Virginia Anglers Crowned WORLD CHAMPIONS at the 13th annual High School Fishing World Finals in Florence

The thirteenth Annual High School Fishing World Finals was held in Florence, Alabama on Pickwick Lake at McFarland Park on June 22-25, 2022.  Once again, teams came from all across the United States in record numbers, to participate.  More than 40 states, including Hawaii and a couple of teams from Zimbabwe, South Africa were on and to try and take-home part of over 2.6 million dollars in college scholarships.  With a record breaking 416 teams in attendance for a week, Florence was a good place to old this event.  There was plenty of places to stay, lots of places to eat and shop and lots of great things for the families to do around the city, while the teams were out on the lake.  McFarland Park was the site of the daily weigh-ins and sponsor festivities.  Many of the High School program sponsors showed up to display their products and visit with the families each afternoon.  Every day featured different sponsor giveaways for the anglers catching fish.  As always, Friday night was Senior night at the park.  Every outgoing and graduated Senior received a fishing rod from Favorite Fishing.  This year those rods were handed out by Pro Mark Daniels Jr.  He spoke to the crowd and stayed around for pizza and photos with the anglers.

Even with the extremely hot weather, the fish were still biting pretty good.  The first three days of competition saw multiple three fish limits that weighed between nine to twelve pounds.  There were even a few limits that were fourteen to eighteen pounds.  Eventual National Champions, Fallon Clepper and Wyatt Ford from Texas weighed in 18-08 on Day 1 for the biggest limit of the week and were wire to wire winners in the National Championship segment of this dual  event.  A summertime giant of seven pounds and eight ounces was the Lew’s Big Bass of the week.  With a group this size, various teams found fish in a wide range of depths.  Anglers reported catching their fish in as shallow as three feet of water out to about twenty-five to thirty feet of water.  Neko-Rigs, Carolina Rigs, Texas Rigs and Ned-Rigs were all popular deep-water baits.  The standard topwater baits, chatter baits, spinnerbaits and Texas Rigs were used up in the shallower waters.  The field was divided when it came to numbers of fish caught.  Some teams were just catching enough to get their three fish limit each day, while other teams were talking about culling as many as seven or eight times each day.

The final day saw eighteen different states represented from all over the country.  California, Arizona were there from out west, Minnesota and Michigan from up north, Vermont and New Hampshire from the northeast, Virginia and South Carolina from the east, Texas and Louisiana from the south and Tennessee and Alabama which were the closest to Pickwick Lake.  When it was all said and done, the Virginia team of Wes Newman and Kendall Hatch brought 13-07 to the scales to seal the victory and take home the six-foot trophies and the titles of2022 High School Fishing World Champions.

Just behind them in second was the Minnesota team of Walker Krampitz ad Brady Matz with 11-06.

Third place belonged to Kade Suratt and Hunter Brewer from Tennessee with 11-05.

Rounding out the top five were the teams of Walker Larue and Joe Waulton from Tennessee with 10-09 and Will Thomas and Michael Arienzo with 10-07.  After the awards ceremony was completed, there were over 2.6 million dollars in college scholarships offered to a wide variety of the final day teams.

Including of course the winners, but also 2nd and 3rd place teams, top female team and anglers, top co-ed teams overall big fish winners top team from Ohio, New York and Pennsylvania, top eastern teams top 3 western US teams and more.

For full information, results, scholarship lists, and more checkout the world finals home page HERE.

For event pictures and more check out our facebook page HERE

The fourteenth Annual High School Fishing World Finals and National Championship will be at Lacrosse, Wisconsin in June 19-24 of 2023.   For more information about how to get involved with High School Fishing go to www.highschoolfishing.org.

Montgomery, Texas’ Lake Creek High School Leads Wire-to-Wire to Win 2022 High School Fishing National Championship

Student Anglers Fallon Clepper and Wyatt Ford Claim Title with Three-Day Total of Nine Bass Weighing 39-9

June 27, 2022

FLORENCE, Ala. – The Lake Creek High School duo of Fallon Clepper and Wyatt Ford, both of Montgomery, Texas, brought a final day limit to the scale Saturday weighing 12 pounds, 14 ounces to win the 2022 High School Fishing National Championship on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Alabama. Clepper became the first female to ever win the High School Fishing National Championship.

The duo’s three-day total of nine bass weighing 39 pounds, 9 ounces, earned them the victory by a 5-pound, 5-ounce margin over the runner-up, New Hampshire’s Keene High School, and earned the duo thousands of dollars in prizes and scholarship offers – including a four-year $80,000 offer to California’s Simpson University and a four-year $100,000 offer to attend Kentucky Christian University. The duo also now advances to the 2022 Toyota Series Championship, held Nov. 3-5 on Lake Guntersville in Guntersville, Alabama, to compete as co-anglers and a shot at the top prize of a new Phoenix 518 Pro boat with a 115-horsepower Mercury outboard.

Going into the third and final day of competition, Clepper and Ford held just a 1-ounce lead on their competition.

“I was nervous at takeoff,” Clepper said. “I thought we were going to get gapped by everybody, but when we got to our spot there was only one other boat there.”

Leaning on sage advice from their captain, Julian Clepper — Fallon’s father — the team weathered wracked nerves to boat a 12-pound bag on the final day for the win.

