Marble Falls, Texas and LBJ Reservoir welcomed 70 eager Texas High School teams to their area on Saturday, March 21st to compete in the Texas High School Championship. Mother Nature even had a hand in the event as it rained steadily on Friday and Saturday. But even the rain couldn’t dampen the spirit and enthusiasm of these 140 High School anglers. River City Grille owner Paul Brady greeted the anglers with a complimentary spread of food fit for kings at the registration on Friday night. After a great meal and a brief rules meeting, the anglers were ready to get on the water Saturday morning.
Saturday morning led to a vast display of colorful and inventive raingear by the anglers and their boat captains. Expectations were high as it took over 32 pounds to wins this event in 2014 when the anglers came to LBJ Reservoir. Bill Rives, the Director of Marble Falls Chamber of Commerce and CVB said his group of volunteers were truly excited to see the anglers return to Marble Falls. The committee of volunteers along with the host school, of Marble Falls High School, had numerous adults that spent their weekend making sure that all the anglers had a good time. Mr Rives, a former educator himself said, “It is good to see programs like this for the kids. Not only are they our future outdoorsmen, but they are the next generation of community leaders as well”.
As weigh in began, it didn’t take long to see that it was going to take a big sack of fish to win again this year. The first team brought in seventeen pounds and shortly after that, there was an 18 pound sack. Then came the first 20 pound sack, then another and another and the weights just kept climbing. Wes Thornton and Jakob Thornton wowed the crowd with just a single fish at weigh in…but it was the biggest bass of the event, weighing in at 10.00 pounds even. Wes said that was the biggest fish of his life so far. Wes and Jakob received two Lews reels for the Lews Big Bass Award.
Taking top honors for the day was Chase Hux and Matt Nicholas, from The Wildcat Fishing Team. Their limit of bass tipped the scales at 26.15 pounds. Chase and Matt each received a $2500 scholarship to help further their education. Just ounces behind them, was the second place team of Justin Tatum and Hunter Garrett, from Cen-Tex High School Basshunters. Their impressive sack of fish weighed 26.07 pounds and earned each angler a $1250 scholarship toward their college education. Third place was secured with a bag of fish weighing 22.14 pounds. It belonged to another team from Cen-Tex High School Basshunters, Tyler Easley and Tara Reid. They received gift cards, rods and clothing from various sponsors for their efforts. Team Logan finished in fourth with 21.05 pounds. Logan Stone and Logan Drake were also representing Cen-Tex High School Basshunters, as Cen-Tex took second, third and fourth place finishes. Rounding out the top five was Tyler Anderson and Clark Mannas, from Lake Travis Bass Club. Their limit weighed 21.04 pounds.
With this being a State Championship event, the top 10% of the field would qualify to advance to the Conference Regional event, later this fall. With 70 teams fishing, the top seven teams were awarded a spot in that event. The sixth place team would be Bo McGraw and Josh Perrin from Texas SAF. They earned that spot with a limit that weighed 20.11 pounds. The seventh and final qualifying spot went to Joe Beebee and River Lee, from The Woodlands College Park Cavaliers, with five bass that weighed 18.11 pounds.
There was a variety of patterns used to catch the fish at this event. Most of the bass were caught sight fishing, using a variety of soft plastic lures and jigs, as the water temperatures had already climbed into the low sixties. Anglers also reported catching large numbers of fish on orange colored rattletraps around submerged grass. Flipping a Texas-rigged worm and throwing a spinnerbait along docks was also a popular choice. A shaky head and trick worm also enticed numerous bedding fish to bite throughout the day. Sixty two of the seventy teams weighed in fish and there was 41 limits caught by these young anglers. All in all, it was a pretty good day of fishing on LBJ reservoir. Congratulations to all the winners and Regional event qualifiers.
For full standings click here.
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