THREE RIVERS, Texas — Members of the Quality Bass Club and Del Rio Bassmasters I and II clubs in the Texas B.A.S.S. Federation Nation (www.texas-bass.com) were among the more than 100 volunteers and boaters who helped with the third BASS Fishing for Freedom event Oct. 28 at Choke Canyon Reservoir.
The event honored the soldiers and their families from Brooke Army Medical Center (BAMC), Brooks City-Base medical clinic and the Fisher House (a comfort home for hospitalized military personnel and their family members) at Lackland Air Force Base by providing them with a fishing trip and a tournament.”Being a hub for the Air Force, Army, Navy and Coast Guard in this area, the area anglers came out in droves to support our nation’s heroes,” said Bill Marion, South Texas B.A.S.S. Federation Nation director. “They absolutely knew the sacrifices these men and women make every day. I actually had to turn boaters away because I had too many, which is a nice luxury to have.”The day was filled with many touching moments, but the one that stood out the most for Marion was the experience of a mother and her grown daughter, who was an outpatient at Fisher House. “The mom wasn’t an outdoors type, but the daughter was,” recalled Marion. “It was the daughter’s first time out of the hospital in eight months and she just couldn’t stop talking about the day. Her mother said she didn’t realize how fun fishing was and that she was going to do it more often with her daughter.”The anglers took out more than 40 soldiers, deployees and airmen from BAMC, Lackland and Brooks City-Base.
