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

McCoy & Harrelson Win High School Event on Lake Lanier

It was a good weekend for High School Fishing at Gainesville, Georgia this past weekend.  Georgia Independent Christian Athletic Association (GICAA) had a qualifying event on Lake Lanier on Saturday, and then the Student Angler Federation (SAF) had a Georgia High School Fishing State Championship event on Sunday.  Both events launched out of the impressive Laurel Park Facility.

State Champs from Mount Paran Christian School Mason McCoy and Marshall Harrelson

The Mount Paran Christian School team of Mason Mccoy and Marshall Harrelson claimed the victory and the title with a limit of fish weighing 18-07 pounds.  Finishing second was Matthew Mccannon and Carson Childs from the County Line Fishing team with a good sack that weighed 15-08 pounds.  Rounding out the top three teams was Elijah Benson and Justin Butler from Dawson High School with 14-13 pounds.  With a total of sixty-seven teams participating, we were able to qualify six teams to move on to the National Championship that is coming up on June 18-22 at McFarland Park in Florence, AL.

The last three teams to qualify were Brooks Anderson and David Britt from Mount Bethel Christian Academy with 14-09 pounds, Brayden Milling and Johnathan Harris From Ringgold High School with 14-01 pounds and the North Forsyth Raiders team of Jacob Brown and Ryan McClendon with 14-00 pounds.

2nd Place team Runner up state champs, Matthew McCannon and Carson Childs

With the warmer temperatures and driving rain, most teams were able to catch their fish fairly shallow on Sunday.  Several teams reported catching fish on a Shaky Head in about five feet of water along with a spinnerbait, rattletrap and a small crankbait.  While other anglers ventured out into waters between ten to twelve feet deep to catch fish on soft plastics, jigs and swimbaits.  Despite the pouring rain the crowd was impressive and umbrellas were abundant during the weigh in.

For full tournament results and to see all the photos of a ton of huge spotted bass that Lake Lanier has to offer, Check out the results page !

The North Carolina State Championship was held on Shearon Harris Lake in New Hill, NC. This lake is known for producing heavy bags of largemouth bass. However, with a cold front lingering over the state for several days, the fishing was going to be tough. The day started off with 38 teams in the cold rain. Thankfully, the winds were light but out of the east. Everyone arrived in warm clothes covered in rain suits ready for the challenge.

Teams gathered around in their boats for the blastoff and were ready to fish. After the rules and the national anthem, boats blasted off in 3 different flights. Hours passed and we started getting reports that no teams were catching any fish. Some teams called it a day due to the cold temperatures and rain. By the end of the tournament, only nine teams were able to successfully put fish in their live-wells. As the anglers started to check in their fish, we could tell it was obviously going to be low numbers of bass but good quality. The third place team of Trent Lawson and Aaron Shumaker weighed in 1 fish at 6.54lbs.  The second place team of Harrison McCall and Carson Palmer weighed in 2 bass at 6.65lbs and first place was won by Konner Kinlaw and Corbin Yow with 2 bass at the weight of 6.78lbs.

Konner and Corbin attend Union Pines High School in Cameron, NC and are both freshman. They were able to take first place by throwing square bill crankbaits in 3ft of water in the back of coves during the middle part of the day. Being the first time as a team, these young men along with their boat captain Derek Kinlaw did a great job and we congratulate them for winning the North Carolina SAF State Championship!