TBF along with FLW held the High School Central Conference Championship on Saturday in conjunction with the FLW College Fishing Central Conference Championship. Eight teams from across the region were represented and Nick Marsh, Commerce Township, Mich., and Kyle Boe, Lake Porion, Mich., from Michigan – SAF, won the tournament which was also held on Carlyle Lake.
The team beat their closest competitor, Winamac/Decatur Central High School out of Indiana by 2 pounds, 9 ounces. They were the only two teams to catch five bass limits.
After having what was described as a really lousy pre-practice on Friday, the team was extremely jubilant with their victory today.
“We went out there today not expecting much and doing something completely different than we did yesterday,” Marsh said. “And it all just clicked; we stayed focused and were lucky it worked out.”
The team said they were fishing the same areas as Eastern Kentucky and Indiana University for most of the day. They were targeting deep grass with ChatterBaits and Texas rig centipedes. According to Boe the team had six keepers all day and went from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. without catching a keeper, “it was nerve wracking.”
“I am speechless, Boe said. “This has been an incredible experience with TBF and FLW giving us this opportunity to fish these tournaments.
Rounding out the teams were:
1st: Michigan Student Angler Federation (SAF) – Nick Marsh, Commerce Township, Mich., and Kyle Boe, Lake Porion, Mich., five bass, 15-1
2nd: Winamac/Decatur Central High School – Greg Zellers, Winamac, Ind., and Brody McWilliams, Greenwood, Ind., five bass, 12-8
3rd: Minnesota – SAF – Kolton Ressemann, Richmond, Minn., and Shane Childers Cold Springs, Minn., three bass, 4-8
4th: Marist High School – Nick Engel, Chicago, Ill., and Nick Kushnerik, Oak Lawn, Ill., one bass, 3-10
5th: Wisconsin – SAF – Mitch Van Ert and Steven Sellnow, both of Watertown, Wis., two bass, 2-15
6th: Wheeling Park High School – John Burkley and Nikita Slivchenko, both of Wheeling, W. Va., two bass, 2-15
7th: Ohio – SAF – Logan Williams and Hunter Colwell, Bellefontaine, Ohio, one bass, 1-13
7th: Burlington High School – Max Mercer and Jobe Ashby, both of Burlington, Iowa, one bass, 1-13
High School Fishing Tournaments are open to all ninth, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students, including home schooled students, that are members of the Student Angler Federation. The winning team from each state championship advances to a High School Fishing Conference Championship. Boats are provided upon request at all Conference Championships. The winning team from each Conference Championship will receive trophies and commemorative jerseys, and advance to the 2013 High School Fishing National Championship, held in conjunction with the National Guard FLW College Fishing National Championship in the spring.
Each member of the winning National High School Fishing Championship team will receive a $5,000 scholarship to use at the University of their choice. Teams participating in the conference championships and National Championship will also receive a travel allowance to help offset their expenses.
Coverage of the Central Conference Championship will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on NBC Sports Network when “FLW” airs Nov. 11 from 1-2 p.m. EST. “FLW” is hosted by Jason Harper and is broadcast to more than 559 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world.
For regular updates, photos, tournament news and more, follow College and High School Fishing on Facebook at Facebook.com/FLWFishing and on Twitter atTwitter.com/FLWFishing. Visit CollegeFishing.com to sign up or to start a club at your college or university. Visit HighSchoolFishing.org to sign up or start a club at your school.
