Cicero and Snyder Win High School Fishing World Finals

Anthony Cicero IV and Dakota Snyder fished their way through three full days of qualifying rounds to sacked a 16-pound, 6-ounce three-fish limit on the fourth and final day to win the Student Angler Federation’s (SAF) 10th annual High School Fishing World Finals on legendary Pickwick Lake out of Florence, Alabama June 19-22.

Representing Pennsylvania’s Elizabethtown High School, the hard-fishing duo topped an enormous field of 389 teams from 38 states and two foreign countries — Canada and Zimbabwe — to claim the prestigious World Final Champions crown. Squads were comprised of two anglers and an adult boat captain, pushing the total number of participants to more than 1,160.

“It’s absolutely unbelievable,” said Cicero. “Emotions are running high.”

With a payout of more than $2.85 million in college scholarships, cash, gift cards and other prizes at stake, competition was fierce. In fact, tournament officials report that the prize purse was certainly the richest in SAF High School Fishing history and likely the largest ever posted in a single event in all levels of competitive bass fishing.

Total payout in scholarship offers and prizes included: $1.62 million from Simpson University in Redding Calif., $1.08 million from Kentucky Christian University in Kentucky, $96,000 from Bethel University in Tennessee, $10,000 from FLW Outdoors, $12,000 from The Bass Federation, plus more than $40,000 in prizes from sponsors and TBF.

Produced by the Student Anglers Federation (SAF) under the TBF umbrella with support from FLW Outdoors, the popular four-day High School Fishing World Finals and National Championship dual-event format allows families to attend both premier championship events at one time with only one weeks’ vacation. Both events kicked off June 19, with the National Championships concluding on Friday and World Finals wrapping up Saturday.  All anglers to compete for three days, with a second-chance round designed to keep everyone in the game until the final-day cut.

Saturday’s field included the 10 National Championship finalists, the top 10 teams from Friday’s World Finals semi-final round, and the next 10 teams (highest day-three weight) from the semi-final round and second-chance rounds combined. A Friday night pizza party, which saw competitors devour more than 350 pizzas, included a “Lucky Dog Last Chance Wildcard” drawing for one team, not already qualified, to compete on day four – bringing the total number of teams competing in the World Finals finale to 31.

While many teams chose to ply Pickwick’s popular offshore ledge fishery, Cicero and Snyder played the shallow game.

Targeting the Mulberry Creek area, near Kroger Island, the team zeroed in on shallow grass with woody cover and hooked bass in depths ranging from 8 inches to five feet.

One area was particularly productive. “We were fishing a stump where we had caught a couple in practice. We caught our three best fish there today and ended it all,” Cicero reported. Anchoring their limit was a 7-7 behemoth that earned Big Bass honors.

Snyder noted that they enjoyed their fastest action throughout the tournament during the morning hours and in overcast conditions—a trend that continued on the final day.

For the win, Cicero and Snyder earned their choice of team scholarship offers to go to a top school and fish on the college fishing team including: A $56,000 – ($28,000 per angler) Scholarship offer from Bethel University, a $100,000 ($50,000 per angler) scholarship offer from Kentucky Christian University and a $80,000 ($40,000 per angler) scholarship offer to Simpson University. Snyder plans to join the United States Marine Corps after graduation, but Cicero says the scholarship options could be life-changing for him.

“This is an amazing opportunity,” he said. “The doors are wide open right now to three great schools, and I have a lot of thinking to do.”

TBF President and CEO Robert Cartlidge said providing such educational opportunities to youngsters who love fishing was a motivating factor for event organizers, and he praised supporters of these efforts.

“It is great to see our sponsor partners and these universities supporting young people in outdoor sports,” he said. “This is one of the reasons why we founded the national high school program in the US back in 2007, so that young anglers could live their dream and earn a good education through fishing that would be on par with any other sport.”

“History was made at Saturday’s World Finals awards ceremony, and it was something to see, as multiple colleges and university recruiters were on site, competing for top teams to attend their institutions of higher learning,” he added. “Whatever else happens, that is a success for these young people in my book.”

