About the Club
Rip Van Winkle Bassmasters is a "catch-and-release" only bass-fishing club based out of Catskill, New York.
Our Club was created In 1982 to provide fishermen and women an opportunity to compete against their fellow anglers on
challenging waters throughout Eastern New York and Western Connecticut, while encouraging growth in our sport
through education and community service. We believe that we are a unique Club, in that we strive to bring
inexperienced anglers and those without boats into the sport and reward them for their perserverance through
guaranteed payouts and partner-points, the latter factoring into our Angler-of-the-Year standings.

We currently have about 17 members and hold 8 to 10 Club points tournaments each year. Our home water is the Hudson
River, but we also have tournaments on many of the surrounding waters. These include pre-New York-season tournaments on
Candlewood Lake in Connecticut or paper tournaments, and tournaments on some of New York's finest waters including
Lake Champlain, Round Lake, The Mohawk River, and Ballston Lake. In order to promote our anglers, our Club tries to
schedule our events to allow our anglers to compete in other tournament trails including the New York State BASS Federation,
the ABA/BASS Weekend Series, and Schenectady Elite Anglers. In addition to our points tournaments, our Club also runs the annual
Rip Van Winkle Bassmasters Open
sponsored by Greene County in October every year year.
The event takes place at Dutchman's Landing on the Hudson River in the Town of Catskill,
and is a team-tournament which draws 40 - 60 teams avg each year.
It is one of the premiere end-of-season tournaments in the Northeast with a
guaranteed first-place prize of $1,500 and a rare, 100% pay-out guarantee.
Another annual event the Club participates in is a
Casting Kids contest
held in Tannersville, N.Y. in the month of June.
The Club was founded on the principal that good sportsmen and women are made, not born,
and we see this event as crucial to inspiring new anglers and conservationists, while giving back to the community.
The Club meets on the second Thursday of each month from March through October of each year.
Please call Skip Hommel at 518.756.6349 for more details, including information about joining our Club.
Enjoy your visit to our website and good fishing to all!

Angler of the Year Results
2008 - Skip Hommel
2007 - Todd Gross
2006 - Keith Hommel
2005 - Brian Hunter
2004 - Keith Hommel
2003 - Skip Hommel
2002 - Skip Hommel
2001 - Skip Hommel
2000 - Skip Hommel
1999 - Skip Hommel
1998 - Phil Goodwin
1997 - (strike shortened season)
1996 - Skip Hommel
1995 - (strike shortened season)
1994 - Skip Hommel
1993 - Skip Hommel
1992 - (strike shortened season)
1991 - Cliff Tienken
1990 - Skip Hommel
1989 - Skip Hommel
1988 - Skip Hommel
1987 - Skip Hommel
1986 - Skip Hommel
1985 - Mike Angelo
1984 - Danny Powell
1983 - Tom Gentalen
1982 - Tom Gentalen