The Student Angler Federation (SAF) had their Tennessee High School State Championship at Kentucky Lake out of Beech River Pearl Harbor Ramp.  Anglers all over Tennessee came to storied Kentucky Lake to try their luck and win a state title.

The Scotts Hill team of Braden and Ross Wilson claimed top honors with a hefty sack of fish that weighed 19 pounds and 7 ounces.  Taking second place was the Henry County team of Charly Hutson and Chloe Wisniewski with 15 pounds and 14 ounces.  Third place belonged to the newly formed West TN Student Bass Trail TEAM OF Hunter Sims and Harrison Overman with 11 pounds and 13 ounces.  The top five also included Hunter Slone and Elijah Kelley from Upper Cumberland with 9-02 and Drake Hamilton and Jace Richardson, from Obion County, with 8 pounds even.

Braden and Ross Wilson also claimed the Lew’s Big Bass Award and two Lew’s Reels with their 7-09 lunker, that they caught just after the event started.  Most anglers were catching their fish on crawfish- colored crankbaits or Rattletraps.

Full tournament results and photos can be found by CLICKING HERE

After a wind advisory cancelled the Nevada State Championship on February 28^th, teams from the Boulder City Bass Club were excited to see the weather hold up for the rescheduled event Saturday March, 26th. Teams launched out of Willow Beach and headed down river to Lake Mohave. Despite a forecasted record high of 90 degrees, the weather was ideal for some early spring fishing. Senior and two time State Champion Izec Easter and partner Talynn Madrid saw several bass on beds but couldn’t capitalize. “We had a great day on the water as usual, but we just couldn’t get enough bites to win. We broke two off and landed one,” Easter said. That one keeper weighing 2lbs 5oz was enough for third.

Sophomores and longtime fishing duo, Dodger Smith and Charlie Stewart secured second place with a 3 fish limit weighing 8lbs 15oz. Accounting for almost half the sack and the tournaments big fish was Smith’s smallmouth coming in at 4lbs 2oz. “ While we were trying out different things we saw a spot that looked good and figured why not since we had not tried anything like it yet and sure enough within the first few casts we had a big one on,” said Smith.

Boat Captain Rob Sanford ran his team 30 miles downriver. Fishing the back waters they spotted beds as deep as 22 feet. Patience paid off for Colten Hartgroves and new club member Rylan Garrett as they were able to hook 7 and cull two. Despite losing their biggest they still managed to weighed in with 10lbs 14oz giving each angler their first Nevada State Title.

Congratulations to all the anglers and a special thanks to our boat captains!

High School Anglers from all across the state of Kentucky, gathered at Burnside Island State Park to crown a Champion for the 2022 SAF KY Championship.  As usual, for events in the early spring, the weather could play a big role in the success of the anglers, and this event was no different.  Warmer weather than usual had been the pattern most of the week until we rolled into town on Friday morning.  As the weekend came around, the sun went away and the artic north winds came down with a vengeance.  Temperatures hovered in the low forties and the wind chills were even lower.  Never-the-less a group of one hundred and eighty-six teams hit the lake at daylight in search of the winning limit of fish.

Several good limits crossed the scales that afternoon, and the Wayne County team of Dylan Southwood and Kendall Neal found the biggest limit with a weight of 15 pounds and 14 ounces to claim the title.  Just a few ounces behind them were the Rockcastle team of Sean Cash and Christian Larkey with 15 pounds and an ounce.  The Collins Titan team of Travis Greene and Tyler Hammond took third with 14-08 pounds.  Finishing fourth and fifth were the teams of Chanler and Landon Brake with 13-12 and Bryce McDonald and Ethan Elliott with 13-11.

The Lew’s Big Bass Award was a three-way tie with each team having a 4-01 lunker.  Blake Conrad and Jayden Reed along with Landon Day and Dylan McLaren, then Matt and JB Detzel went into a tiebreaker.  The tiebreaker was the most live fish weighed and that went to Landon Day and Dylan McLaren.  They received two Lew’s Reels for their efforts.  Not wanting any of the other teams to be left out, the Lew’s Rep was on hand with their promotional trailer and he invited the other two teams over to the trailer and made sure they each had a prize pack of Lew’s Goodies for their catch as well.  A nice gesture by the folks at Lew’s.

Spinnerbaits by far was what most of the teams were catching their fish on.  ATHey fished them anywhere from two feet out to about ten feet of water, along bluff walls, brushpiles, fallen timer and chunk rock banks.  Other good baits mentioned were, crankbaits, jerkbaits, small swimbaits, jigs and rattletraps.

For full Results and all photos of this event CLICK HERE.