Alabama’s Gardendale High School squad, brothers Griffin and Fletcher Phillips, finished second with a 14-pound, 13-ounce limit anchored by a sag-bellied 7-pound, 1-ounce beauty. Adding to the excitement of the siblings’ day, the big bass bit shortly before the weigh-in started.

“We had a grassline where we got a few big bites in practice when it was overcast, but because it was sunny when we blasted off, we didn’t think we could get bit so we didn’t stop there,” Griffin explained. “But as we were heading back in the afternoon, our dad (their boat captain) said, ‘You have enough time, you can stop on it.’”

“We pull up, I make three casts with a 1 1/4-ounce white/chartreuse spinnerbait with gold willow-leaf blades, hook that big fish and I was like ‘This is the one we need,’” he continued. ”We had a decent bag that was about 10 pounds, but that fish helped out our bag a whole lot.” For their Second place finished the team was offered the following scholarships: A $40,000 – ($20,000 per angler) Scholarship offer from Bethel University, a $90,000 ($45,000 per angler) scholarship offer from Kentucky Christian University and a $80,000 ($40,000 per angler) scholarship offer to Simpson University.

In total more than 60 scholarship offers were made to top teams at the event the full list of scholarship offers is below. All teams had to meet eligibility requirements of each schools program and scholarship offers.

Bethel University, $96,000.00 –

SAF’s long-time partner who has offered scholarships every year for 10 years now. Offered to the winning team 56K – (2) 28K scholarships and to the 2^nd place team a 40K – (2) 20K scholarships.

Kentucky Christian University – $1,080,000.00 as follows:

$100,000 – (2) 50K scholarship offers to the World Finals winners, $90,000 – (2) 45K scholarship offers to the 2^nd & 3^rd place team in the World Finals, $80,000 – (2) 40K scholarship offers to the 4^th -12^th place teams in the World Finals and $80,000 – (2) 40K scholarship offers to the Winners of the National Championship

Simpson University Redding Ca. – $1,620,000.00 as follows:

TOP California teams – $120,000 – (2) 60K Scholarship offers to:

• Top World Finals Team – Ryan Beaty – James Alderman – Alhambra Calif, HS Bulldogs
• Overall Combined weight – Cooper Goff – Nathan Phillips – Lake County Calif, HS

Top 5 western State teams 100,000, (2) 50K Scholarship offers

1. CA – Sam West – Sheldon Reese, Lake County HS
2. AZ – Taj White – Ethan Ryan, Phoenix HS
3. AZ- Weslee Barnes – Jacob Jones, Phoenix HS
4. ID – Kyle Mann – Cole Koenig, Lodi HS
5. CA – Justin Hurney – Tyler Hurney, Freedom HS Falcons

Additionally, Simpson University also offered the Top 10 places in the World Finals a $80,000-  (2) 40K scholarship offers  and  the Top 16 GPAs in the tournament – $5,000 Scholarship award that is stackable with any of the Simpson U awards above.

TBF & FLW also presented their annual cash scholarship offers of $12,000 & $10,000 respectively, and finally over $40,000 in prizes and sponsor giveaways were awarded at the event.

For complete results, visit HighSchoolFishing.org. The website also offers information on attending or qualifying for the 2020 High School Fishing World Finals and National Championship dual event, which is set for La Crosse, Wisconsin.

For the hundreds of event pictures check out our facebook page HERE and results are on our results page along with daily weigh in videos HERE

World’s Richest Bass Fishing Championship Event Ever Held?

Prize Purse Tops $2.7 Million For 10^th Annual High School Fishing World Finals and National Championship in 2019

The Student Angler Federation, (SAF) announced today that Student anglers will compete for a share of the record $2.7 million prize purse offered at the 10th Annual High School Fishing World Finals and National Championship dual event June 19-22 on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Ala., registration for this premier event closes Friday June 14^th.

Comprised of lucrative college scholarships, cash scholarships and an array of other prizes, the purse is the richest in High School Fishing history by far and possibly the largest ever posted in all levels of competitive bass fishing.

