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Along with Christmas and opening day of deer season (not necessarily in that order) there's another day each year that truly excites me to the core. This year that date is this Saturday, April 10.

That's the date of the annual Wounded Patriots Fishing Tournament on Lake Erling, just north of Springhill, Louisiana in Taylor, Arkansas. The tournament is closed to the general public, but let me explain why. The date is set aside for only fifty of America's finest. Those that were willing to put it all on the line for America, and in this case, came out of their commitment with some type of handicap.

These are Wounded Patriots and each year the Agred Foundation puts a lot of money on the line for these warriors in the way of tens of thousands of dollars in prize money for the contestants.

There is also some friendly rivalry involved between anglers of Louisiana and Arkansas. As 25 Wounded Patriots from Arkansas and another 25 from Louisiana, are paired with some of the finest anglers representing those states, the state with the highest finishing teams gets to exhibit the large trophy at the respective winning state's VA facility in Little Rock or Shreveport.

I've been fortunate enough to represent Louisiana for several years now and was really bummed out last year when COVID robbed us of the event, so you can imagine my excitement when we were informed this year's event was a go!

Wounded Patriots will register for the event this Friday, April 9, and have the opportunity to visit with other competitors and then on Saturday, some teams will head out in search of Lake Erling's biggest bass and others will hit the water in search of some of the lake's nationally renowned crappie, as there are different divisions for bass and crappie.

Once the competition has concluded all anglers will gather at the Lake Erling Agred Park where there will be an awards ceremony and a spectacular lunch provided by Agred!

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