High School National Championship Contenders
Converge on Grand Lake, Oklahoma April 25-26

Ten teams qualified from five High School Regional Conference Championships and are making their way to Grove Oklahoma next week to fish on the always productive Grand Lake. The lake should be in prime form for the young anglers at the 2015 High School National Championship as they compete for the grand prize of $10,000 in Scholarships to the college of their choice as well as national bragging rights!
For these teams and their coaches this process started in the spring of 2014 where each of them participated in either their respective state championships or one of the official TBF/FLW Open Championships. From each State Championship the top 10% of the field advanced to a Regional Conference Championship as well as the top three teams from each of the official Open events. At the Regional Conference level the top 10% of each conference advanced on to the National Championship at Grand Lake for the two day event April 25-26.
The full field will compete on Saturday April 25 and weigh in lakeside at Wolf Creek park, then the field will cut to the top five teams for Sunday’s final day and these teams will weigh-in live in front of the always big crowd of the FLW Beaver Lake Open just across the state line in nearby Rogers Arkansas.
Another perk of advancing to the National Championship is that all ten teams will be assigned a brand new Ranger Z520 Boat with the latest and greatest of electronics and equipment to use for both days compliments of Ranger Boats.
“Ranger was one of the first companies to recognize the positive values of High School Fishing and they had the foresight to see what this could do for the sport of fishing” stated TBF National Youth Director Mark Gintert. “They have been in our corner every step of the way and putting these teams in the finest piece of boating equipment in the country is a very fitting way to cap off the journey for these anglers” added Gintert.
From the Northern Conference Regional the team of Kyle Harnack and Matthew Christopulos captured the Regional competition by taming a limit of bass from the Nanticoke and Wicomico Rives in Bethel Delaware last September.
Qualifying from the Central Conference Regional was the team of Chase Serafin and Anthony Gilmore from Michigan who pulled their win from the always demanding but highly rewarding waters of Lake Erie to win the event held in Huron Ohio.
The Southeastern Conference Regional was the largest by participation from across the Southern portion of the country and these anglers converged on Nickajack Lake in Tennessee. Four qualifying teams were led by the duo from North Carolina’s Bandy High School of KJ Queen and his partner Tyler Black who captured the title of conference champs at that event. Following close behind were Zeke Gossett and Ryan Shields from Alabama who are no strangers to the High School Tournament trail. Rounding out the field from the Southeastern Conference is the team of Saxton Long and Triston Crowder who will be carrying the banner for the State of Tennessee along with Jake Lee and Corey Brooks who also hale from the Volunteer state.
The Southern Conference program carries heavyweight states like Texas, Arkansas and Oklahoma where High School fishing has soared in popularity. Leading the charge from that group is the team of Trevor Yates and Jacob Keenum who figured out the Red River in Shreveport Louisiana to advance on. This Oklahoma pair would have to be considered the hometown favorites since Grand Lake is in their state abet on the other side of it, so it is not exactly in their back yard. Also advancing was the team of Chase Meyers and Cole Swede from Arkansas. This team knows a thing or two about big events as well having competed in the always popular High School Fishing World Finals which was held in Russellville Arkansas for several years before heading to Florence Alabama for the 2015 summer classic. Rounding out the Southern Conference qualifier’s is another interesting story as Kansas’s own Cameron Pappan fished by himself to capture the third qualifying spot when his partner could not make the trip to Shreveport. He is no stranger to Grand Lake and would have to be considered an odd on favorite as well.
Rounding out the field is the Western Conference qualifier’s from Colorado the team of Josh Cundiff and Bradley Czosnyka who captured the western regional title at Clear Lake in California to advance on to Grand Lake. This team will join the club leader Sam Heckman who has qualified for the Adult TBF National Championship which will be held during the same week as the High School event.
On behalf of the TBF and FLW National Offices and staff we would like to wish all of these teams the very best of luck in their quest to be crowned NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!

You can follow the Saturday’s lakeside weigh in right here LIVE on the internet!

