NVWG kicks off with adaptive bass fishing
In his second National Veterans Wheelchair Games (NVWG), Johnny Vanderson wanted to try something different.
After trying out adaptive bass fishing, he’s now hooked — especially after catching his first fish.
“It was wild. I had something at the end of my line that was pulling back,” Vanderson says. “It wasn’t easy. It was kinda hard. It was different.”
An Air Force veteran and New Orleans resident, Vanderson and his boat captain Scott Boyd (Walker, La.) won the NVWG’s inaugural adaptive bass fishing title Tuesday afternoon at Bayou Segnette State Park in Westwego, La. The competition marked the first NVWG event a couple days earlier than the official beginning of the Games.
The 83-year-old Vanderson and 62-year-old Boyd teamed up to catch five bass totaling 5.85 pounds to earn the title, as veteran James Tipton and boat captain Austin Plaisance finished second with three fish totaling 5.19 pounds and veteran Scott Smith and boat captain Kevin Vidrine placed third with five fish totaling 4.92 pounds.
Tipton and Plaisance earned the tournament’s Big Fish award with their 3.12-pound catch, while veteran Eddie Hawks and boat captain Bob Farley placed second with a 2.45-pound catch.
This is the first time adaptive bass fishing has been a medal event for the NVWG, co-sponsored by the Department of Veterans Affairs and Paralyzed Veterans of America. Twenty-six veterans and 16 boat captains competed in the event, which was run much like the PVA Bass Tour series, but with a few tweaks.
A team-style tournament, boat captains and disabled anglers could catch a maximum of five fish, with each being at least 12 inches long. There were two divisions — open team and individual bank, and they fished from 6 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
Boat captains’ catches counted towards their disabled anglers’ catch total. So, a boat captain could catch all five fish, a disabled angler could catch all five fish, or they could split it up.
Vanderson and Boyd caught the full allotment of five fish between them. Vanderson caught one fish, while Boyd caught four. None of the four adaptive fishers who competed in the individual bank division caught a fish.
A local resident and tournament fisherman, Boyd noticed the fish weren’t as active and that the water had changed midway through, so he suggested Vanderson and PVA veteran angler Paul Stewart switch up baits. They went from plastic baits to a wacky worm, a soft plastic or rubber worm that’s hooked through the middle to dangle freely, and a damiki rig, which is a singular jig head and straight tail minnow.
“It’s just a little bitty head and little tail and it spins it like a little shad. I caught two off it,” Boyd says. “I had about 14 yesterday and then last weekend I was there, and me and my grandson caught about 25. So, I kind of had an idea of where to go, so the water changed, so it was a whole different ballgame.”
After a humid and warm early-morning start, weather conditions changed to cloudy by late morning and then a little rain coming in at the end. But Boyd adjusted accordingly.
It made Vanderson’s day and Games.
Vanderson served from 1960-1994, working as a cook, a communications squad member and in the administration field during his military career.
He had such a blast fishing that he’s planning on going back in October for the PVA Bass Tour’s Bayou Brawl in Westwego, La., to try another new challenge — fishing off the bank.
“It was fun, and I would definitely do it again. In fact, I plan on doing it in October and fish from the bank,” Vanderson says. “Just want to try something different, that’s all.”
