383 teams 1,149 contestants including the boat captains, from 40 separate US states plus 2 teams from Canada and 2 teams from Zimbabwe, Africa arrived in the most centrally located World Finals ever held. The 16th Annual High School Fishing World Finals & combined National Championship, was held in Grove, Oklahoma on Grand Lake O’ the Cherokees. The World finals in its 16th year has been the longest annual event for High School anglers giving them the opportunity to further their careers in the sport of fishing. With nearly 4MM in scholarship offers and prizes on the line, it is a great opportunity for the High School teams to build resumes and obtain their collegiate goals. Also, on the scene in the form of trade schools is our tech schools that are here and offering some great opportunities and scholarship opportunity for those students not interested in attending college.
The city of Grove rolled out the red carpet for our teams from all over the World that called Grove, OK home, for a week. With the 16th Annual High School Fishing World Finals & National Championship rolling into town, we more than doubled the city’s population for a few days.
Sunday June the 22nd was the first Official day of practice with waters still rising and nearly 8 ft high made it challenging for the anglers to get in the water. GRDA expected the waters to crest on Monday mid-day and planned to start dropping those levels by the opening day of the tournament.
With waters still around 6 ft high giving us 4 open ramps for the first day all went well. Day one and the anglers are off 233 National qualified teams competing for the top ten spots on Friday competing for the National championship honors, and for those top 10 teams that streamlines them straight to the World Finals Championship and a shot at both titles. With the combining of the National Championship along side the World Finals this prevents teams and families from being sent home if they do not make the cut on day 2. The format is more predictable, and our members, teams and families understand and can make plans for the week regardless of how the teams perform.
On Wednesday, Day 1 of the joint World Finals & National Championship, 383 total teams took to the field in search of the 3 biggest fish for their bags and advancement opportunity. With the higher waters this opened the doors for much more fishable waters bushes, back yards, trees, and structure that the fish had moved up in with the rising waters. Day one and the flights have started coming in what an exciting first day, weights were good, better than expected with the World Finals top weights setting the bar very high was Weston Bouchikas-Luke Hoskinson at 14-pounds 15-ounces, top National team topping the scale at 15-pounds 12-ounces went to Cooper Moon and Carson Holbert. 2nd highest National Team Jackson Roumbanis-Lawson Lewis with 14-pounds 13-ounces and the 3rd highest National Team was Will Powel-Deacon Shelby with 14-pounds 11-ounces. These top teams set a standard that would play strong throughout the week. The day 1 weights top the chart on Grand Lake. Better than a 4-pound 6-ounce average between the top weights on the first day of competition. Team Adams of South Carolina topped the scale for the Lew’s big fish of the day 1 weigh-in at 6-pounds 12—ounces.
Thursday, Day 2, Cut day of the event day 2 weigh-ins brings the National Championship to a close for all but 10 teams that remain. Since we track every National Team with 2 sets of computers they simply roll straight over into the appropriate category of the World Finals based on the first 2 days weights combined. National teams are trying to make the top ten cut, World Finals teams are trying to make the top 2 from each state, the Semi Finals for day 3. All remaining teams not making the cut will continue day 3 in the Second Chance round.
Day 2 weigh-in is no surprise with even better weights than Day 1 the teams are figuring out patterns that are consistent and working at the scales. GA team of Cooper Moon-Carson Holbert has an impressive day 2 weight of 14-pounds 6-ounces pushing them over the thirty-pound mark with 2 days weights with 6 fish. Multiple teams broke the 25 pound threshold with 2 days of weights. Day 2 Lew’s Big Fish was a 6-pound 2-ounce Lunker earning the team of Carson Mowdy and Colton Stewart a set of Lew’s reels for their efforts.
Day 3 Judgement Day, a full field in three very separate tournaments, all take to the water in pursuit of advancing on to the World Finals Championship on the Final day. Only the top 10 teams remain in the National Championship and are competing for the National Title. All top ten National Teams advance to the World Finals Championship. Taking home the win in the National Championship would be Cartersville, GA team Cooper Moon – Carson Holbert with a huge 44-pounds and 1-ounce 9 fish total.
