December in Iowa for a bass fisherman gets pretty dull. I enjoy watching fishing shows on television, but sometimes I need something more interactive. Boat shows like the one at the UNI Dome in Cedar Falls are great and there are a lot of them around the state but they are a month or more away. 

The best fix for this problem I have found is to join a club. More specifically a B.A.S.S., short for Bass Angler Sportsman Society, affiliated club. Being a member of a B.A.S.S. affiliated club makes you part of the largest fishing organization in the world, the Bass Federation Nation. 

There are several clubs within the circulation area of this paper. The one that I'm a member of is the Cedar Valley Bass Masters based out of Waterloo. Something is always going on in the club. We hold monthly meetings throughout the year, in the winter months we organize an ice fishery, have our annual banquet and set up the schedule for the upcoming fishing season. The meetings themselves are a lot of fun, swapping fishing stories with other local anglers and we often have guest speakers.  Of course in the warmer months we FISH! 

Even if you are not interested in tournament fishing, joining a club still has a lot to offer. You will have the opportunity to go fishing with other members or exchange tips and tactics with them plus you receive a great national monthly magazine called Bass Times. One of the biggest misconceptions about a bass club is that you have to own a big fancy bass boat and tons of equipment just to join. Wrong! In fact you don’t even have to have a boat, there are plenty of members for you to fish with that already have boats. 

If competing in a tournament interests you then there is no better or less expensive way to get started than a bass club. Cedar Valley Bass Master tournaments normally run anywhere from 6 to 20 boats with 2 anglers per boat. Entry fees are $60 per boat each tournament with money paid back to the top finishers. These smaller club tournaments are not only a great way to improve your fishing skills and learn new techniques but also away to find out how tournaments work.