Legacy Lunker Awards Banquet to Celebrate Bass Fishing in The Natural State Oct. 29 

The inaugural year of the Arkansas Legacy Lunker program has been a rousing success, but there’s one more detail left to complete before the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission wraps a bow on year one and begins preparing for year two. The inaugural Legacy Lunker Awards Banquet will be held at 6 p.m. Oct. 29 at the North Little Rock Event Center, where one of 17 anglers to turn in a Legacy Lunker from January-March will be drawn to receive a 21-foot Xpress boat courtesy of Xpress Boats of Hot Springs.

Tickets for the event are $50, and they include a dinner, presentations and beverages on-site. Anyone interested in attending can purchase tickets through a link at www.agfc.com/legacylunker. Deke Whitbeck, president of the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation, which is presenting the event, says a few opportunities also still remain to reserve or sponsor an entire table at this inaugural event that’s sure to be a mainstay in Arkansas’s bass-fishing community.

In addition to free entry into the banquet and a chance at a bass boat valued at more than $75,000, all anglers who donated their 10-pound-or-larger bass during the program period will also receive a free replica mount courtesy of Harper’s Pure Country Taxidermy of Mountain Home and the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation.

The event is much more than a celebration of these lucky anglers; it’s a showcase for bass fishing and a new era of trophy bass management in The Natural State. AGFC Black Bass Program Coordinator Jeremy Risley and the rest of the AGFC’s Black Bass Program team will be on hand to talk one-on-one with everyone in attendance, and Risley will have updates on the results of this year’s inaugural season of the Arkansas Legacy Lunker program.

Rory Herndon, president of Xpress Boats, will also be in attendance to talk about the impacts of Legacy Lunker from an industry perspective. In addition to being the boat sponsor for the Arkansas Legacy Lunker program, Xpress Boats has partnered with the Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation for many other events, including the annual Commissioners’ Cup Youth Bass Championship held on Lake Hamilton.

Presentations will conclude with professional angler Fred Roumbanis, giving the angler’s perspective of this shift in Arkansas bass management. “Boom Boom” Roumbanis is known for his skills with swimbaits and frog-fishing, as well as his knack for finding large, legacy-class bass in just about every state he fishes. Originally a West Coast angler, Roumbanis fell in love with the variety of fishing opportunities in Arkansas and relocated to The Natural State almost a decade ago. He’s amassed more than $1.8 million fishing in the Bass Angler’s Sportsman Society, Major League Fishing and the Bass Pro Tour. He’s had four Bassmaster Classic appearances, two BASS Elite Series wins and three career wins with Major League Fishing.

“We will also have a raffle for all in attendance, featuring prizes from PRADCO, Bass Pro Shops, AFTCO and many other top brands in the fishing industry,” the AGFF’s Whitbeck said. “Anglers will also get to see the boat that’s already been donated by Xpress for next year’s Legacy Lunker drawing. It’s going to be a lot of fun focused on bass and bass fishing in Arkansas.”

In its first year, the Legacy Lunker program produced more than 300,000 “lunkerling” fingerlings, which were stocked in some of Arkansas’s most promising trophy bass fishing destinations. This was in addition to 1.5 million standard Florida bass fingerlings and more than 400,000 northern largemouth bass fingerlings stocked throughout The Natural State.

Visit www.agfc.com/legacylunker for more information on the program and this bass-fishing-focused event.

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The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission and Arkansas Game and Fish Foundation will celebrate the first year of its new trophy bass management program at the Legacy Lunker Awards Banquet,  6 p.m. Oct. 29 at the North Little Rock Event Center.

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One of these anglers will walk away from the Legacy Lunker Awards Banquet as the owner of a 21-ft. Xpress Bass Boat valued at more than $75,000.

LUNKERLINGS
The Legacy Lunker Program produced more than 290,000 “lunkerlings” in its inaugural year. AGFC photo.