Sundays final day weigh in will be on FLWoutdoors.com

The Tennessee Bass Federation hosted its first statewide High School tournament on Ky Lake Saturday April 11.

The Ky Lake High School Open was held out of Pebble Isle Marina at New Johnsonville, TN. There were twenty four teams representing ten different schools. These angler were competing for first place awards of two $1000.00 scholarship stiffens to the school of their chose as well as plaques and rod and reels thru ten places.

The team of Logan Petitt and Morgan Dyer from the White House High School Bass Assassins took first place with 17.12 lbs, In second place with 14.07 lbs was the team of Condry Hyndman and Peyton Gibbs from Creek Wood High School. Third place went to Shannon Adikins and Blake Stephens with 13.15 lbs also from Creek Wood High School. Big Fish of the tournament 5.09 lbs went to Riley Hunter from White House High School.

For the full tournament results go to the TN Bass Federation web page www.tnbass.com

For event pictures check out our facebook page (be sure to LIKE US! )  CLICK HERE

Gabbard Brothers Lead Madison Central to State Championship

Logan and Ethan Gabbard understand how the SAF High School Fishing program works and for the second year in a row they were the first team to register for the Kentucky SAF State Championship thus giving them boat position number one and first crack at their favorite fishing spots for the day. Since boat take off position is determined by registration date the two brothers and their boat captain (dad) led the 86 boat field out of Conley Bottom Marina on beautiful Lake Cumberland and they never looked back as they brought in a five fish limit that weighed in at 18lbs 3oz to win the Kentucky SAF State Championship and a trip to the Southeast Conference Regional at Lake Lanier in Georgia later this fall.
“We caught most of our fish on a combination of shaky heads and crank baits today” stated Logan, a senior who is the elder statesman of the brother duo. “We made a 30 minute run toward the dam first thing this morning trying to find a little cleaner water” added Logan. Ethan, who is a freshman, caught their largest fish in the bag, a 6lb 3oz largemouth which also happened to be the Lew’s Big Bass winner of the day on a shaky head.

The duo then took advantage of a size limit exemption that was granted to the event by Kentucky Fish and Wildlife which allowed the high school anglers to weigh-in both smallmouth and largemouth bass at the 15” size limit. The pair added a nice mix of both species to complete their winning bag. “We really want to thank Kentucky fish and Wildlife for doing that for us” stated Ethan. “We might not have won had that exemption not been in place”.

Finishing second was Logan Martin and Kyler Petrey from South Laurel High School who also put together a nice limit of fish that weighed in at 14lb 6oz to claim the runner-up spot and an invitation to the fall regional event in Georgia. Marcus Davis and Dalton Wooten from Corbin High School took the third spot with four nice Lake Cumberland Bass that weighed in at 12lb 13oz. The fourth place slot was also secured Corbin High School teammates Tanner Jordan and Christian Warren who had a limit of five that weighed in at 11lb 4oz to narrowly edge out the Madison Central duo of Ronald Neal and Ashton Glasscock who had 11lb 3oz to claim the fifth position. Sixth place went to Logan Lakes and Tristan Turner of Madison Southern High School who had four fish that weighed in at 11lbs, while the number seven spot went to another Corbin team of Tristan Jordan and Don Taylor who were right behind them with a 4 fish bag that weighed 10lb 10oz.
The eighth and final qualifying turned out to be an interesting situation in itself as the team of Will Blakenship and Brandon Huntzinger from Madison Central and Jeremy and Jordon Elliot from Corbin High School tied with 10lbs even. Both of those teams will advance to the regional completion with that fine effort.

The TBF/FLW State Championship Series advances the top 10% of each state championship field to the Regional Conference Championships. The top 10% of those regional fields will advance to the 2016 High School National Championship.
A special thanks goes out to Conley Bottom Marina and the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife for their efforts to work with High School anglers and help in the effort to grow high school fishing across the state.

for full results check out the results page CLICK HERE