Early spring is always an exciting time in fishing, as fish begin to move around and begin their annual journey up to the shallows to spawn.  As usual for this time of the year, the fish are in several different depth locations and will bite a wide variety of lures.  This past weekend was no different.  Out of the ninety teams that came to West Point Lake for the Student Angler Federation (SAF) Georgia High School State Championship, when they weighed their fish, they reported several different baits that were producing some really good limits.  Many anglers were using Drop Shots, Ned Rigs and Carolina Rigs and were fishing out of the deeper points and channel swings to catch their fish anywhere from fifteen to fifty feet of water.  Yet many others were simply power fishing with chatterbaits, spinnerbaits jigs and worms working their way down the bank in one to three feet of water.  The other group was in between those groups and they were using crankbaits, buzzbaits and rattletraps to catch fish in six to eighteen feet of water.  There was 586 pounds of fish weighed in with a whopping fifty teams bringing a limit to the scales.  The Lew’s Reel Big Bass award went to the Gilmer High School team of Bryce Barclay and Haden West for their nice 5-pound 11-ounce lunker.  They received two new Lew’s Reels for their efforts.

Taking home the title of Georgia State Champions was the Winder-Barrow team of Brett Boswell and Dylan Thayer with a nice sack that weighed 14-10 pounds.  The Big Bass team of Bryce Barclay and Haden West finished second with a total weight of 13-15 pounds.  Haralson County Rebels team of Dalton Tilley and Ethan Carter managed a top three finish with 12-14 pounds.  Branton Champions and Jackson Behringer from Richmond Hill finished fourth with a good catch of 12-10 pounds.  Rounding out the top five spots was the Newnan Cougar team of Gage Smith and Tayson Harrison with a good limit weighing 12-06 pounds.  Congratulations to all the teams this weekend, we had a great event.

For full results from this event CLICK HERE

Photos from the SAF GA High School event at West Point can be found by CLICKING HERE

Mother Nature greeted the Student Angler Federation (SAF) South Carolina High School Anglers with some below average temperatures for the morning take-off at Lake Hartwell.  With temps hovering around the freezing mark, anglers were still excited to get out on the water in search of the winning bag of fish.  Even with the colder temps, the fish were very cooperative.  Twenty teams came to the scales with a limit and another thirteen teams brought at least one or more fish to the scales that afternoon.

The Devil Dog Angler team of Austin Short and Jacob Greenwood caught 17-07 pounds which was just enough to take home the win and the two nice first place trophies.  Bryson Holland and Jacob Stone from the North Augusta Fishing team finished second with 15-14 pounds.  The Crescent Tiger team of Landen Jordan and Joshua McGuffin finished third with 14-07 pounds.  Ounces behind them, in fourth was the Wrenn Fishing Team of Jake McGaney and Clayton Nix with 13-15 pounds. Caden Barnett and Chloe Barnett of the Crescent Tigers finished fifth with 12-15 ponds.

The biggest bass of the day was caught by the winners, Austin Short and Jacob Greenwood for a stud 7-01 lunker.  They received a pair of Lew’s Reels for their catch.  Anglers were catching fish in a variety of methods at this event.  Several teams reported that they were fishing anywhere from 35-60 foot deep, with Drop Shots, Ned Rigs, Swim Jigs and Under Spins.  Yet other teams were catching their fish more around the 5-10’ range around points and docks on spinnerbaits, crankbaits And Texas Rigged plastics.   Several of the teams said that they were catching as many as fifteen to twenty keepers during the day.

Full results can be seen by clicking HERE

Photos from Hartwell can be seen HERE

The Student Angler Federation (SAF) kicked off the calendar season of High School Fishing with its Florida High School Fishing State Championship at Lake Toho on Saturday, January 28^th.  The Osceola Anglers made a clean sweep of the Top 3 teams with Tripp Berlinsky and Jacob Sharpe coming out with the win by putting 14-13 on the scales.  Second place belonged to Guy Scott and Jordan Scott with 11-00 pounds and then Whaylon Bracken and Jayden Shumbera with 10-10 pounds.  Guy and Jordan Scott also took home Big Bass honors with a nice 4-09 lunker.  Anglers were using soft plastics around grass lines and brush piles to catch most of their fish.   The cooler than normal weather made fishing a little tougher than normal for this time of the year.  Gage Rumping and Luke Miller from Harmony High School finished fourth with 10-04 pounds and Colton Privett and Caden McManama finished fifth with 9-10 pounds.

Full results can be found HERE

For pictures from this event click HERE