Daniel Kennedy and Braden Marshall knew that they had a good sack of fish but the smiling pair from Silverdale Baptist Academy had no idea that they were going over the 20 pound mark. When the scales at the jam packed Dayton Boat Dock read over 21 lbs. the pair appeared to be momentarily stunned! From there the amazement continued as their kicker fish, a 7lb 4 oz. beauty, also claimed them the Lew’s Big Bass award.

“Wow this is really something” stated Daniel who is a junior at Silverdale Baptist. “I just can’t believe that we won”. When asked how they conquered the Lake Chickamauga bass and the rest of the field Braden Marshall, who is also a junior, added “we used a shaky head brown plastic worm and fished primarily in the shallow water”. Both anglers claimed that the key to their success was sticking with their game plan and fishing through the entire 90 degree day was the key to their winning effort.

In addition to being crowned Tennessee State Championship and advancing on to the Southeast Conference Regional Championship the pair also won a $10,000 Scholarship to Bryan College which has one of the fastest growing college bass fishing teams in the country and was located just across the street from the Dayton weigh-in facility.

Kennedy and Marshall will lead a 12 team contingency from the Tennessee event to the Southeast Conference Regional Event on Lake Lanier in Gainesville Georgia in September.

Tennessee Regional Qualifers

Coming in second in the 124 boat field was the team of Brandsford Dean and Dustin Osborne from Rhea County High School who also had a huge sack of Chickamauga Bass that weighed in 20lbs 14 oz. to claim the runner-up spot and a berth in the fall regional.

Bradley Central High School’s team of Colton Morton and Chris Wilson claimed the third spot with a very impressive 5 fish limit that weighed in at 19lb 11oz to round out the top three in the event sponsored by the Fish Dayton group at the always popular Dayton Boat dock.

Also qualifying for the September conference championship which advances the top 10% of the field were the following teams from across the state.

4^th place AJ Barnes and Gavin Ainslie from Central High School with 18lbs 3oz.

5^th place Charles Woody Tristan Lowe from Polk County with 17lb 13oz.

6^th place Alyssa Coleman and Erica Abigail Smith with 17lb 11oz.

7^th place Landry Cooper and Cameron Kirkland from Sequoya High School with 16lb 13oz

8^th place Peyton Gibbs and Condry Hyndman from Creekwood High School with 15lbs 11oz.

9^th place Austin and Bryar Goins from Rhea County High School with 15lb 1oz

10^th place Elijah Cartwright and Jacob Thomas from Soddy Daisy High School with 14lbs 1oz.

11^th place Daniel Cheshire and Christopher Richey from Creekwood High School with 13lbs 13oz.

12^th place Dylan Dunnagan and Shader Brown of Dickson County High School with 13lb 6oz.

Complete Results

Special thanks goes out to Dayton City Mayor Gary Louallen, Fish Dayton Director Dennis Tumlin, The Bryan College Bass Fishing team, the Tennessee Bass Federation and the Upper Cumberland High School Bass team for providing a great support team for the event.

All of the participating anglers in this event now have an opportunity to compete in the prestigious High School Fishing World Finals which will be held just across the Tennessee line in Florence Alabama the week of July 7^th-11^th. This event is open to all SAF anglers in the country and you can register by going to:

https://www.highschoolfishing.org/2014-high-school-fishing-world-finals/

1st Colin Steck and Nathan Lorenzo

Colin Steck and his partner Nathan Lorenz were one fish short of a five bass limit but their 9.14lb sack was just enough to carry the Waunakee High School duo to the Wisconsin High School State Championship Sunday at Lake Wisconsin. They narrowly slipped by Kettle Moraine High School duo of Henry Erbo and Josh Schmirler who also had four fish that tipped in at 8.06 lbs. to finish second place in the event. Both of these High School teams will represent the State of Wisconsin at the Central Conference Regional Championship on September 12^th at Lake Carlyle in Carlyle Illinois. Bailey Blesser and William Buhler from Catholic Central High School completed the top three with a four fish bag that weighed in at 6.14lbs.

2nd Josh Schmirler and Henry Erbo

With the High School anglers following two days of competition by the North American Bass Circuit which concluded their event on Saturday afternoon. Twenty teams from across the state competed in the TBF/FLW High School Championship series vying for state bragging rights as well as the two regional Conference births and a shot at advancing to the High School National Championship next spring.

3rd William Buhler and Bailey Blesser

In addition to advancing on to the Regional event all of the participating teams in this event are invited to attend the High School World Finals in Florence Alabama July 7^th -11^th. No qualification necessary other than being an SAF member and registration details can be found at: https://www.highschoolfishing.org/2014-high-school-fishing-world-finals/

Complete Results

Here is a link to the article.