Strong winds forced the 2024 Nevada high school state championship on Lake Mead to be rescheduled.  Once the storm passed, no wind and sunny calm weather made for a great day for our anglers.  Every team that fished was able to weigh a bag which added to the excitement of the day.  Fish were caught all over the lake with some teams making long runs and others fishing right outside of the marina.

The winning team of Landan Bellows and Ivan Peterson brought a bag of 13.48 pounds with Ivan securing big fish of the tournament at 3.73 pounds.  Just a half of a pound behind them was Rylan Garrett and Nico Skerston with a bag of 12.97 pounds. Rounding out the top three was the team of Coen Burrows and Joelton Swope with a weight of 3.28 pounds. Big thanks to our boat captains and weigh masters for being flexible with the last minute tournament date change.

Congratulations to Kieran Stephenson and Damon Clark on their 1st place finish on Jordan Reservoir. Kieran and Damon had four fish weighing fifteen pounds one ounce. They will advance to the 15th Annual World Finals and National Championship this June on Lake Hartwell in Anderson, SC.

Tyler Cox and Kenny Sadler took 2nd place with ten pounds four ounces. Tyler and Kenny also had the big bass of the day at six pounds five ounces. And in 3rd place was Ben Miller and Gavin Lakey with four pounds six ounces.

Each year, one of the largest High School State Championships that we host, comes when we travel to Kentucky.  This year was no different.  Just over two hundred High School Teams converged on Lake Cumberland to try and qualify for the High School National Championship at Lake Hartwell in June.  Launching out of Halcomb’s Landing the anglers were eager to get out on the water and test their skills.

The heaviest bag of the day belonged to the Owen County High School team of Jayce Clemons and Riley Dean, when they dropped 17-07 pounds on the scale to secure the win.  Only a half a pond behind them was the North Laurel team of Meguire Day and Blaine Smith with a healthy 16-15 sack.  Jake Coy and Cooper Richardson with the Kentucky TBF/SAF finished third bringing in 16-04.  Another Kentucky TBF/SAF team of Caden Vickers and Kolben Vickers brought in 13-11 pounds to finish fourth.  Caden Hall and Kaleb Wilson, from Russell County claimed fifth with a nice 13-02 limit.

We even had a tie for the Big Fish Award.  Russell County anglers Caden Hall and Kaleb Wilson and Corbin High School anglers Jacob White and Keegan Reeder both brought in a 5-01 lunker.  Each team elected to share the two Lew’s Reels.  Anglers found most of their fish fairly shallow at this event.  Many talked about catching fish around chunky rock banks in 5-8 feet of water on crawfish-colored crankbaits and Rattletraps.  Others were using spinnerbaits and swim baits to catch their fish.  Even the Alabama rig anglers were catching their fish in less than ten feet of water.

We qualified twenty teams for the National Championship in June.  The High School World Finals is also open to any active SAF teams to participate.  If you would like to register simply go to our website at www.highschoolfishing.org and click on the yellow Tournament Schedule button.

For full results and photos from this event CLICK HERE.