Northeast
Bassmasters was founded in 1995 by former member and past president, Mark Scocco. The club struggled
for a few years with membership and funds because of the pay-as-you-go format that allowed the members to pick and choose
the events they would participate in. The result was that some events were well attended and the payouts were good, while
other tournaments were so poorly attended that the payouts were meager to say the least. The club was reconstructed
in 1998 to a full pay dues club which allowed anglers to fish any or all of the tournaments for that year. This change
increased stability and membership for a few years. With this format, the club was able to establish a budget
for the season and standardize payouts for each event regardless of attendance. Things were going along smoothly, but
as times changed so did Northeast Bassmasters. We began to once again see a decline in membership. Some members
retired and moved away. Some younger members got married, had families, and had little or no time to fish. For
some members work took precedence over fishing. By 2005 the executive committee realized that our club format had to
change once again. The executive committee decided to re-design Northeast and make it strictly an open buddy format thus
doing away with the individual point system and opening the club to all anglers. Today, Chuck Martin and Paul Schmidt
are the only active members from the original club formed in 1995. They are running the club strictly as a buddy series,
and there has been a resurgence in the club membership. In 2006 our membership stood at 41, and as our
tournament season closed in 2013 our membership hit an all time high of 184 active members. It seems that we have finally
turned the corner with a formula that works. We welcome one and all to fish with us. Just bring your boat and
a buddy to the registration at one of our events.
You could be the next winner!
