Long Island Bassmaster's History

In June of 1985 the chapter filed for incorporation as a not-for-profit organization to be officially known as "The Long Island Bassmasters, Inc." The cost of $600 for incorporating was paid for by money earned by the Club acting as technical advisors in a TV commercial. This commercial was filmed at a lake in Wayne, New Jersey. The commercial was filmed in June, and  the club supplied rods, reels, John McCardell and Charlie Kick served as advisors and the largemouth bass used in the filming were caught by club members and held overnight in a trap at Cold Springs Harbor fish hatchery. In total we received $1150 for our efforts. Later on that same year we were again offered the opportunity to be technical advisors for a Strohs beer commercial which was filmed at the Delaware Water Gap. Here we supplied rods, reels, John McCardell and Pat McNamara

served as advisors and Charlie Kick's 10 foot John boat was used in the filming, the 4 7 lb largemouths used in this commercial were flown in from Florida courtesy of the Florida Department of Fisheries.. This commercial earned a total of $1650. It was also time for a new club record weight, Phil Uruburu Sr., fishing in his first tournament had a single weigh-in total of 13 lbs. 4 oz. which included a 7 lb. 2 oz. Largemouth that held on to be Mr. Bass for that year.

In the winter of 1986 the club decided to publish a booklet on freshwater bass fishing on Long Island. This was done for a number of reasons: 1) to make the public more aware of the club's existence 2) to help further "catch and release" 3) for public education of conservation in general. The booklet consisted of 28 pages and was sold for $1.00 at local tackle shops or for $1.50 if ordered by mail. 2,500 were printed and about 2300 were sold. The cost of the book was paid for in part by ads from local tackle shops and also by making it available for sale by them on consignment for the price of 50 cents. From this project the club realized about $1200 in profit. The club also had 135 cardboard and 135 metal signs made that year that read "RETURN YOUR BASS . . . TAKE YOUR TRASH. The signs were 12" x 12" and the metal signs were put up at launch areas around the island. This was done with the blessing of the New York Department of Environmental Conservation and The Suffolk Department of Parks. You can still see the signs at Lake Ronkonkoma, Hither Hills, Fort Pond and other locations. It was also during 1986 that non-profit status was awarded to us and on December 10th we officially incorporated.

 In 1987 the club once again filed for "Chapter of the Year" for 1987, in spite of the fact
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