The semifinals teams from 40 states 2 from Canada and 2 teams from Zimbabwe all go out with a brand-new tournament all weights have been zeroed and the top 10 teams from this division also will advances to the World Finals Championship on the final day. Top honors from the Semi Finals Bracket went to a team from Maryland Luke Pappas and partner from Kansas Kelby Conrady with a great day bringing 14-pounds 7-ounces. The Lew’s daily big fish went to one of our Second-Chance teams of Tyler Johnson-Brice Heller with a 6-pound 7-ounce Grand Lake Large mouth. All three days of the tournament big fish winners each earned a set of Lew’s Reels from our partner Lew’s & Strike King.
Once the top ten teams from the semifinals have been pulled the remaining teams regardless of semi-finals or from the second-chance round are listed by heaviest day’s catch to the least. Those next 10 heaviest bags of fish will also join the top ten from Nationals and the top ten teams from the semifinals. This will give us the top 30 teams advancing to the World Finals Championship on the final day. With incoming weather, the Pizza Party was cut short and the Bass Pro Shops Lucky Dog drawing was ushered in early with multiple teams being drawn before the OK team of Todd Akers-Barrett Tooman of Metro Christian was selected and present for the honors of the final day 31st place.
Day 4 top 30 teams plus a Bass Pro Shops Lucky Dog team all prepare for the World Finals Championship. For the final day and the title of World Finals Champion all weights are zeroed and it is a brand-new day the camera crews are interviewing the twilight of a new day is coming with hopes and expectations of a World Finals Trophy and the honors. With 3.8MM of scholarship offers for the field the odds are pretty good. Take off is under way, teams head to their spots, have they saved enough fish for a fourth day? Only time will tell. The first flight starts coming in as the crowd of anxious family members await their teams coming to the scales.
Ready to crown a World Finals Champion
As the weigh in approaches its end with all 31 teams bringing in a 3 fish limit, the Semifinals team from California, So-Cal Bass Anglers top the scale weighing in an impressive 15-pounds 2-ounce bag of fish giving the California team the Trophies, the title, and multiple Scholarship offers from some of the top colleges and Universities across the Nation. Our 2025 World Finals Champion team is Chase Sweetman and Hagen Cox. Congratulations on a well-deserved victory. The duo came into the 4-day event as a national team but fell short of the cut line on Thursday, however they battled their way back through the Semifinals onto a victory the final day.
2nd Place also from the Semifinals goes to the Oklahoma team of Owasso Prep Academy Colson Hayes and partner Cade Shaffer the pair had 12-pounds and 12-ounces.
3rd Place staying on the top bracket all week long was a National team from Louisiana team making the top ten list and competing for the National title on Friday and doing it all again on the final day competing for the World Finals honors. The Haughton High team of Carsen Adcock partnered with Colton Arnold would take third place with 12-pounds 8-ounces.
4th place from Kentucky went to Miles Allen-Ethan Roths the KY team weighed in at 11-pounds 15-ounces.
5th place went to Texas team Carson Mowdy-Colton Stewart with 11-pounds 14-ounces.
All 31 teams each received plaques for their efforts besting the 383-boat field and making the World Finals Championship on the final day. The top ten teams all received awards and gifts for both the boat captains and the team. Congratulation to our Top 31!
On behalf of the Student Angler Federation and all our Fishing Families we want to extend a huge thank you to the city of Grove, Oklahoma, and the surrounding communities for a heartfelt welcome.
A special thanks to
Brent Malone CTB Director, CTB Assistant Jeff Lovelady, the Convention & Tourism Bureau
Jerry Bohannan with Emergency Management and his staff, VIPS.
Chief, Mike Reed Fire Dept. Grove
And our volunteers at the ramp and with parking in the mornings, the Grove Rotary club
For a complete set of results CLICK HERE. Remember for all your photos, you can find those on Student Angler Federation (SAF) High School Fishing Face Book. Like us and share.
