The 31st annual Mountain Music Kids Invitational Bass Fishing Tournament returns to Douglas Lake on July 31.
The event kicks off at the Douglas Lake dam access area, 1680 Boat Launch Road, Sevierville. Entry fee is $30 (each team consists of one child and adult).
Pre-registration begins Sunday, July 25, at Buck ‘N’ Bass, 664 East Meeting St., Dandridge (Sunday only), Douglas Lake Campground, 1680 Boat Launch Road, Sevierville, and 3139 Cherokee Lane, Strawberry Plains (Sunday only.)
Onsite registration the day of as well as other activities starts at 9 a.m Saturday, July 31. The tournament runs from 3 to 7 p.m.
In 1990, Stanley Jackson and Joe Greenlee started having wild cat fishing tournaments on Saturday nights. Stanley named it Mountain Music Kids Invitational Bass Fishing Tournament. The name Mountain Music was named by Stanley when he threw a buzz bait lure. He said the sound of it skimming over the water sounded like Mountain Music.
Jackson’s tournaments were a huge success. He had an idea of having a tournament for fishermen to bring a child and fish a tournament. His tournament started on Cherokee Lake. The first tournament was a night tournament from 7 to 11 p.m. He and Greenlee went out and got some plugs donated to give to each child. There were 26 kids in the first tournament.
Stanley and Joe took no money for doing this because it was for the love of fishing. They had the tournament every year just to get kids interested in fishing. After Joe’s passing in 2003, Paul Loy stepped in to help. The tournaments began to get larger every year. A lot of good people began to donate their time by helping and finding sponsors to help pay for the prizes. It became so popular they had to have a cut off of 400 kids.
Prizes will be given for any teams that do not receive a cash prize. No child leaves empty handed.
