Redeye Slam
In March of 2018, we held the kickoff event for the Redeye Slam at Cahaba Brewing Company. We had over 80 people in attendance and raised $2,500 for Coosa Riverkeeper!
In 2018, on the heels of releasing my book, Fly Fishing for Redeye Bass: An Adventure Across Southern Waters, fellow redeye bass fanatic Jonathan Kelley and I were talking over lunch about ways that we could grow awareness for redeye bass. Our idea was to draw anglers into the unique angling opportunity, then educate them on why they need our help and what factors threaten their persistence. The process of catching redeye bass in different watersheds would give anglers a front row seat to the beautiful places these fish live and hopefully make them want to protect them. Essentially, we wanted to use redeye bass as a driver for watershed-level conservation. Anglers were challenged to catch all four species of redeye bass in Alabama for a Mobile Basin slam, or all seven forms of redeye bass across the southeast for a redeye bass slam. This feat had to be completed in one calendar year and successful anglers were awarded a custom artwork certificate by artist Henry Hershey to commemorate the achievement. We held a kickoff event at Cahaba Brewing Company in Birmingham to go over the rules and to raise money for Coosa Riverkeeper. We had 80 people show up and we raised $2,500 for Coosa Riverkeeper.
As interest has grown, we have changed up the certificates by partnering with Birmingham-based artist, Mary Beth Meeks. Going forward, anglers that catch all seven forms of redeye bass or just the four in Alabama can request a certificate for $30 to be shipped to their door. There are no official rules or entry required, just do it on your own time and contact me through this website or on social media to request your certificate.