It was a tough day of fishing and they were the last team to come to the scales with a berth in the Central Conference Regional Championship at Kentucky Lake waiting in the balance. Joseph Hays and Jimmy Ciurej placed their fish on the scale, they knew it would be close. Dailus Richardson and Trevor McKinney of Benton High School had previously weighed in 3 fish and were the leaders at that point.  Even though the field wasn’t huge the tension was high as the scales read out 6LBS 8 OZ to put the top two teams in the Illinois SAF State Championship in a virtual tie for first place.

After a short break to tabulate all the teams and initiate the tie breakers Hays and Ciurej were declared the winners on the bases of having the most fish alive at the end on the end of the contest and they claimed the champion’s trophy and the opportunity to advance on to the TBF/FLW regional contest. Continue reading

(Sylvan KS Wilson Lake) The Bass Federation (TBF), in partnership with FLW, TBF of Kansas and Russell County Economic Development and Convention and Visitors Bureau hosted the 2013 Student Angler Federation (SAF) Kansas High School Fishing State Championship on Sunday, May 19th. Twelve teams signed up to fish the tournament but only eleven showed due to the impending weather situation in Kansas and surrounding states. The teams fishing represented high school students from 14 different high schools throughout the state of Kansas. Continue reading

Saxton Long and Triston Crowder had been dreaming about fishing a high school tournament! They finally got their chance as they won the Tennessee High School State Championship in their very first high school tournament with a five fish limit that weighed in at 15 Lbs. 4 oz. to edge out Hayden Everett and Dustin Mayton from Oliver Springs High School who also had a five fish limit of 15lbs even to finish second.

“This may be our first tournament, but I think it just goes to show you that this sport is all about putting fish in the boat,” commented Triston. “We had a limit of fish at 1:30pm and we came upon a spot that was loaded with fish,” added Long. We caught 10 keeper fish in the last 30 minutes that enabled us to cull up our weight,” commented the smiling pair who will advance on to the Southeast Conference regional competition at Lake Lanier Georgia on October 12^th. Continue reading