By Patty Lenderman

Get outta my seat!  That seemed to be the theme chant at the final qualifying round of the Southeast Texas High School Association tournament on Sam Rayburn April 13, 2014.  With over 30 schools represented in a tournament average participation per event of 240 teams, the competition was fierce for individual and school representation.  Several teams got to sit in the hot seats as leaders of the tournament, only to be told “Get outta my seat!” by others who caught more weight in bass.  In the end, it was Lumberton’s Bailey Bridges & Tyler Ford who won the final qualifying tournament with over 19 lbs.

Each team is paired with a boat captain who runs the boat for them throughout the day.  Fishing conditions were optimum, with overcast skies and temperatures that rose from the upper 60’s to mid 70’s.  By mid afternoon, the wind started picking up as impending storms headed their way.  Scads of volunteers were at every station from parking to weigh in to coordinate a smooth weigh in.  John Salamone kept everyone entertained with his on stage antics while Ray Beck tallied each sack.

Kade Morgan and Brandon Payne of Silsbee were the first to occupy the Gopher Hot Seats with their weight of 13.49 lbs.  They were knocked out by Colton Sonnier & Cayson Beal of Kountze having a 16.12 lb limit.  Weights continued to climb, as they had to give up their seats to the Corrigan Camden team of Wyatt Frankens and Clay Nash having 18.13 lbs.  Nash and Frankens heard the final orders to get out of those seats when Bailey Bridges and Tyler Ford of Lumberton High School came in with their 19.20 lb limit to win the event. Continue reading

Jake and Josh Dugger were torn with a decision to either play in a local basketball tournament or fish the TBF/FLW Grand Lake Open on Saturday in Grove Oklahoma. They decided to enjoy the spring weather and fish and it was probably one of the best decisions they could have made. The identical twins and their Boat Captain, who is also the Superintendent of schools as well as being their dad, made the trip from their River Valley Bass Club in Northwest Arkansas across state lines into Oklahoma. They were the first to leave the dock in the morning as they led the 29 boat field out of the Wolf Creek Launch Ramp marina and they never looked back as they put together a terrific 5 fish limit of 20lbs. 1 oz. to win the event as well as securing a qualifying spot in the TBF/FLW Southern Conference Regional Championship in October.

Also having a banner day was Cameron Pappan from Winfield High School in Kansas who also ventured south into Oklahoma and put together a terrific 5 fish limit that we weighed in at 16lb. 15oz to finish second and also pick up one of the three qualifying spots available in the event.

Rounding out the top three were Trevor Yates and Jacob Keenum who also brought in a very respectable 5 fish limit that tipped the scales at 13 lbs 9oz.

With all of the anglers fishing in the wake of the TBF Adult National Championship which was held the three previous days as well as a stiff southwest wind, the conditions were less than ideal.

“We kind of just stumbled into them stated” the Duggers. “The amazing thing is that we probably caught as least three limits of fish today and all of them would have been over 15 lb. bags” stated the grinning pair. “It was just one of those days”!

The TBF/FLW High School State Championship is now in full swing with events happening every weekend in some particular state added the winning team.

To view the upcoming schedule contact Highschoolfishing.org and then scroll down to your state.

Results

Anyone looking for a partner for the upcoming Arkansas SAF High School State Championship coming up in May please contact Mark Gintert at mark@bassfederation.com.

This angler does not have a boat but does have tournament experience and is looking for a partner.