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ABOUT US
The River Ratz
Bassmasters were officially chartered with B.A.S.S. on July 16th
1993. Six anxious
and excited men started the club after making contact with the Maryland
Bass Federation at the Bass Expo in Timonium MD. Harford County was home to all six members so it became a Harford County based club. The original six members are as
follows: Mark Purdue, Dave Vaughn, Jim Pry, Jeff Karpoff, Bob Copper and
Tom Todd. Tom is the only one of the original six still in the club.
Over the years many bass anglers have joined and had great times
with the Ratz. Paul Dubois was instrumental in the club winning the
conservation club of the year in 1998 from the Maryland Bass Federation
(MBF). We also received BASS National Chapter runner-up for
conservation the same year. Thank you Paul for your dedication to
conservation and the many hours of hard work. Mark Purdue, past
president for many years was instrumental in starting what was called
the Upper Bay Challenge and also our Spring and Fall Open Team
Tournaments. The Upper Bay Challenge was a club vs. club tournament.
The Ratz won this event eight out of the ten years it was held.
Participating clubs were Reel Crazy Bassmasters, Chesapeake Bass
anglers and Upper Chesapeake Bassmasters.
Our Open Team Tournaments have been held since 1994. We started
out holding these tournaments out of Dundee State Park but moved to
Tydings Memorial Park in Havre de Grace due to the Harford County
location. We would like to thank everyone that has participated and
especially those that are loyal to our Opens and compete year after
year. We would also like to thank our long time Open Tournament
Sponsor, Aberdeen Trophy World for supplying us with trophy’s for
the first place team.
Club tournaments are the life’s blood of the River Ratz.
We all love the camaraderie and competition the tournaments promote. We
hold eight tournaments a year fishing on the Upper Bay Rivers, some Eastern Shore Rivers, Conowingo Lake and the Potomac River. Our tournaments are restricted to the
rivers we launch from and we feel this format promotes learning that
body of water as well as being fair and safe. For many years we used a
points system to determine who won the title of Mr. Bass. In 2005 we
decided to use weight as the determining factor for the Mr. Bass title.
You can view our past Mr. Bass winners along with Heaviest Stringer and
Lunker awards on our history page.
We have been able to keep our dues very low
and still provide the members with many benefits. The Mr. Bass
Tournament entry fee is paid for by the club as well as lodging costs
if needed. The club pays for up to two State Qualifying Tournament
(SQT) entry fees each year as well. After one full season a new member
is awarded a club jacket and the club pays for half of the jackets
cost. A club awards banquet is held each year to celebrate the year and
hand out awards. Spouses of the club are also thanked for letting us
take the time to go fishing.
Please
enjoy our website and contact us if you have any questions.
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