For the past 12 years, at the end of May, we have held the Mel Seichepine “Big Daddy” Youth/Adult Benefit Tournament on the Nanticoke River in Delaware. The tournament launches out of the City Ramp in Seaford Delaware. Participants compete in a team format and each team consists of an adult (Captain) and 2 youth (some boats have only 1 youth based on the situation). Fair competition and fun for the day is foremost.  Based on previous years we expect to have a good representation of Teams competing for prizes that have been graciously donated by the many businesses in our community. Each boat is also required to pay an entry fee of $40.00.

Proceeds from this tournament along with a portion of Federation Member annual dues help fund the Delaware TBF Scholarship program. This program gives college students or students accepted to colleges a $500.00 scholarship to be used as they see fit to help with their continuing education. Each applicant for the Scholarship is required to submit a letter of recommendation from a school educator or athletic coach, an essay on conservation, fishing or other outdoor activity and a transcript of the last semester grades. Each application is screened by the Delaware TBF Scholarship Committee and Scholarships are awarded at the annual Delaware TBF Banquet in February. The Scholarship application can be found on www.deltbf.org under “Forms/Downloads/Youth Downloads.

In the past 12 years we have awarded over $21,000.00 in scholarships. In this our 13^th year we are excited to once again help more students achieve their higher education. We realize this is something we can’t do on our own and we are very appreciative for the help we get from the community and our business supporters.  We try to give each youth and Captain some fishing related product such as baits, tackle or something they can use while on the water. We also award prizes for the top 3 finishing teams. This year’s top 3 teams are:

Back Row left to Right: Team Captain Jeff Semans, Mike Morris, Kenny Spicer, Brian Barnes, Bobby Smith, Craig Morris, and Neal Wharton. (Not pictured Jason Vaughn)
Front row: Mark Hogan, Brian La Clair, Roger Shirkey, and Jobe Tomer

September 27^th and 28^th 2014 was the qualifying tournament for Delaware TBF on the Sassafras River out of the Turners Creek Ramp. The Qualifying anglers were permitted to fish all of the Sassafras River and all areas not deemed off limits by Maryland DNR and other local authorities. Although fishing was tough these anglers managed to best the rest of the field. Congrats to these Delaware anglers who will compete in the Mid-Atlantic Divisional in Lake Erie September 23^rd – 26^th hosted by The Pennsylvania Bass Federation.