crawl to Lure building days, to camp outs to grill outs, pay attention to the message board and meetings for more information on this, any event we do as a club ends up being a lot of fun and something you definitely do not want to miss.
I know its a lot of information guys but we want you to know as much about the club as possible. It is not a club that requires a lot of time commitment or work, at the end of the day we all like fishing and being on the water. The main purpose of this club is to have fun, fish and teach each other what we know and we are looking at reaffirming that this year. If you have any questions on any of this feel free to post on here or ask one of us directly.
See you guys out there!