Louisiana State Championship goes to Acosta & Capdeboscq at Toledo Bend

We enjoyed a beautiful weekend down in Louisiana for the 2019 Louisiana High School State Championship at Cypress Bend Park at Toledo Bend.  The student anglers turned out in good numbers as 108 teams from all across Louisiana were trying to qualify for the upcoming National Championship event at Florence, AL on June 18-22, 2019.

The Northlake Christian High School team of Sam Acosta and Christopher Capdeboscq turned in an impressive limit that tipped the scales at 25-09 pounds.

Right behind them was another sizable limit of 23-15 pounds from Matthew Williams and Austin Williams from Rosepine High School.

Finishing in third place was the Ouichita Christian High School team of Garrett Folds and Dylan Curtis with 23-02 pounds.

The Big Bass of the event went to Shawn Nugent and Trenton Contario with a big 8 pound 15 ounce bucketmouth.  They received two Lew’s Reels for their catch.

In a rare occasion, nearly every team we talked to, were catching their fish shallow.  A wide variety of baits were all producing nice bags of fish, as it took over 15 pounds to finish in the top ten teams.  Spinnerbaits, swimbaits, flukes, trickworms, jigs and square bill crankbaits all were factors in catching bass at Toledo Bend.  Most anglers were fishing around the flooded timber, grass lines, docks and rocky banks in anywhere from 2-6 feet of water.

For full results or to see the pictures from this event check out the results page.

Trace Palmer & Kooper King Win State Championship in Utah.

The Student Anglers from Utah has a great tournament at Sand Hollow Resort in St George Utah on March 23, 2019. Champions were Trace Palmer and Kooper King 2 nd place was Matagi Faavale and Payton Land and 3rd Place was Adam and Nathan Barber. Overall almost all participating caught there 5 fish limit. It was a great day of fishing. Big fish was caught by Kooper King and weighed 3lbs3oz.

Franklin & Campbell Win Bass Pro Shops/Cabela’s Early Bird Open

The Bass Pro Shops/ Cabela’s Early Bird Open was held at Lake Hartwell in Anderson, South Carolina and teams from eight different states showed up to compete.  A strong field of seventy-eight teams  from 8 states came to try and qualify for the High School National Championship at Pickwick on June 18-22, 2019.  The water was still up from recent rains but with the temperatures in the upper sixties, that made for some good shallow water fishing.

Interestingly enough, out of our top seven teams, not one single team has ever been to the World Finals or the National Championship event.  They are in for a great time at Florence, AL and will meet numerous kids from all over the country and will make friends that will last a lifetime.

Taking top honors was the Franklin County High School team of Tyler Campbell and Joe Mitchell.  They limited out with five bass that weighed 17-13 pounds.  Dorman High School teams took second and third place finishes from the teams of Austin Tucker and Connor Hatchett with 16-06 pounds and Dakoda Morton and Nick Saliba with 14-00 pounds.

Rounding out the rest of the seven qualifying teams were Trenton Swygert and Ashton Caughman from Batesburg Leesville in fourth place with 13-13 pounds.  Fifth place went to Caleb Hudson and Matthew Frey of Greenbrier High School with 12-15 pounds.  Sixth place belonged to Max Heaton and Tallis Morrison from the Georgia High School Fishing Team with 12-04 pounds. Then seventh place was Collin Williams and Fisher Faulkner from Clarks Hill Youth Fishing Team with 12-00 pounds.

As always, many different patterns and baits were used to get the bass to bite.  Most anglers said they fished in about 3-8 feet of water to catch their fish.  Many of the anglers were fishing around rocky points and chunk rock banks, while others were fishing around trees and bushes, since the water was a little high.  Baits like a Shaky Head, spinnerbait, square bill crankbait, rattletrap and Flukes were all popular baits.  Still yet, a few teams focused their effort in deeper water between 12-20 feet of water and used a Drop-Shot, Jigs and 6XD crankbaits to catch their fish.

To see the full results from this event and for all the photos from this event  check out the results page HERE