FX3 and We Dare to Care organizations benefit greatly
Jason Foss and Chandler Cornelius beat out a 79 team field to win the 11th Annual Help Our Heroes Bass Tournament presented by Toho Marine.
The annual event, held on the Kissimmee Chain of Lakes on June 17th out of Camp Mack, positioned teams from across the state to compete for the top prize of $6,000.00 while also raising funds to donate to FX3: Fishing Family Forever and to We Dare to Care.
Foss and Cornelius weighed a 27.65 pound, 5 bass limit to beat out some of the area’s top anglers to win $6,000.00.
Chandler Cornelius (L) and Jason Foss (R) pose with Toho Marine’s Joe Clements with the first place hardware
“We focused on bluegill beds, catching them all on topwater!” explained Cornelius. “We had like 30 bites, all on a frog. We caught two big ones in between the first and second set of storms, then three more from 2:00-2:30. We found a new area of fish mid tournament and it was holding the right ones.”
“We probably lost a good hour from the day due to the storms,” Foss stated. “We had to hop around as our spots from practice kind of dried up with added pressure from a lot of other anglers.”
Andrew Hall (L) and Will Brown (R) pose with Toho Marine’s Joe Clements, finishing in second place
Andrew Hall and Will Brown finished the day in second place with a 26.61 pound, 5 bass limit, earning $2,000.00.
“We caught all our fish on moving baits,” explained Hall. “It was tough. We caught all our fish that were weighed in by 9:00. We only had 7 bites all day.”
Bobby Wooten (L) and William Weil (R) pose with Toho Marine’s Joe Clements, finishing in third place
William Weil and Bobby Wooten finished the day in third place with a 26.15 pound, 5 bass limit, earning $1,050.00.
“We fished Toho, and caught a limit on the south end throwing a Bruiser Baits Banger 110 jerkbait,” explained Wooten. “One of them was a six plus. We then went north and culled everything but the six pounder on a Spook.”
Rounding out the Top 5 were the teams of Dalton Brinson & Ruben Castillo in fourth place with 25.53 pounds ($800.00) and Ray Trudeau & Walter Thompson in fifth place with 24.91 pounds ($475.00).
Travis Cato (L) and Bruce Bozman (R) pose with Toho Marine’s Joe Clements after winning the Big Bass award
Though there were 4 TrophyCatch Florida quality fish weighed in, only one team could take home the Big Bass prize. Bruce Bozman and Travis Cato weighed a 9.71 pound lunker to earn $1,600.00.
The event raised enough money to donate $5,000.00 to both FX3: Fishing Family Forever and We Dare to Care organizations for a total of $10,000.00 donated from the event.
The event raised enough money to donate $5,000.00 to FX3, Inc.
FX3 Inc is a veteran ran nonprofit that is taking on suicide and suicide prevention by offering an outlet through the outdoors with fishing. Their team is made up from a variety of veterans and civilians. Founded in 2019 by US Army veteran Michael Johns, FX3 Inc was founded with the purpose to remind all Veterans, Police Officers, EMT’s, and First Responders “You’re Not Alone” and someone is always here for you. More information on FX3 can be found on their website https://fx3inc.org/.
The event raised enough money to donate $5,000.00 to We Dare to Care, Inc.
We Dare to Care (WD2C) is a non-profit organization with zero paid employees; their events and charity is run entirely with volunteers and support from our local businesses and citizens. We Dare to Care was founded in 2017 by members of the St Cloud Police Department and local business owners when they noticed a need for one of their local Sergeants at the time who was fighting cancer, and it was difficult to formally host an event that we could use to raise funds as a charity organization. Since then, WD2C has hosted 3-6 events annually, using the funds for local police officers, firefighters, other city employees, and citizens in need fighting life-threatening issues and illnesses.
More information on We Dare to Care can be found on their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/wedaretocareinc/.
Top 15
| Place | Team | Big Fish | Weight | Winnings |
| 1 | Jason Foss & Chandler Cornelius | 27.65 | $6,000 | |
| 2 | Andrew Hall & Will Brown | 26.61 | $2,000 | |
| 3 | William Weil & Bobby Wooten | 26.15 | $1,050 | |
| 4 | Dalton Brinson & Ruben Castillo | 8.22 | 25.53 | $800 |
| 5 | Ray Trudeau & Walter Thompson | 6.80 | 24.91 | $475 |
| 6 | Rodney Glunt & John Armour | 8.79 | 22.65 | $425 |
| 7 | Shane Walls & Clayton Walls | 22.60 | $400 | |
| 8 | Tyler Wright & John Huls | 8.35 | 21.58 | $375 |
| 9 | Chris Maxwell & Mike Porter | 21.22 | $350 | |
| 10 | Rob Branagh & Charlie Coleman | 6.86 | 21.21 | $325 |
| 11 | Mason Boylan & CJ Barbosa | 20.82 | $300 | |
| 12 | Chad Wagner & Lee Sisson | 20.72 | $275 | |
| 13 | Chad Schroeder & Anthony Cilladi | 20.13 | $250 | |
| 14 | Levi Brown & Roger Brown | 20.12 | $225 | |
| 15 | Eric Conant & Michael Foster | 19.53 | $200 | |
| Big Bass | Bruce Bozman & Travis Cato | 9.71 | $1,600 |
Full Results
Photos Credit: Toho Marine
