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.

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