Kansas’ largest fishing tournament will attract fishing enthusiasts from the area and surrounding states Saturday to participate in the Cabela’s Ahearn Scholarship Fishing Tournament.
Lon Floyd, assistant athletics director, said the tournament is a fundraiser for the Ahearn Scholarship Fund at K-State.
“This is one of the many ways we provide scholarships for all of the athletes at K-State,” he said.
Floyd said the tournament raises around $30,000 for the scholarship fund.
Rick Dykstra, assistant director of the Geary County Convention and Visitors Bureau, said the event will take place at the south boat ramp of Milford State Park and will start at first light of day, though he recommends people arrive to watch the anglers at 2 a.m.
He said he anticipates about 230 people of all skill levels to compete in the tournament.
Unlike other fishing competitions, Dykstra said the tournament is a multi-species tournament.
“This allows each team of two to select their strongest species out of five categories,” he said.
Teams must declare the species they will fish for, and they can pay an additional fee to fish for more than one. The types of fish include bass, white bass, walleye, crappie and catfish, he said.
Floyd said the teams will weigh their four largest fish for their chosen species, and the total weights will be compared among teams to determine the winner of each category.
He said the winners of each species category will win prize money, with the most money going to the categories with the largest number of entries. The top three winners in each category will receive trophies.
Floyd said he expects the winner of the largest category so far, the bass species, to receive about $3,300.
Floyd said Cabela’s, the event’s primary sponsor, donated 90 percent of the prize money.
Another sponsor, McCarthy Chevrolet, donated a one-year lease on a 2007 Chevrolet 4-wheel-drive Silverado pickup.
“Every person that enters the tournament gets the chance to win the pickup,” Floyd said. “That is the luck of the draw.”
Dykstra said today is the last day to enter the tournament, and registration is at the convention center.
He said a two-person team costs $150.
“That includes a reception dinner and of course a real good time,” Dykstra said.
He said the reception is tonight at the convention center and will include drawings for prizes and a welcome video.