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The Johnny Morris U.S. Open National Bass Fishing Amateur Team Championships is a World Series caliber-event that is set for next Friday through Sunday on Table Rock Lake in Missouri, and several area fishermen will be participating in it.
Jerry Brumbaugh, Sr., and his son Jerry, Jr., both of Martinsburg, will be participating on one of the more than 350 two-man teams, as will the teams of Richie Nicodemus of Martinsburg and Brent McNeil of Huntingdon, Kip Kauffman of Osterburg and Danny Deemer of Schellsburg, and Bedford area native Duke Nave of Oxford, Pa. and Steve Allender of Rosedale, Md.
The event is sponsored by Bass Pro Shops and Toyota.
All four teams punched their tickets to the national event by placing among the top 40 teams in one of eight national qualifiers last July at National Harbor on the Potomac River in Maryland.
The national tournament will offer a total prize package of four million dollars, with varying amounts spread out among the top 50 finishers. First prize is one million dollars, along with a Nitro Z 20 bass boat and Toyota Tundra pickup truck for each of the two anglers on the winning team.
The second-place team gets 200,000 dollars, while respective purses of $50,000, $45,000 and $40,000 to be awarded to the third through fifth-place teams.
Over 350 boats have qualified for the three-day event, and 50 of them will survive to fish of the final day of the competition on Sunday, Nov. 21, which will be televised nationally on NBC.
It could be a monumental opportunity for many of the anglers involved.
"I just feel very blessed that I can do these things with my dad, and that we can go out to Missouri and compete for the biggest fishing payout tournament of all time,'' said Brumbaugh, Jr., who is a senior at Central High School. "This tournament pays top prize of a million dollars. This tournament can change your life.''
The Brumbaughs have confidence that they can win the top prize, too.
"Anybody from around here is good enough to win this thing,'' Jerry Brumbaugh, Sr., 52, said. "All of these guys who are in it are good fishermen. The winner gets a million dollars, two bass boats, and two trucks. That's a pretty good prize, and it's realistic for any of us to do well at this event.''
The Brumbaughs will be fishing out of their Ranger bass boat on the lake, which spans over 67 miles in the Ozark mountains from southwest Missouri into Arkansas. Only artificial lures will be permitted for use as bait in the tournament.
The Brumbaughs are in it to win it, Jerry, Jr. said.
"I don't really care about any other place than first place,'' said Brumbaugh, Jr., who has been fishing with his father in tournaments for several years, and who teamed with former Central High schoolmate Hunter Klotz to win the United States National High School Championships bass fishing event in South Carolina this past July.
"We've never competed together for this much money,'' Brumbaugh, Jr. said about the fishing competitions that he has entered with his father. "But it's not like we are going to be fishing any differently than we normally would. You've got to fish with confidence, and we're feeling real good about it.
"You have to be on your 'A' game in a tournament like this. There will be 350 other boats on the lake. You've got to fish better than anybody else.''
The Brumbaughs departed for Missouri this past Thursday. Every team will get several days of practice prior to the first day of the competition next Friday.
Jerry Brumbaugh, Sr. said that he and his son made a trip out to Missouri to fish Table Rock Lake during the first week of November in order to get acclimated to fishing the lake.
"We were out there to do a little pre-practicing, and the lake fished really tough,'' Brumbaugh, Sr. said. "The fishing conditions are very tough, and the fish aren't biting very good out there right now. I don't see anybody running away with this (competition).''
While the Brumbaughs are somewhat familiar with Table Rock Lake, Nicodemus and McNeil will be making their first visit.
"I've been reading about it,'' Nicodemus said. "It's a big place. It's 48,000 acres, whereas Raystown Lake (in Huntingdon County) is 8,400 acres. I think the key will be (lure) presentation. We will also have to use our electronic fishfinders to find out where the baitfish like the shad and ellwee are located.
"Once you find the buffet, the bass will be ready to eat,'' Nicodemus added.
Each fish caught will be weighed, and standings for the event will be compiled according to cumulative weight of the fish that are caught.
The tournament field will be pared down to 200 boats after the first day of the event, and just 50 boats for the third and final day, in which every boat will start from scratch and no previous weights for fish caught over the first two days will be considered.
"It's exciting,'' said Nicodemus, 48, who has fished in bass tournaments for over three decades and has been fishing competitively with McNeil for the past several years. "I've never had the chance to fish in a tournament this big before, and I am looking forward to it.
"I just had a birthday November 1, so winning this tournament would be a good birthday present,'' Nicodemus added.
Like everybody else involved in next week's event, Kauffman is also thrilled about participating.
"It's a great opportunity,'' Kauffman said. "I've wanted to do something like this since I was a kid, and now I finally have a chance. Winning this is going to lead to bigger and better things.''
Various prizes will be doled out in a variety of divisions -- ranging from two-person teams of military veterans to teams of women, and youth anglers. One hundred percent of the $450 entry fee that each team pays will be donated back by Morris, Bass Pro Shops and the Toyota company to fund conservation projects such as fish habitats.
In the Potomac River qualifier held July 17, Nave and Allender won first place with a cumulative weight of 18.24 pounds for all fish caught. Kauffman and Deemer placed 10thwith a total of 13.66 pounds, while Nicodemus and McNeil placed 19th with 12.56 pounds, and the Brumbaugh team placed 22ndwith 12.21 pounds.
The stakes will be considerably higher in Missouri next week.
"They're giving away four million dollars total, and if you catch the biggest bass in the event, you win a bass boat,'' Brumbaugh, Sr. said. "It's crazy all the prizes and all the money that are going to be given away.''