![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/wchcody252-SITE-300x200.jpg\")
<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
Cody Morgan and Brant Langley hold up their winning fish in last year\u2019s Wolfson\u2019s Children Hospital Bass Tournament at Palatka Riverfront. (Daily News file photo)<\/p>\n
By the end of this week, the quiet along the St. Johns River will be gone.<\/p>\n
The 37th Wolfson Children\u2019s Hospital Bass Tournament will be taking place in two days with the big event happening Saturday.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re packing trailers and everybody\u2019s getting ready to roll that way in a few days,\u201d said Sam Dean, the assistant director of plant facilities for Baptist Health. A member of the staff at the hospital since 1987, Dean has been a part of every tournament, starting in 1989.<\/p>\n
\u201cConsistently, we have been putting between 350-400 boats in the water on Saturday,\u201d Dean said. \u201cIt\u2019s been a three-day tournament, and normally, we\u2019d have 120 boats on Thursday and Friday. But what we\u2019ve decided to do this year is combine the Thursday and Friday events into one day (on Friday). Even though there are two tournaments, they\u2019ll run parallel. What we\u2019re trying to do is reduce the cost of the tournament so we can generate more money for the children\u2019s programs. That\u2019s really the goal \u2013 to raise money for the cardiology program at Wolfson. We started an endowment years back and we\u2019ve now reached $7 million in that endowment. It\u2019s spinning off $200,000-300,000 a year that benefits the children.\u201d<\/p>\n
This year, both the Lads and Lasses and VIP\/Friends of Wolfson Children\u2019s will take place on Friday, while the big tournament remains on Saturday. It costs $120 to enter the Friday competitions and $140 for the Saturday biggie.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe think we\u2019re going to get about 120 boats or so,\u201d Dean said for Friday\u2019s events.<\/p>\n
If anything can keep numbers down for the tournament, Dean said it is the recent surge in gas prices caused by the U.S. invasion on Iran, doubling the costs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe poor guys that have to fill up their boats on the water, I think they\u2019re paying almost $6 a gallon,\u201d Dean said. \u201cWe\u2019ll know better once we see where the total turnout is, but right now, we\u2019re running pretty close to what we\u2019ve been seeing at this point. There are a lot of folks who show up the day of the tournament. Let\u2019s also see what the weather is doing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s forecast currently has temperatures hovering near 90 degrees and sunny skies.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the big one,\u201d said top area angler Lee Stalvey, who will fish with his son, Parker, in Saturday\u2019s big event, and fish alongside his mother, Sarah, during Lads and Lasses tournament on Friday. \u201cIt has been the big one for as long as I can remember.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stalvey started competing in the event in 1997. Three years later, he won his first Wolfson\u2019s tournament, then won his second title in 2008. And in 2024, his son won the championship with Syler Prince, the son of longtime pro bass angler Cliff Prince. Stalvey said his son will compete in the VIP championship with friend Jacob Deel.<\/p>\n
As far as what he can expect, Lee Stalvey said there\u2019s always going to be uncertainty once the event begins. \u201cIt all depends on the weather and what stage the fish are in,\u201d he said. \u201cSeems like every year it\u2019s different. Shad spawn is going off right now in Crescent Lake, so there\u2019s a great chance that it\u2019ll be won out of there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dean said the biggest excitement for him every year is when weigh-ins begin along the Palatka docks at 3 p.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can hear the crowd when there\u2019s a big fish coming in. Everyone\u2019s excited,\u201d said Dean, who emphasized that payments for top total catch creel pays down to 40th place, a far cry from the top four when the tournament started in 1989. \u201cThe fishermen know each other, so there\u2019s a lot of competition and a lot of back and forth. It\u2019s just a lot of fun.\u201d<\/p>\n
More than $40,000 in cash prizes will be awarded in this year\u2019s big tournament. The hospital also said that for a suggested $20 donation, anyone can enter a drawing for a new Bullet Boat with a trailer courtesy of Bullet Boats and Mercury. Proceeds for the drawing will go toward the C. Herman and Mary Virginia Terry Heart Institute at Wolfson\u2019s. For more on the boat or to enter, you can do so at WCHBassTournament@bmcjax.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Ten boats weighed in catches with seven collecting full limits this past Thursday, and it was the father-son team of Lee and Parker Stalvey taking both the overall and big bass honors, hauling in 26.60 overall pounds, including an 8.24-pound bass. The pair overwhelmed the competition, winning by a substantial margin over second-place finisher Cooper Hoare, who brought in 15.14 pounds. Rounding out the top five were Wyatt Kinney and Austin Black (14.23 pounds), Austin Peters and Syler Prince (13.60) and Cody Mullis and Jace Akers (13.09).<\/p>\n On April 30, the Stalvey pairing was most successful as well with 33.60 pounds overall and the big bass of 8.11 pounds. Cody Morgan and Brant Langley were a distant second at 23.40, and well behind them in spots three through five were Brett Bollinger and Justin Atkinson (14.76), Andy Reagor and R.T. Harrington (14.33) and Matt Kinney and Mark Blevins (13.83).<\/p>\n And, yes, with all the hustle and bustle going on with the Wolfson Children\u2019s tournament, the Corky Bell\u2019s tournament will still be a go this Thursday night. It is a weekly event with $50 entry and a $500 first prize going to the winner. Weigh-ins take place as the darkness sets in on the docks of Corky Bell\u2019s. For more information, you can get either Blevins at (386) 937-2006 or Becky Williams at (352) 213-4200.<\/p>\n\n