The weather was very iffy leading up to the 2024 Kansas TBF High School and Junior State championships on April 27^th. Melvern Lake was forecasting Thunderstorms and winds 20-30 MPH and higher gusts most of the week prior. Mother Nature smiled and got rid of the storms and reduced the winds to a safer level.

Fishing was very tough with several empty livewells at Weigh-In.

The High School team of Nicholas Herman and Laiken Emanual, captained by Tate Herman had the only multi catch, 3 largemouth for 5 lbs, 10 oz. The Junior team of Hudson Komarek and Reed Rochel, captained by Scott Komarek had a beautiful smallmouth that weighed 2 lbs 10 oz.

All in all, a great day for the youth. The winning teams were presented with their trophies and Lew’s American Hero Spinning Combos donated by TBFKS. Also, Doman’s Outdoors in Lyndon, KS donated 2 very nice tackle bags and 5 spinning combos for door prizes.

Bill Horvath, KS TBF Youth Director

The 2024 New Hampshire Open Challenge was held May 5th on Spofford Lake. It was a very wet, cold and windy day.  Lots of great smallmouth weighed.  The anglers persevered and had limits for all but one boat.  The winners were able to capitalize on prespawn smallmouth to come away with the win and lunker.

Ike Leventry and Jack Osborne claimed 1st place with four fish weighing 16lbs 8oz. The big fish of the day was 4lbs 12oz.

In 2nd place was Bridger Jamison and James Deffley with 13lbs 10oz.  And rounding the top 3 was the team of Jared Curavoo and Tanner Thompson with 11lbs 9oz.

The Montana State Championship of the TBF – Student Angler Federation was a great event! The weather was warm and sunny. The fishing was great and every team weighed in a limit!  The morning started off with coffee and doughnuts, followed by a rules and safety briefing, the National Anthem and a prayer.

The fish were biting great first thing in the morning allowing anglers to quickly get a limit. The fish were running small, but with five in the livewell quickly, they had all day to find those crucial upgrades!

The winning team of Silas Jones and Aiden Curry, coach Randy Siemens, weighed in a limit of 11.30 pounds, followed by the second place team of Austin Hoff and Ben Kiesselbach, coach Dylon Hoff, with 10.82 pounds. Third place was Ethan Galassi and Cody McKinnon, coach Austin Johnson, with 10.48 pounds and rounding out the top four was Westin Wagoner and Kort Craft, coach Brady Ovitt, with 9.73 pounds. The big fish of the event goes to the team of Trent Tennison and Wyatt Daken, coach Jason Crone, with a big Smallmouth weighing in at 4.19 pounds!

Thank you everyone for your tremendous support, and thank you TBF for this amazing opportunity for everyone!