4 teams battled it out on May 13^th for the Oregon high school championship. Launching out of Celilo Park on the Columbia River @ 5:45AM, the teams were greeted with warm and fairly calm conditions that were expected to continue until the 2:00PM weigh in time and then turn into a gusty east wind.

The teams reported that there were plenty of biting smallmouth,  30 to 60 caught per boat,  but the bigger ones were very challenging to find. The anglers mentioned crankbaits, swimbaits, ned rigs, and drop shot as the main baits used during the event.

The weigh ins proved to be historic for Oregon as the team of Berkley Osborn and Emily Buller with 14.15lbs became the first ever all girl team to win the state championship!! 2^nd place went to Gabe Thomas and Bode Nichols with 13.00lbs, in 3^rd place was Drew Janke and Will Harris with 11.84lbs and 4^th place went to Shane Long and Sawyer Strong with 10.61lbs.

The 2023 TBF Nevada State Championship tournament was held April 8th at Lake Mohave. The morning started off with everyone and their gear loaded up on the boats and listening to the National Anthem as the sun was coming up. At safelight the teams and their captains headed out of the marina both to the north and to the south.  The fish were biting early and often, making it a lot of fun.  It was mostly bed and sight fishing, which the club had been working on in their weekly meetings, so everyone was prepared to be successful. Heading into the marina to make the weigh in time everyone was really excited to weigh their fish.  Most anglers had lots of fun as this was the first tournament this year and the first tournament most teams had participated in.  All 7 teams had fish to weigh at the weigh in. Waiting for us at the docks were all of our families and friends and people in the community who have supported our club.  It added to the excitement of the day. Markus and Isabelle Avalos won the High School Division with their bag weighing 12.55 pounds. As an added bonus, all fish weighed in were all smallmouth bass. Rylan Garrett and Nico Skerston clenched the win for the Junior Division with the biggest bag of the day at 13.37 pounds.

The Kansas TBF Junior & High School state qualifier tournaments were held on Saturday, April 22^nd at Melvern Lake. After keeping an eye on the weather all week, the decision was made to launch as scheduled. It was a chilly 34 degrees with light winds at takeoff but warmed (?) up to almost 54. Winds in the late morning made the main lake a bit bumpy but manageable.

After the National Anthem, the teams lined up, had their live wells and PDFs checked, and off they went. One team had trolling motor and big motor issues and fished in the protected launch cove.

There was a total of seven, five fish limits weighed in that included a mix of largemouth and smallmouth.

1. The brother and sister team of Colton & Cydney Hutchinson had the winning bag that weighed 13.67 lbs. They plan on fishing the High School championship in Wisconsin next month and plan on fishing as co-anglers in the TBF National Semi Finals at Wilson Lake, September 30^th-October 1^st .
2. Second place was the team of Gavin Essex and Hayden Seume with a total of 11.48 lbs.
3. Third place was Cayden Harmon and Will Shepard with 11.42 lbs.

All fish were released alive.

There were two Junior teams that entered the tournament. One team did not have a legal fish. The winning team of Denney & Lawler-White had one fish for 2.10 lbs.

Trophies, plus Lew’s rod and reel combos from TBF KS were presented to all the winning teams. Also, rod & reel combos and rod socks were donated by Doman’s Outdoors in Lyndon, KS for door prizes.

Thanks to all the boat captains, parents, volunteers, and supporters for making this event a great success.