Everyone knows somebody who has been affected by Autism, rather it’s a family member or a friend. We see the difficulties it causes families for the fact you can’t deal with Autistic people like you do non-Autistic people. Autistic people process stuff a lot different than non-Autistic people.

For any of the local people around me, you know every year Wesley Sams, his wife, and his father host an Angling for Autism bass tourney on Smith Lake. They take the money raised from each tourney and donate it to a family in need or a local charity dealing with Autism, to help fund research so that non-Autistic people to better understand how to deal with Autistic people and even possibly find a treatment that helps Autistic people better express themselves and be an even bigger, more productive person in the community.

Wesley said at this year’s weigh-in, 2025, that over the 9 years of them hosting this tourney, they have raised a little over $100,000 for various families and Autism research.

Wesley’s son is Autistic, and he knows firsthand how hard it can be on a family. He has said many times that anybody with questions about Autism and anything related to Autism; to give him a call and he would do his best to answer as many of the questions as he can.

I am proud to say that Backwoods Custom Jigs is a proud supporter of this tourney and what Wesley, and his family is doing for Autism Awareness. If you have any questions or just want to make a donation, you can click the link below and it will take you the Angling for Autism Facebook page that Wesley and his wife operate. That page is also where Wesley will announce the tourney date each year as well.