Different Partner….Same result!
Hunter McPherson and Laramy Strickland Win the 2015 Florida Open
For Immediate Release – March 1, 2015. Ponca City, Ok.
Hunter McPherson from Citrus High School In South Central Florida had one of the best years a High School angler could have in 2014 as he and his partner won the Florida High School State Championship, qualified and fished in the 2014 High School Regional Conference Championship and won the prestigious High School World Finals in Russellville Arkansas. For 2015 he replaced graduated partner Brandon Branch but kept right on his winning ways by teaming with Laramy Strickland to bring a monster sack of 29lbs. 3 oz. of Lake Toho Bass to the scales to win back to back state championships for their school.
“We had a spot that we found in our pre-fishing yesterday that we thought was holding some good fish stated McPherson.” We started our 
morning there and caught our biggest fish a 9lb 12 oz toad right off the bat on Chatter bait. That fish proved to be the biggest of the day and captured the Lew’s Reels Big bass of the day for the soaking wet duo. “A light went off right then, stated McPherson a junior this year, we knew the fish had moved up a little and we soon picked up an 8lb 10oz beauty on a jig just a short time later”. Green Pumpkin was the color of the day added Strickland who is a senior this year at Citrus High School. He also cited that the key to their winning catch today was realizing that the fish had moved up into shallow water from where they had been earlier in the week.
Forty Eight teams braved the elements that saw the temperature drop 25 degrees and pound the anglers with rain the entire day. Thirty three of those teams brought fish to the scales in the newly remodeled Kissimmee Waterfront Park and Big Toho Marina which promises to be one of the finest tournament facilities in the country now that it is complete.
Coming in second and also gaining a berth in the SE Conference Regional Championship was the team of Jackson Williams and Bryce Goff of Auburndale High School. They had 4 Toho bass that weighed in at 14lbs 6oz to claim the runner-up spot. They narrowly edged out the team of Colby Cowart and Cody Hadden from the Callahan/ Hilliard High School team to finish third with a very respectable 4 fish sack that weighed 14lb 1oz. They also claimed a berth in the SE Conference Regional which will take place in September on Lake Lanier in Gainesville Georgia. Rounding out the regional qualifiers which takes the top 10% of the field from each state championship was the team of Jeremy Morgan and Steven Singletary from Bartow High School who caught 12lbs 10 oz in the soggy weather to claim the fourth place finish
Just missing the regional qualifying berth but finishing a very respectable fifth place with 11lbs 8 oz was the team of Travis Conrad and Bailey Hines who fished under the Florida SAF banner for this event.
Special thanks go out to Big Toho Marina, Experience Kissimmee, the FLW staff and all of the boat captains who braved the elements to create a first class event for the 48 teams registered for the event.
About FLW
FLW is the industry’s premier tournament-fishing organization, providing anglers of all skill levels the opportunity to compete for millions in prize money nationwide in 2015 over the course of 240 tournaments across five tournament circuits, four of which provide an avenue to the sport’s richest payday and most coveted championship trophy – the Forrest Wood Cup. FLW tournament fishing can be seen on the Emmy-nominated “FLW” television show and is broadcast to more than 564 million households worldwide, making it the most widely distributed weekly outdoors-sports television show in the world. For more information about FLW visit FLWFishing.com and look for FLW on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.
About The Bass Federation
The Bass Federation Inc., (TBF) is a member of the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame. TBF is owned by those we serve and dedicated to the sport of fishing. The Federation is the largest and oldest, organized grassroots fishing, youth and conservation organization there is. TBF, our affiliated state federations and their member clubs conduct more than 20,000 events each year and have provided a foundation for the entire bass fishing industry for more than 45 years. TBF founded the Student Angler Federation and the National High School Fishing program in 2008 to promote clean family fun and education through fishing. Visit bassfederation.com or highschoolfishing.org and “LIKE US” on facebook!
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