Brandon Belt Fishing Tourney on Rayburn to Feature Huge Payouts

FISHING UPDATE:

Due to inclement wintry weather and dangerous road and fishing conditions, day 2 of the tournament is canceled.  Fishing on Friday will NOT be allowed for any anglers.  All teams will come back to fish on Saturday.

When Brandon Belt's name is brought up in an East Texas conversation, it's usually going to focus on two things.

BASEBALL 

Brandon is one of the most successful professional athletes to call this area home.  He graduated from Hudson High School and this season will mark his 12th year as the San Francisco Giant's first baseman.

SCAVENGER HUNT 

Belt loves giving back to the community and he loves being entertained, and so he introduced the East Texas Scavenger Hunt about a year ago. Brandon and his crew reveal cryptic clues and it's up to the community to find the cash prize, up to $20K.

Now, you can add a third major topic of conversation when it comes to Brandon Belt...

FISHING

Excuse the feeble attempt at a pun, but Brandon Belt has gotten hooked on fishing.  So much so that he and his fishing buddies are putting together what is being billed as 'the richest team tournament in the history of Lake Sam Rayburn'.

The 1st annual Brandon Belt 100K Grand Slam is coming up February 3rd through 5th at Lake Sam Rayburn, headquartered at Cassels-Boykin Park.  The 100K in the tournament name represents the guaranteed cash payout for the first-place team.  There's a lot more money and prizes that will be paid out.  Based on 400 team entries, 50 places are scheduled to be paid out totaling $300,000.

This is a stringer tournament with a 5-bass limit per team per day, however, the team catching the biggest bass of the tourney will win a flagship Basscat powered by a Mercury outboard.  This boat is valued at nearly $80,000!

On January 25, over 300 teams had already registered for this tournament and the cut-off will be 400 teams.  So, if you've been waiting to get your team signed up, now would be a good time to take care of that.

In addition to the huge payouts, this is also a tournament for a great cause.  This first annual tournament will be benefiting The Father's Heart of Brazil, an orphanage providing endangered children with immediate safe refuge as it also seeks to find long-term solutions for them and their families.