The payout was quickly pushed to over $1.1 million to celebrate this 10^th anniversary event. Bethel University who has supported the World Finals from its start in 2010, once again started the ball rolling with their annual scholarship offers totaling $96,000, then Kentucky Christian University (KCU) in eastern Kentucky stepped up in a big way and is offering 12 scholarships totaling $1 million dollars, including a top scholarship of $100,000. Then earlier this week, Simpson University in Redding, California, added $1.5 million in multiple scholarship offers to the pot, targeting mainly top student angler teams from the western half of the US including a $60,000 offer to the top California finishers, and more than 40 other Simpson University scholarship offers as well, pushing the total to nearly 2.6 million. All 3 of these colleges have or are building out top level college fishing teams and are working to recruit for their fishing teams.

Educational incentives don’t end there, not everyone can travel to one of these top schools for their degree and maybe some don’t want to go to college. America certainly needs well trained, well paid, technical and trades craftsmen and women as well. So, The Bass Federation (TBF) and FLW both annually offer cash scholarships. FLW offers the winning team of the National Championship portion of the dual event a $10,000 cash scholarship and advance opportunities to the BFL All-American. (If they meet age requirements) and TBF annually provides $10,000 scholarships in the World Finals portion. These scholarships ensure that no winning team goes home empty handed. Additional smaller scholarships, daily sponsor prizes for all teams, a gift for every graduating senior attending on senior night, tens of thousands in gift cards and a plethora of other daily prizes from all the event sponsors push the total purse past the $2.7 million mark.

While the payout is epic, TBF President and CEO Robert Cartlidge believes the educational opportunities trump the record dollar signs.

“This may well be the richest prize pool ever for a bass fishing championship event of any kind, anywhere in the history of the sport, but that is not what makes it a valuable event,” he said. “In our minds, as far as TBF and our partners in fishing at FLW are concerned, what makes this the richest payback anywhere has nothing to do with the dollar amount; it is because of the dozens of top-notch educational scholarships with which students will have a chance to earn post-secondary degrees. Those educations are worth more than any dollar amount anyone can put on an event.”

Produced by SAF under the TBF umbrella with support from FLW Outdoors, the popular four-day High School Fishing World Finals and National Championship dual-event format allows all anglers to compete for three full days, with a second-chance round designed to keep everyone in the game until the fourth and final day cut much like any other high school double elimination event.

The High School Fishing World Finals portion of this dual event is open to ALL SAF members world-wide so that all SAF members have a chance to earn a life changing scholarship and is expected to draw nearly 400 two-person teams from about every U.S. state, plus competitors from foreign destinations ranging from Canada to Zimbabwe. The National Championship portion of the event you must qualify for through SAF State Championships, FLW Open events and SAF sanctioned trails across the nation. This format allows friends, siblings and club team members to travel and compete together in one or two premier events with separate prize pools, in a one week long family friendly vacation all at once, with only one travel cost for the families. There is still time for any high school team to get registered and attend as registration for the World Finals event closes Friday June 14^th.

For complete details, visit HighSchoolFishing.org. You can also follow the daily action, including Facebook Live morning takeoffs and live streaming weigh-ins, at www.HighSchoolFishing.org and enjoy additional daily coverage and photos at FLWFishing.com.

About The Bass Federation

The Bass Federation Inc., (TBF) is a member of the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame. TBF is owned by those we serve and dedicated to the sport of fishing. The Federation is the largest and oldest, organized grassroots fishing, youth and conservation organization there is. TBF, our affiliated state federations and their member clubs conduct more than 20,000 events each year and have provided a foundation for the entire bass fishing industry for nearly 50 years. TBF founded the Student Angler Federation and the National High School Fishing program in 2007 to promote clean family fun and education through fishing. Visit bassfederation.com or highschoolfishing.org and “LIKE US” on Facebook. For more information about The Bass Federation, visit bassfederation.com or call 580-765-9031.

For full details and more information about the Student Angler Federation and this year’s High School World Finals, visit highschoolfishing.org or call 580-765-9031.

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