The Live Like Bryce Foundation will hold its seventh annual memorial bass fishing tournament April 8 on Lake Ouachita.
Live Like Bryce is a charity organization celebrating the life of Bryce Briggs, a Lake Hamilton High School alumnus who died as the result of a brush fire accident in December 2016.
"Right after that they started a memorial fishing tournament," Briggs' mother, Tabitha, said. "We have these tournaments every year not only to remember Bryce but to raise money to help others all throughout the year."
Live Like Bryce provides character scholarships and hosts community events to keep his memory alive while helping others.
Bryce Briggs was an original member of the Lake Hamilton Bass-N-Wolves fishing team where he finished top 10 in the state.
"He used to tell me when we were talking about his major or what he was going to do," Tabitha Briggs said, "he said, he was going to be a professional fisherman. I asked if he had a backup plan, he said, 'win the lottery,' I asked if he had another backup plan, he said, 'I guess I will be a mechanical engineer.' He was always messing with me.
"He loved to fish and he was a big outdoorsman. He played sports all through school. He played varsity baseball from the time he was a freshman. He played football and they had the high school fishing team. He was also on the fishing team at Arkansas Tech."
Spring is kick-starting and Lake Ouachita will be a spectacular site for this year's tournament with the mountains starting to bloom and will be full of life, just like the one Bryce Briggs lived.
"They start at what fisherman call 'safe light,'" Tabitha Briggs said. "What that means is as soon as they can see well enough to not run over each other. Probably sometime around 6:30-7 a.m., just whenever safe light is."
Boat numbers will be assigned when anglers enter and pay the entry fee of $125 per boat. Contestants will shove off from Crystal Springs boat ramp. The weigh-in will be at 3 p.m.
"We have not started there every year," Tabitha Briggs said. "At the beginning, we had started out at Mountain Harbor, but for the last three years we have started at Crystal Springs. That is probably where we will continue to do it."
First place will take home $1,500, second place will earn $1,000, third $750, fourth $500, fifth $400 and sixth through 10th will win $250.
"There is also a prize for biggest bass, $500," Tabitha Briggs said. "Then we have two youth big bass prizes for $250 each."
Registration forms can be found at https://www.livelikebryce.com.
"Lake Ouachita was his favorite lake," Tabitha Briggs said.
"We used to go there all the time. He would fish on any lake, any lake was his favorite if he could fish on it. That is where we always had gone and we just always have had the tournament there.
"In the past, we have had anywhere from 40-60 boats. We have two fishermen per boat. God always provides and they always show up. We are thrilled."
Lake Ouachita is known for being one of the cleanest lakes in the country with nearly 1,000 miles of shoreline. Anglers will have no trouble finding bass fishing hot spots as they look to snag a victory in the Live Like Bryce memorial fishing tournament.
"We do not have a most important event," Tabitha Briggs said. "Each one has their own little special meaning with us. With the fishing, he loved to fish. He could have been out on the lake every day. The Fourth of July fireworks, he always loved fireworks. We were always watching them from out on the lake and that was really close to our heart, too. It just brings out all of the community out there who loved and supported us. We get to see everybody that's not a fisherman then."