“We stayed on our juice the entire time today,” Ford said. “That was the only spot we consistently caught fish over 2 pounds, so we figured we would try to win it all and stay there all day.”

It didn’t take long for the team to launch themselves into serious contention for the crown on the final day.

At 6:40 a.m., Ford plunged a Zoom Trick Worm to the bottom of Pickwick Lake ledge on a shaky head jig. Its hook connected with a Tennessee River stud, and seconds later, a 7-pound, 8-ounce largemouth crashed into the net held by his teammate’s father.

“I was thinking that we had been here before,” said Ford, a soft-spoken football tight end who kept his composure throughout the event. “I knew if we got it in the boat that we might have a shot.”

The fish was the largest landed in a tournament featuring 236 boats competing in the 2022 High School Fishing National Championship. Combined with a pair of quality keepers from teammate Fallon Clepper, the Pickwick kicker was enough to outpace the pack and land the duo high school fishing’s highest honor.

In the process, Clepper, who started fishing competitively with her father at 11 years old, became the first female angler to ever win the High School Bass Fishing National Championship.

“I want to see more girls out here getting in it,” she said. “Just because a boy says you can’t do it doesn’t mean you can’t. Just keep after them.”

In a tournament fought out mostly under bluebird skies, slow current and brutal summer heat, Clepper and Ford’s single honey hole was productive enough to get the job done.

“When we found the spot in practice, we drove over it with the graphs and saw a really big school of fish,” Ford said. “It was like something we had never seen before.”

Clepper and Ford began fishing together when their parents, who were childhood friends, reconnected at a meet-the-teacher event during their freshman year.

“I asked him if he was going to fish,” Clepper said. “He said ‘yes’ and that he didn’t have a partner, so we ended up together ever since then.”

Three years later, the two fishing-forged friends stood together on stage with one of bass fishing’s most famous rivers as a backdrop. At their feet lay massive checks and scholarship offers. The two most coveted trophies in high school bass fishing were hoisted above their heads. And in the crowd, a pair of overjoyed parents cheered feverishly for their kids.

“It doesn’t even seem real right now,” Clepper said. “I feel like I am in a dream. I have always dreamed of this day and it finally came true.”

The Top 10 teams at the 2022 High School Fishing National Championship on Lake Pickwick finished:

• 1st: Lake Creek High School, Montgomery, Texas – Fallon Clepper and Wyatt Ford, nine bass, 39-9
• 2nd: Keene High School, Keene, N.H. – Bradyn Antosiewicz and Connor Holbrook, nine bass, 34-4
• 3rd: Owatonna High School, Owatonna, Minn. – Walker Krampitz and Brady Matz, nine bass, 32-5
• 4th: Northeast Louisiana High School Anglers – Ian Carter and Colby Dark, nine bass, 32-3
• 5th: Fairview High School, Fairview, Ala. – Levi Harris and Zane Roberts, nine bass, 31-15
• 6th: Alcoa Fishing Team, Alcoa, Tenn. – Walker LaRue and Joe Vaulton, nine bass, 31-9
• 7th: Calvary Baptist Academy, Shreveport, La. – Noah Trant and Mark Andrew Trant, nine bass, 29-2
• 8th: Osseo High School, Osseo, Minn. – Jackson Betker and Kenrick Kisch, nine bass, 28-9
• 9th: Central High School, Martinsburg, Pa. – Gerald Brumbaugh and Dalton Metzger, nine bass, 28-9
• 10th: Benton High School, Benton, La. – Zachary Halbert and Gray Allums, seven bass, 25-9

Complete results for the entire field can be found at HighSchoolFishing.org.

On Tuesday June 21, 2022 when on sight check in was finalized in Florence, Alabama a whopping 416 teams from 40 states (including Hawaii) and 2 teams from as far away as Zimbabwe, South Africa were on sight for the record breaking event.

This 2 in 1 event combines the WORLD FINALS and the High School National Championship into one family friendly event,  with more than 2.6 MILLION dollars in scholarship offers and prizes up for grabs.

You can see a flow chart of the format and how the event works by Clicking Here this unique format was built on feedback from the families and parents at previous years  events and has proven itself as a level playing field and a popular event.

Because the event is held in the summer time each year so families can vacation around it,  SAF imposed a 3 fish limit per team per day for conservation to help put the fish back alive in hotter weather. A 3 fish limit also greatly helps to even the playing field with anglers form so many states attending.

Day 1 saw a Texas team jump to the top of the leaderboard in both the world and National Standings. Fallon Clepper and Wyatt Ford brought in 3 fish for 18.08 ounces to hold their lead firmly on day 1.

Day 2 Clepper and Ford only weighed in 8.03 ounces for 26-11 but it was enough to hang onto their lead by a mere one ounce over Bradyn Antosiewick and Conner Holbrook  a team all the way from New Hampshire who wound up with a two day total of 26-10. third place was held down by Kade Surratt and Hunter Brewer from Tennessee with 25-11.

Friday day 3 is JUDGEMENT day! – The top 10 in the National Championship standings compete for the title and scholarship offers to the National Champions.  All 10 of those finalist advance to Saturday Final day of the WORLD FINALS.  Then 20 more will be added to the final day mix via the WORLD Semifinals. (top 2 from each states) through the Second Chance round all other anglers.  This event is a double elimination just like almost other High School sports to get to the finals.

full results and info can be found here.