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.

The wind was blowing on Lake Mohave March 6, making conditions less then ideal for the Nevada High School State Championship. But that didn’t stop these young anglers from catching a limit.

Carter Doren and Kyle Luis had nice small mouth weighing 4.25lb bringing their total to 10.15lb locking in first place. “ We caught one of our big smallies in 18 foot on a dropshot,” said Carter. “Then tried some more deep and managed to catch two more.”

The second place team of Corey Williams and Izec Easter also had a decent small mouth weighing 4.20lb bringing their total 5.80lb.

Charlie Stewart and Dodger Smith weighed in 4.5lbs locking in third place. Smith said they headed north, stayed deep and worked the drop shot.

The big fish of the day was brought in by Brayden Cook and Talynn Madrid weighing in at 4.35lb. “The day definitely started off slow, we covered a lot of water and were throwing drop shots and jigs all day. We were in the last 15 minutes of the day and I threw my drop shot out and caught a good sized bass!” Cook said. “It was definitely exciting!”

Ben Schafler and Ridge Fletcher were only able to find one keeper weighing 3.04lbs but was a new personal best for Schafler.

Overall all the teams had a great day and walked away with more knowledge and experience, eager for the next tournament.

The Red River is back on track and the fish catches have increased greatly since the hurricane of a few years ago.  Anglers from all across the country fished there for three days and had numerous quality bags during the Federation National Championship adult event just days prior to the Louisiana High School State Championship.  The High School anglers did not disappoint either.  There were quite a few five fish limits throughout the ninety-three boat field on Sunday.

The West Ouachita team of Josh Arrant & Cade Brown figured them out and brought 16-03 pounds to the scale to secure the Louisiana High School State Championship.

Only a few ounces behind them was the Rosepine High School team of Braydon Williams & Austin Williams who weighed in 15-06 pounds to take the runner-up honors.

Finishing third was Evan & Ryan Lee from CE Byrd High School with fifteen pounds even to their credit.

West Ouachita High School had another team make the top five with Gage Struben & Hagen Carter finishing fourth with 12-09 pounds.

Fifth place went to the Parkway Panther team of Chandler Davis & Chris Bacot with 12-05 pounds.

The anglers hit the Red River at the right time, as the weather was warming up and the fish were moving up shallow to spawn.  Most every team talked about catching their fish in less than three feet of water.  All of the shallow water baits were big producers during this event.  Jigs, Creature Baits, Chatterbaits, Spinnerbaits, Square Bill crankbaits, Flukes and Trick Worms were just about on every angler’s rods.  Some even talked about Frog Fishing and Punching the matted grass with big weights and big plastics.

The Lew’s Big Bass of the event was a chunky 5-14 pound largemouth that went to the Stanley Fishing team of Samuel Bissell & Nichlas Adams.  They received a $200 Lew’s Gift Card for catching the largest Bass of the tournament.

The results of this event can be seen at www.highschoolfishing.org and all of the photos are posted on our Student Angler Federation (SAF) High School Fishing Facebook page.  We qualified nine teams for the upcoming SAF High School National Championship at Lake Hartwell on June 30-July 3, 2021.  This event will be in conjunction with our SAF High School Fishing World Finals event that same week.  The High School Fishing World Finals is an Open event for each and every High School student who has an active SAF membership.  Any high School team across the country can come and fish in the World Finals.  Last year alone we gave away more than three million dollars in College Scholarships to participating anglers.  It is a great week of fun for the anglers and they get to meet people from all across the United States and make new friendships that will last a lifetime.  For more information on the World Finals and National Championship go to www.highschoolfishing.org.