Southwestern High School Wins Inaugural Florida High School Open
Colton Smith and Brenton Clemons had two big motivations to make the 14 hour drive from Somerset Kentucky to Clewiston Florida. The first was that it was snowing in Kentucky and almost too cold to fish. The second was that they just love to compete and are always looking for an opportunity to fish in a tournament somewhere!
Sunday at the TBF/FLW High School Florida Open on the Caloosatchee River just off of Lake Okeechobee in south central Florida the two veteran anglers put it all together with a 5 bass limit that weighed 12 lbs. 6oz. They outdistanced the team of Travis Conrad and Hunter Tinsley from Riverdale High School who also had a 5 fish limit that weighed in at 11lbs. 2oz to claim the runner-up position. Rounding out the top three was the team of Shane Hines and Hunter Gadd from Bartow High School who had a very respectable 9lbs. 15 oz. The Bartow team was operating on a limited amount of sleep as their four team contingent fished another event on Saturday and then left at 3:00am to make the trip to the Alvin Ward Park in Moore Haven for Sunday’s event. That effort alone shows the true dedication of these High School teams across the country!
The top three teams from this event were then taken to the FLW Tour event in Clewiston for recognition just before the FLW Tour professional tournament weigh-in and a huge crowd that had filled the area. All three of these teams also qualified for the TBF/FLW Southern Conference Regional event that will take place this fall.
