Ugly Stik Hosts World’s Largest Santa Claus Bass Fishing Tournament, Raises Over $15K for Toys for Tots

What does Santa do on the days leading up to Christmas? He heads to Lake Norman to wet a line and get after the bass, of course! Okay, maybe it wasn’t the real Saint Nick out there on the water, but there were 300 fishermen who participated in the Ugly Stick World’s Largest Santa Claus Bass Fishing Tournament over the weekend.

The fake Santa’s came out in droves for the fishing rod companies bass fishing tournament in North Carolina on Sunday, and raised over $15,000 worth of donations for Toys for Tots. The lake was covered with a record-setting number of anglers dressed as Kris Kringle, which made for some pretty awesome photos as we get down to the wire on Christmas Day.

Here’s some of our favorites from the Ugly Stik Facebook post:

Did you know Santa’s sleigh doubles as a bass fishing boat?

Santa must be in town somewhere. Even his trusty elves came out to dabble in the bass fishing action!

“Fun fact: Santa Claus loves gettin’ after some Bass before Christmas time!” Ugly Stik wrote on Facebook, while also mentioning this event was the first of its kind and how it set a new “world record” as the largest fishing tournament with anglers dressed as Santa Claus.

“It would be difficult to find a group of people more passionate than anglers are about giving back and helping others in need. And we saw a need that we believe deserves to be filled, so we created an event where we combine two things everyone loves—Christmas and fishing—to see that no child goes without a visit from Santa Claus this year,” said Ugly Stik Vice President of Marketing Jon Schlosser. “I’m proud of the fishing community for coming together to this degree for such a worthy cause. And I’m proud that we achieved these results while also having a great time.”

You have to wonder, though, with the cover of over 300 Santa’s out there on the water, what are the odds the real Santa Claus was able to sneak by and ‘sleigh’ some bass?

OutdoorHub Editor: Keenan Crow

Keenan Crow is an outdoor writer who graduated from Central Michigan University with a degree in journalism and creative writing. He has been writing for OutdoorHub for nearly five years, but anybody he is close with will tell you he has been telling hunting stories for far longer. He uses his experiences outdoors to write about things he loves - bow hunting, fishing, upland hunting, shed hunting, turkey hunting, waterfowl hunting, dog training, shotguns, ATVs and the outdoor lifestyle he lives in his home state of Michigan. Outside of hunting/fishing, he also loves to cook - especially with wild game - play golf and go on hikes with his yellow lab, Stella.