We were finally able to get a weekend that had some pretty nice weather. Anglers came from all over the state of Indiana to compete in the Student Angler Federation High School State Championship at Lake Patoka, out of Hoosier Hills Marina.  Sixty teams competed to try and qualify for the six spots ion the High School Fishing National Championship coming up this June in Lacrosse, Wisconsin.

The Rose City fishing team of Henry Vincent and Ross Peacock brought 17-10 to the scales to secure the win.  Their limit was anchored by a big 5-11 largemouth.  Second place was Brycen Bergman and Aybram Moore for their limit that weighed 15-02 pounds.  Just three ounces behind second, was Wyatt Wise and Aaron Spurgeon in third with 14-15 pounds.  Parker Hill and Boston Williams anchored fourth with 12-15 and Abygale Boyd and Hunter Trainor rounded out the top five with 12-06 pounds.

Anglers were catching quality fish, as the fish were moving up shallow to spawn.  Several teams had at least one four-pounder in their bag as they crossed the scales.  The Big Bass of the event belonged to Caleb Caldwell and Riggs Caldwell for their only fish, which weigh 6-05.  They received the Lew’s Big Bass Award of two Lew’s Reels for their catch.

Most all teams talked about catching fish in less than three feet of water.  Many said they were throwing topwater baits, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits or jigs to catch their fish.  Some of the teams talked about sight fishing for their fish.  Most reported that it took at least a half-hour to an hour or more to convince most of those bedding fish to bite.

For all the results and photos from this event please CLICK HERE

The weather has not been our friend over the last several weeks for fishing tournaments.  Once again this weekend, severe weather moved through the area on Friday and left some tough fishing conditions for the anglers that came to the SAF Tennessee High School State Championship at Kentucky Lake at Beech River Pearl Harbor Ramp.  Even with the windy conditions we still had two great events for the Tennessee Youth Program.

On the Junior side, the West TN Student Bass Trail team of Westin Carver and Allison Carter won the Junior State Championship with 6-13 pounds.  Their limit was anchored with a chunky 3-11 lunker for Big Bass Honors as well.  Finishing second was the Upper Cumberland Junior Bass Team of Carson Everley and Gunner Robbins with 2-03 pounds.  Congratulations to those Junior teams.

On the High School side, the Brighton Cardinal team of Jaxon Sherfield and Jack Rushing put a massive sack of 22-10 on the scales with a 7-02 Lew’s Big Bass Lunker to win the High School State Championship for Tennessee.

Another good limit of 15-08 finishing second was the West TN Student Bass Trail team of Lloyd Moore and Hayden Ramsey.  Another West TN Student Bass Trail team of Hunter Sims and Harrison Overman placed third with 8-14.  Luke Benson and Mason McCLintock finished fourth with 7-09 and Ticker Wollney and Carter Smith finished fifth with 5-04 pounds.  Anglers reported catching their fish on mostly crawfish colored crankbaits, Red Eye Shad boats and chatterbaits.

To see all the results and pictures from this event CLICK HERE

We had another tremendous turn out at the recent GHSA Qualifier on West Point Lake.  For the third event in a row, there were more than 240 teams registered to participate.  Even when the weather changed drastically on Friday, the anglers still hit the water Saturday morning, eager to chase the winning limit of fish.  The Savannah Christian team of Matthew and Luke Gunn figured out the winning pattern and landed 12-15 to barely edge out the second-place team.  Just six ounces behind, the Elbert Blue Devil Team of Bradley Vaughn and Adrian Harris captured 12-09 for the runner-up spot.  Third place belonged to Tyler Williams and Jack Aydelott, from Perry High School with 12-04 pounds.  Fourth place went to the Lambert Longhorn team of Dylan Johnson and Patrick Coppinger with 11-08 pounds.  Fifth place was a tie that went to Jackson Thomas and Cole Bradley along with Hudson Hyatt and Jackson Ellis for their 10-12 catches.

As usual there were many patterns that caught fish during the event.  Spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, rattletraps and crankbaits all caught fish.  Various stles of plastics also produced aw well.  Then some anglers were fishing deeper to catch most of their spotted bass.  They were using jerkbaits, Ned Rigs, Alabama Rigs, drop shots and shakey heads to catch fish as deep as 40-60 feet.

The big bass of the event went to Dylan Johnson and Patrick Coppinger from the Lambert Longhorns for their 5-12 lunker.  They received GHSA Big Bass Medals for their efforts.

The last GHSA Qualifying event is coming up shortly on April 15 at Tugaloo State Park on Lake Hartwell.  After these qualifiers are added to the previous three events, the Championship will be set.  The GHSA Finals will be on May 20 at Clarks Hill Lake at Wildwood Park.

For full results and photos from West Point CLICK HERE