Friday, April 2, 2004 Updated: March 16, 3:10 PM ET
Illinois chapter awards $5,000 scholarship to fisheries
By Craig Lamb BASS Times, March 2004
For the third consecutive year, the Champaign-Urbana Bass Club has conducted a tournament to benefit the Ron Ward Memorial Scholarship Fund.
—CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Federations hold tournaments nationwide to benefit worthy causes ranging from charitable organizations to disadvantaged children. In an unusual twist on the concept, an annual event in Illinois promises to someday come with a payback to bass fishermen.
For the third consecutive year, the Champaign-Urbana Bass Club has conducted a tournament to benefit the Ron Ward Memorial Scholarship Fund. The scholarship is named in memory of the longtime club member and former president who expressed a passion for black bass scientific research.
Each year, a lucky fisheries biology student from the University of Illinois' Natural History Survey is the recipient of the scholarship. The think tank and its laboratories are considered by the fisheries science community as a leading authority on black bass research. The mission of the research institution is to investigate and document the biological resources of Illinois and other areas, and to acquire and provide natural-history information that can be used to promote the common understanding, conservation and management of such resources.
Not surprisingly, some of the nation's most intelligent fisheries scientists graduate from the esteemed academic institution. The most recent scholarship recipient is no exception.
The club's board of directors, and advisor Dr. David Philipp, chose Brandon Barthel as this year's award recipient. The graduate student received an impressive scholarship in the amount of $5,000 at the club's annual awards banquet.
"Brandon has a promising career ahead of him and we wish him the best with his research," said club president Milt Waltermire. "His research is most interesting, and we'll be eager for him to share his findings with us."
Barthel's research is focusing on the long-term, extensive study of smallmouth bass reproduction and movement along a portion of the Mississippi River in Ontario. The study site features a shallow pool and a riffle section flowing into a widening lake. The two distinct environments are important to the research because they are free of any obstructions between the lake and the river. Barthel's goal is to gain a comprehensive understanding of the ecology of smallmouth bass populations inhabiting lake-river habitats. He is using telemetry technology to collect data to quantify his research.
Barthel is no stranger to fishing. His family's suburban Chicago home served as home base for numerous fishing trips to Minnesota, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and across the border into Canada. He entered the University of Illinois in 1997 and jumped headfirst into the world of science at the acclaimed institution. By his junior year, Barthel narrowed his interest to fisheries science, volunteering in the genetics lab at the Illinois Natural History Survey.
One of his genetics analysis projects focused on populations of Florida-strain and northern largemouth. According to the university, the data will be used to influence management and conservation plans for bass across the state of Florida.
The 2004 tournament will be held in August on 11,000-acre Lake Shelbyville. For information contact Waltermire by e-mail at mwaltermire@cubass.com.
