Toledo Bend is a legendary fishery, no doubt about that but on Saturday it was tough on the Louisiana High Shcool Athletics Associations (LHSAA) Region 2 Teams.  only 8 limits were caught and a total of 88 fish weighed in, it was an “off” day to be sure.

However, as is always the case someone figures them out.  Some version of watermelon red and a few topwaters were the go-to baits for most of the teams interviewed

For the bulk of the weigh-in the East Beauregard High School Trojans team of Jacob Odom and Parker Wascom lead the way at 11-09 and with a number of other East Beauregard High School teams sitting in the top 10. Then a surge by the Ebard Rebals put two of their teams in the top 10, when a squad from South Central dumped 11-11 on the scales and moved into the lead briefly before being overtaken by Cole Pickett and Geert (Dutch) Kor representing the Many High School Tigers.

The Many Tigers squad of Pickett and Kor brought in 5 fish for 16 and 4 ounces to secure the Regional Champion titles and a win for themselves and their school.

South Central team of Colin Canik and Gavin Tremie (below) earned the second-place medals

East Beauregard High School tied down an award for their school with the big bass honors with a nice 6 pound 10-ounce lunker.

In total 34 Region 2 teams are eligible to advance to the state Finals April 16-17 on Cross Lake, with the East Beauregard High School Trojans advancing more than any other school at 8 teams.

It was another great turnout for the first year Georgia High School Association (GHSA) program on Lake Oconee this past weekend.  A total of 133 teams from all across Georgia showed up at Sugar Creek Marina on an unusually cold spring morning.  Event with the cold temps, spirits were high as anglers were eager to get out on the water to try their luck.  As this was the third of four qualifying events, with 133 teams we were able to qualify 18 more teams to the GHSA Finals on Lake Lanier on May 8, 2021.

Tanner Hadden and Tyler Starkey, from Greenbrier High School, came out as the winners as they managed to bring 13-04 pounds to the scales Saturday afternoon.

Weights were very close in this event as the top five teams were only separated by just one pound.  Finishing second was the Tift County team of Kolby Jordan and Russell Thomas with 12-14 pounds.  Finishing in third place was Blake & Caleb Edwards from North Paulding High School with 12-10 pounds.  Also finishing in the top five were the teams of Will Thomas and Landon Huff, from Morgan County with 12-06 pounds and then Storm Clark and Gunner Williamson, from Harris County High School with 12-05 pounds.

Most of the teams that came across the stage, stated that they caught their fish between two to six feet of water.  Several teams used flukes, trick worms, soft plastics, rattletraps and A-rigs to catch their fish.  Anglers were fishing the matted grass lines and also docks and along rip-rap banks as the dominant structure for the day.  Most teams said that even though they caught a limit of fish, they did not get to cull very many times during the day.

There is one last qualifying event left this season, which will be on April 10 at Lake Hartwell on the Georgia side of the lake.  After the completion of that event, the finals will be held on May 8 on Lake Lanier out of Laurel Park.

Full results can be found HERE and all the numerous pictures can be viewed and shared on our SAF High School Fishing Facebook page.

The Southland Academy team of Eli and James Griffin took top honors at the Lake Oconee Finals for the GAPPS-GISA program Saturday.  Their limit of fish tipped the scales at 17-01 pounds.  Their biggest fish weighed 5-09 pounds and helped propel them to victory.

At stake at this event was two SAF National Championship entries for the top two teams.  Eli and James will be heading to Lake Hartwell on June 30-July 3 to participate in that event.  Joining them at Lake Hartwell will be the second-place finishing team of Brack Solis and Robert Stevenson from Terrell Academy with their limit weight of 15-07 pounds.  Good luck to these two teams at the National Championship.

Rounding out the top five spots on Oconee were Ben Lawson and Brant Beckham from Westfield Academy with 15-03 pounds to finish third.  Fourth place went to Conner Gisler and Luke Taunton with 11-07 pounds.  Fifth place belonged to the Rock Springs Christian School team of Hayes Flemming and Robert Pasley with a limit that weighed 9-14 pounds.

Most all the teams found their fish in less than five feet of water.  Many anglers reported that they were just fishing the back corners of the docks and the fish were setting there waiting to begin the spawn.  Jigs, Brush Hogs, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits and crawfish-colored crankbaits were all good choices during this event.  Ben Lawson and Brant Beckham from Westfield Academy weighed in the biggest bass of the day with a 5-12 lunker.  They received a nice goody bag for catching the Biggest Bass of the tournament.

To view full the results click HERE.  All the photos from this event can be found on our SAF High School Fishing Facebook page.