Bass club offers chance to learn, compete

It’s all about the bass.

The Inland Empire Bass Club is the second-oldest group of its kind in the state – surpassed only by the Western Bass Club in Western Washington. When it was founded in 1968, it was the Inland Empire Bass, Catfish and Panfishing Club.

Fishing for catfish and panfish? Good fishing. But it wasn’t the same.

“I’m a pretty competitive person,” club president Bob Searls said. “I grew up playing football and baseball and all those competitive sports.

“Bass fishing appeals to that competitive spirit in me.”

The sport of bass fishing is competitive on several levels.

First, there’s the challenge of catching the fish – learning to find where the fish are at any given time and under any given conditions, learning what baits to use and what tactics work best.

Second, competitive bass fishing is one of the fastest growing sports in the country. The top prize at the Bassmaster Elite series tournament in Gilbertsville, Ky., was $100,000.

Inland Empire Bass Club member Luke Clausen, who grew up fishing with his father, Cal, won the 2004 FLW Championship as a professional rookie and topped that by winning the 2006 CITGO Bassmaster Classic on Florida’s Kissimmee River Chain, claiming a $500,000 check in the process.

Liberty Lake’s Joey Nania, a member of the club’s junior division, won last year’s Junior Bassmaster classic, earning a $5,000 scholarship as well as a state-of-the-art bass boat.

“Luke is a Spokane boy; we’ve all known him and watched him grow up,” Searls said. “He’s brought a lot of notoriety to our club. And with Joey Nania winning the junior championship last year, it would be difficult for any other club in the country to match our success.

“The club grows every year. We have young guys come in, looking to learn the ins and outs of it and then they move on to fish the money circuits in the Northwest.”

Known for its trout and steelhead fishing, the Northwest also boasts some outstanding bass fishing – providing the training ground for national-championship anglers.

“Bass fishing is the same, but at the same time it’s different,” Searls said. “When you get down to Texas and Arkansas, the water conditions are different. There, when they talk about fishing clear water, they’re talking about 2 or 3 feet of visibility. Up here, there have been times I’ve been sitting in 30 feet of water watching the fish on the bottom of the lake.

“They have a lot of trees and brush in the water there. We don’t have much of that here. Up here, if you see a snag in the water, you fish it because you’re going to find fish there.”