We finally got to hold the Student Angler Federation South Carolina High School Open and State Championship at Lake Hartwell.  This event had to be rescheduled from February, due to adverse weather conditions.  Neil Paul, the tourism director of Anderson, South Carolina and I worked hard to get a date picked out that would allow any of the teams from out-of-state, that wanted to come down and pre-fish for the upcoming World Finals and National Championship, a chance to come down and look over the lake before our summertime finale.

The overall winner of the event was the Georgia team of Max Heaton and Tallis Morrison from Hart County High School with a weight of 17-14 pounds.

Just a couple ounces behind them, in second place, was the South Carolina team of Landon Gramling and Tucker Veronee with 17-12 pounds.

Logan Fisher and Will Hart from Georgia, rounded out the top 3 teams with 16-07 pounds.  We qualified a total of six teams, from this event, and the remaining three spots went to Brayden Batchelor and Evan Gonsalves of Clarks Hill Youth Fishing team with 14-09 pounds, Alex & Dillon Davis with 14-07 pounds and Ethan Thrasher & Ross Davis with 14-04 pounds, both from South Carolina.

The overall Lew’s Big Bass Award went to the Team of Kyler Murray and Will Ravenscroft for their 4-14 lunker.  They were awarded a $200 Lew’s Gift Card for their catch.  With the spawn starting and the water warming, most all of the angler reported catching most of their fish in less than five feet of water.  Many anglers were sight fishing, but the dirtier water and high winds made it pretty tough to do so all day.  Most teams said they were throwing, flukes, spinnerbaits, swimbaits, trick worms and jig or some type of plastic creature baits.  Anglers said that any piece of shallow cover around any rock banks or any dock that came up close to the bank all had fish around them.  Some were also fishing grass and weed lines or trees that were laying out off of the bank.  Only a couple of teams sad they caught their fish out on points or water deeper than eight to ten feet.

Our upcoming SAF High School Fishing World Finals and National Championship will be held at Green Pond Landing at Lake Hartwell on June 30-July 3, 2021.  It should be one of our largest events of the season.  Make your plans now to come and attend and be a part of this great event.  If you are not qualified to Fish in the National Championship, then any and all active SAF anglers can participate in the High School Fishing World Finals event, where over three million dollars in College Scholarships are up for grabs.  Make plans now to come and be a part of this great event.

Full results from this event CLICK HERE and all the pictures are on our SAF High School Fishing Facebook page.

Yuma Student Anglers (YSA) was proud to host the 2021 SAF AZ Sate Championship on Sat. March 27th at Mittry Lake. We had teams competing for awards, fishing tackle, scholarships, and the chance to advance to the National Championship and World Finals in South Carolina on Lake Hartwell, as well as a chance to compete as a co-angler at the District 23 Semi Finals in October at Lake Havasu City. As has happened for the two previous years, one of the two teams from Havasu came down and prevailed again. DANG!

Zachary and Brandon Verbrugge took first with 12.54#

But, teams from Yuma that found biting fish were close. 2nd place went to Jentry and Jerryn Goforth with 10.05#.

Finishing in 3rd place was Adam Straub and Logan Bathrick with 9.64#.

Yuma prevailed in the big fish category with a 3.99# largemouth bass boated by Wyatt Mellon. It was a tough fishing day, but a fun day overall with food served by our friends at Crossroads Mission. This event could not have happened without the many local individuals and businesses who have sponsored us over the last eight plus years. If you or your high school angler are interested in joining us next season, please contact me Dave Shill at 949-246-6646. CLICK HERE for full results of this event. Go see Yuma Student Anglers on facebook to see what we’re about.  To view more photos of the event CLICK HERE .

Lake Chickamauga played host to the Tennessee Student Angler Federation High School State Championship this past weekend.  Even though an unusual cold front was working its way past the lake, the anglers seemed anxious and ready to get out on the water.  With morning temperatures in the low thirties and the wind blowing stronger than normal, for this time of the year, the kids still managed to bring a lot of quality fish to the scales.

Taking the title of Tennessee High School State Champions was the West TN team of Caleb Griffin and Bryson Bailey with a limit of fish that tipped the scales to 16-13 pounds.

Coming in second place was the team of Bryson Sims and John Holloway from William Blount High School with 10-02 pounds.

Rounding out the top three teams was the all-female team of Addison Young and Emma Rae Slone from Upper Cumberland High School with 9-04 pounds.  Addison and Emma also took Big Bass Honors and a two-hundred-dollar Lew’s gift card for the Big Bass of the event, a 6.11 lunker.  Miss Emma said that was her personal best and biggest bass that she had ever caught.  Congratulations Emma!

Rounding out the top five finishers were the teams of Garrett White and Tanner McClain, from Rhea County, with 9-01 pounds and Elijah Kelley and Hunter Slone of White County, with 8-15 pounds.

With the recent rains around the Chickamauga area, the water was rising and there was plenty of new cover in the water and most all anglers said they caught their fish in less than five feet of water.  The normal baits this time of year produced once again with soft plastics, jigs, spinnerbaits, swimbaits, chatterbaits and rattletraps all catching fish.

Full Results from this event can be seen HERE and all the pictures from the Junior Anglers and High School Anglers can be seen on our Student Angler Federation High School Facebook page.