Coon & Hill Win Illinois High School State Championship on Clinton Lake

Cold temperatures and even colder winds may have kept the bite down this weekend, but not the Illinois high school anglers.   SAF anglers traveled from across the state to compete in the 2018 Illinois High School State Championship on Clinton Lake.  The top two teams advanced to the National Championship held in conjunction with the 2018 High School Fishing World Finals to be held in June 26-30 on Pickwick Lake.

First Place honors went to the team of Tyler Coon and Clayton Hill. They weighed a limit of bass for a total of 16 lbs 2 ounces.  Second Place was the Sandwich team of Garrett Beatty and Dexter Wesson who weighed in five bass for 15 lbs 15 ounces.

In third place from Peoria Notre Dame was the team of Connor Jacob and Jordan Alwah with a limit weighing 15 lbs 13 ounces.  Fourth place went to the Deer Creek Mackinaw team of Jake Golden and Caleb Hill.  Golden and Hill weighed in a limit with a total weight of 13 lbs 2 ounces.

Rounding out the top 5 was the Monticello team of Alex Orberson and Cooper Hunt. The team weighed in five fish for a total of 12 lbs 2 ounces.

 

 

 

 

Big Bass Honors went to the Red Bud team of Gavin Roche-Voss and Gavin Christiansen.  Christiansen caught the big bass that weighed 7 lbs 0 ounces.

Most fish were caught on a white spinnerbait or a crawfish colored crankbait or a black and blue jig.

FULL RESULTS

Harold & Cochran Top Record-Breaking Field on Cumberland

243 Teams Compete at 2018 Kentucky High School State Championship

A record sized crowd gathered for the SAF Kentucky High School State Championship Saturday at Burnside Island State Resort Park on Lake Cumberland.   The top 10% of the 243 boat field qualified 24 teams to advance to the 2018 High School National Championship held in conjunction with the High School Fishing World Finals this summer on Pickwick Lake.

 

When all the fish were weighed, the Madison Southern Eagle team of Blake Harold & Cameron Cochran came out on top with a healthy limit that weighed 17.7 pounds.  Second place belonged to the Rockets team of Jordan Nicely & Cameron Cornelius for their bag of 12.12 pounds.

Finishing in third was Luke Lamb & Carson Mitchell from Jessamine High School with 12.8 pounds.  Clayton Rountree & Dillon Stallings from Spencer County Bass Club and Ragan Burton & Blake Stringer from Lake Cumberland High School tied for fourth with 12.6 pounds.

The biggest bass of the day went to the George Rogers Clark team of Robert & Allen Poe when they weighed in a 5.2 pound lunker.

The best producing lure of the day was definitely a spinnerbait, slow rolled just off of the bottom.  Most anglers were fishing back in the bays in 3-6 feet of water.  Other productive baits were crawfish colored crankbaits, flukes, Ned Rigs and A-Rigs.

FULL RESULTS

TOURNAMENT PHOTOS

Tasche and Cheney Win Louisiana High School State Championship at Cross Lake

A strong field of 138 teams launched on Cross Lake this weekend for the Louisiana High School Fishing State Championship.  All teams were looking to be in the top ten percent of the field that would qualify to advance to the High School Fishing National Championship in June on Pickwick Lake.  When it was all said & done,  one team scored an 8.14 pound beauty, and it took double-digits to make the cut.

 

The South Bossier Panther team of Ethan Tasche and Hunter Cheney emerged as Champions with a limit of bass that topped the scales at 19.12 pounds.  The Loyola Flyer’s team of Blaise Chagnard and Christopher Giordano finished in the runner-up position with a nice sack weighing 17 pounds.

 

Several of the anglers were all smiles as they crossed the stage to weigh in the biggest bass of their careers.  In all, there were nine fish over 5 pounds.   The biggest one went to the team of James Rose and Gavin Roe with a giant 8.14 pounder.  The Haughton High School team locked in third place with 16.10 pounds.

Rounding out the top five teams were John Kyle Pearce and Jackson Gregory from Calvary Baptist Academy with 15.13 pounds and Landon Jinks and Noah Sistrunk from Sterling Community High School with 14.08 pounds.  It took just over ten pounds for the qualifying cut to advance to Pickwick.

Most of the anglers reported catching their fish fairly shallow mainly from 2-5 feet of water.  They were targeting standing timber, buck ball bushes and gross-lines using a variety of lures  like spinner-baits, swim-baits, senkos, flukes; mostly some type of plastic creature bait.

Next stop for the SAF High School State Championships is March 31 in Kansas and Kentucky.  Registration is open now for the 2018 High School Fishing World Finals.

Full Results

Photos