KJ Queen and his partner Tyler Black put on an impressive display of fishing as they conquered a very tough 41 boat field as well as a very stingy Lake Nickajack with a 5 bass limit that weighed 17lb 8oz to win the SE Conference Regional Championship and a qualifying berth in the 2015 High School National Championship. Fishing directly after the Tennessee TBF Adult Eastern State Championship which saw well over 130 of the top adults in the state struggle for two days, Queen and Black put together a winning strategy that found them throwing a lightly weighted brown worm and fishing it slow to medium speed through the grass to catch their impressive sack. “It was just a grind all day” stated Queen who is in his freshman year at Bethel University. “We probably caught 25 fish today and we caught them all day long. We just had to weed through the small ones and find the right size” added the smiling angler who is no stranger to winning regional championships having won two years ago with his sister Chelsea who is also on the fishing team at Bethel University. “We caught our last fish across the bay from the check-in point with about 30 minutes to go and we are really excited to be advancing on” cited Black who is a junior at Bandys High School in North Carolina. “When this is over I have to go back to school and find a new partner and it’s certainly not going to be easy to find one to replace KJ”.

Finishing second with a very respectable 5 fish sack that weighed 15lb 3oz was the talented due of Ryan Shields and Zeke Gossett from Alabama. These two veteran anglers who have fished about every possible circuit a pair of young anglers could fish this year also brought in a limit that would have also toppled the adult field of the previous two days. “We fished hard all day stated Shields and we are really happy to be advancing on”.

The top 10% from each of five regional championships advance on to the TBF/FLW High School National Championship April 25^th and 26^th at Grand Lake Oklahoma.

Finishing third and advancing on to the Oklahoma Championship from the home State of Tennessee was Triston Crowder and Saxton Long who also had five nice Nickajack bass that weighed 12lb 6oz. “It was tough” stated the smiling pair! “We were just happy to get the bites we got today and get the chance to advance” added the duo.

The battle for the fourth qualifying spot was about as close as it could get as Jake Lee and Corey Brooks from the Karns Fishing Team edged out Luke Slayton and Branson Marks of Georgia by one ounce to finish fourth. The pair also had a 5 fish limit that weighed 11lb 11oz to claim the final spot.

“This was just an incredible field of young anglers” stated TBF Youth Director Mark Gintert.  Each of these 41 teams were excellent anglers and I felt that with the right decisions and a little luck any of the teams here could have taken the crown” added GIntert. High School Fishing has come a long way in the last 4 years and these anglers represented themselves and their schools very well”.

With only the Southern and Western Conference Championships left, all qualifying teams will be turning their attention to the National Championship which will be run in conjunction with the TBF Adult National Championship in April at the always productive Grand Lake in NE Oklahoma. Good luck to all of the qualifying teams!

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PONCA CITY, Okla. (Sept 25, 2014) – The Bass Federation, FLW and the Student Angler Federation announced today that the Grand Lake Association and Grove, Okla., will host the TBF Federation National Championship for a third consecutive year. Additionally, the TBF/FLW High School Fishing National Championship will be added to this event.

Both events will be held on Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees April 23-26, 2015, launching out of Wolf Creek Park in Grove and will be held in conjunction with the Walmart FLW Tour event being held just across the state line on Beaver Lake in Rogers, Ark.

“Without a doubt there is not a better facility to host these events in the country today,” said TBF national president Robert Cartlidge. “It was by the anglers’ choice from our survey information from past years that led us back to Grand Lake for an unprecedented third year. Grand Lake is an awesome fishery with something for every type of angler, so it truly is anyone’s event to win.”

The TBF championship is the culmination of more than two years of competition against tens of thousands of members in TBF clubs across the United States and Canada. Only top anglers from each state federation, the Association of Collegiate Anglers national champions and the Canadian champions earn slots. Anglers will compete for more than $250,000 in cash and prizes.

High School Fishing National Championship qualifiers have fished through a state championship and one of five conference championships to earn the opportunity to compete for $10,000 in college scholarships.

The TBF National Championship will consist of three competition days, held April 23-25. The entire field will compete Thursday and Friday, with weigh-ins lakeside at Wolf Creek Park. The final day field will then be cut to the top boater and co-angler from each of the seven TBF divisions. The final weigh-in will be held at the FLW Expo at the John Q Hammons Convention Center in Rogers, Ark. High School championship anglers will fish two days. The full field will fish on Saturday, April 25, and the field will be cut for Sunday’s final round,with the finalists being presented on stage at the FLW Tour event.

TBF National Championship anglers will compete for 16 berths in two of the sport’s most coveted events – the Forrest Wood Cup and the BFL All-American. The top boater and co-angler from each of the seven TBF divisions will advance to the 2015 BFL All-American. The TBF Federation National Champion boater and co-angler will also advance to the world championship of bass fishing, the 2015 Forrest Wood Cup, for a shot at winning the biggest payday in bass fishing – $500,000.

The winning boater also will receive the $100,000 “Living the Dream” prize package to include a prize check, fully paid entry fees on the 2016 FLW Tour as a pro, travel expense stipends for each event, and use of a “Living the Dream” wrapped Chevy truck and Ranger boat for the year. The top co-angler will receive fully paid entry fees into the Rayovac FLW Series division of choice.

Coverage of the TBF National Championship will be broadcast in high-definition on the NBC Sports Network and streamed live on bassfederation.com.

For more information about The Bass Federation, visit bassfederation.com, or call 580-765-9031. Look for TBF on facebook at Facebook.com/thebassfederation and on twitter at Twitter.com/bassfederation.

For more information about the Grand Lake area contact Rodney Ray, Grand Lake Association, 918-786-2289.

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About TBF

The Bass Federation Inc. is the oldest and largest, organized grassroots angling organization in America. TBF is 100 percent owned by those it serves and is dedicated to the sport of fishing. TBF affiliated state federations and their member clubs conduct more than 20,000 fishing, youth and conservation events at the local level each year, and have provided the foundation for the entire bass fishing industry for nearly 45 years.

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 2014 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 FLWOutdoors.com and look for FLWFishing on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.