Not often do you see a team repeat as High School State Champions.  But that is exactly what happened this past weekend at Lake Cumberland at the Kentucky SAF High School State Championship.  Bailey Gay and Adrian Urso, of Ryle High School, topped the two hundred plus boat field with a strong limit that weighed 18-05 pounds to take home a second Kentucky High School State Championship.

They said that the majority of their fish came on a spinnerbait and a small crawfish colored crankbait.  They said they fished up shallow around the rocky banks and that most of their fish came in two to four feet of water.Second place went to the Southwestern High School team of Keaton Smith and Jaydon Coggins for their impressive catch of 16-09 pounds.Third place belonged to Luke Fletcher and Michael Hunter Flynn from Estill County with 15-09 pounds.

The last two sets of plaques went to Haggan Bishop and Sawyer Winchester from Lake Cumberland High School with 15-04 pounds and the Madison Central team of Ian Hurd and Kyle Snowden who weighed in 15-02 pounds.

The biggest bass of the tournament went to Landon Chenauly and Trace Mitchell. They weighed in a nice 4-12 pound largemouth.  They received a two-hundred dollar Lew’s Gift Card for their efforts.

There were forty-four limits of fish brought to the scales and one hundred-eleven teams brought one or more fish up to be weighed. Just over 833 pounds of fish were turned in at the scales and not one single fish perished.  The Kentucky Game and Fish Release truck took all the fish and released them safely back into the water to be caught again another day.  The most popular baits of the day were definitely a spinnerbait and a crawfish-colored crankbait.  Other baits used were a topwater, jig, Ned-rig, Alabama Rig, and a jerkbait.

To see all the results from this event please visit www.highschoolfishing.org.  All the numerous photos are already posted on our Student Angler Federation (SAF) High School Fishing Facebook page for your viewing pleasure.

As a side note, for everyone around the Lake Cumberland area, there is going to be a two-day BIG BASS Tournament on Lake Cumberland on April 17^th and 18^th at Conley Bottom Ramp.  It is an Open event for all to fish.  The entry fee is $125 per person, per day or $200 gets you an entry for both days.  You may have up to three people in your boat and the top prize is Guaranteed $10,000 for the biggest bass of the weekend.  There will be a total of four sessions each day that anglers can weigh one fish in each of those sessions and prizes and monies will be paid out according to the number of entries for the event.  Then there will be an overall category for the three biggest fish of the entire event with lots of great prizes and monies.  There will be a BBQ meal and music on Friday, April 16^th at Conley Bottom Marina to kick off the weekend event.  If you are a registered contestant, your meal is FREE.  There will be a Drawing for a Houseboat Getaway Weekend as well as other fun things during the event.  This event is being hosted by Monticello-Wayne County Tourist Commission and Monticello-Wayne County Chamber of Commerce.  For more information, Rules and details please visit www.NorthAmericanBassChallenge.com

After falling and rising waters, with fluctuating water temps, the 2021 Mississippi high school state championship got underway on a cool March morning on Pickwick lake. While sharing the Prestige Pickwick lake with some of the leading Pro Anglers, some of the High School students still managed to show out.

Taking first place and winning the Bass-Pro Cabela’s big bag, with a whopping 3 pound lead, also having a Berkley 5 Alive limit was Blake Duncan and Andrew Stoddard. Duncan and Stoddard from the Upper Tombigbee Fishing Trail had an impressive bag of fish weighing in at 19-07 for the win.

Taking second place was team Bass smashers, Zachery Lowe and Payton Corley. They also had a great day with a 5 fish limit, all alive that weighed in at 16-07.

Rounding out the field in third place with 15-09 was Hayden Campbell and Chance Williams. The third place team was representing Itawamba Agricultural High School.

Having to fish waters behind some of the best professional anglers in the Nation did not stop our SAF High School students winning the LEW’s Big Bass of the day caught by Blake Duncan and partner Andrew Stoddard they anchored their days catch with a nice 7 pound 1 ounce kicker.

Congratulations also goes to our winning team as they are both either 16 years old or older which wins them the SAF/TBF contingency which includes Adult TBF membership paid and  entry fees paid to the District 4 TBF National Semifinals.

Thank you to all the volunteers that made this a great event for the students. For full results of this event CLICK HERE. For photos of event CLICK HERE

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.