March 17, 2012 – If experience is the greatest teacher, then the family fishing duo of Kristopher and Chelsey Queen from Bandy High School are well on their way in the world of tournament bass fishing!
The brother and sister team who traveled to Russellville, Arkansas last year and finished third in the prestigious High School Fishing World Finals, captured the 2012 North Carolina State High School Bass Fishing Championship Saturday with an incredible four fish weight of 21.80lbs!
The big sack was anchored by a 7.39lb kicker that Chelsea landed from the back of the boat on a spinner bait casting around High Point Lake’s fallen timber.
“That was an incredible day of fishing,” stated Kristopher. “We didn’t catch a lot of fish but those four were just huge. We concentrated on fishing 
water that was two to three foot deep and had some structure like fallen trees and stumps. I fished the front of the boat with Berkley creature baits while Chelsea followed behind me with a spinner blade. She actually caught the two biggest fish in our bag so I’m glad she was back there,” he said.
“We did a lot of dancing when we landed that seven pounder,” stated Chelsea. “That’s the biggest fish that I’ve ever caught and I haven’t been out on the water much since we went to Russellville last summer, so I’m pretty happy to start off the season like that,” added the Bandy High Senior.
Finishing second was the team of Zack Bodford and Daniel Everhart from West Forsyth High School who had three fish that weighed 10.88 lbs.
Tanner McMahan and Travis Rigo from Weddington High finished third with two fish weighing 10.75lbs for the second annual event.
The North Carolina Bass Federation provided the equipment and volunteer manpower for the event, which was sponsored by the Salisbury-Rowan County Convention and Visitors Bureau.
The winners will also advance on to compete in the Southern Regional competition which will take place next fall in conjunction with the FLW College Regional Championship series. Winning at that level will advance them on the High School National Championship sponsored by The Bass Federation and the FLW Outdoors.
The SAF State Championship series continues its trek across America with the Texas High School State Championship next weekend at Lake Lavon near Allen, which is northeast of Dallas.
For information on how to join the newest and exciting high school sport of bass fishing, visit www.HighSchoolFishing.org. Find us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/hsfishing or follow us on Twitter @hs_fishing.
