Southmont, NC
Long time State Youth Director Bob Bauer chose to return to the 3-time BASS Master Classic site of High Rock Lake for the 2023 State Championship for the North Carolina BASS High School and Junior Series. That decision proved to fruitful as far as fishing and catching nice bags of healthy largemouth bass. The cut-off weight for the Top 20 doubled from the same tournament held two years ago. This shows that both the anglers’ abilities and the fish are growing in a positive direction.
After the boats were checked in, the announcements were made followed by the playing of the national anthem for the 74 teams battling for the two State Championships. The blast-off was under partly cloudy skies to start of tournament day one. All the young women and men anglers took off in search of big, healthy largemouth which High Rock Lake is known for. At the end of the day, one of the fourteen Junior Series teams would be crowned State Champions and three would earn invitations to the National Championship.
Near the end of the first day, the team from Lancaster Academy would stir the crowd dropping an impressive 5-fish limit of 16.93 pounds on the crowd. This easily won them the Junior Series State Championship, but also was the heaviest bag on day one! The brothers from Enfield, NC left with big smiles and the 1st place plaques, the Earnhardt Foundation $500 scholarship, the Woods to Water cash ($200) and Skyline Marine/Shimano $100 gift certificates. More importantly they had won their first State Championship and double qualifying them for the National Championship.
Finishing in second was the McDowell County Team of Carson Buchanan and Zach Ramsey. They had four fish that weighed 12.99 pounds winning them $100 of Woods to Water cash, and Academy Gift Cards! They also earned a berth to the Nationals! And in third place, the Bandy’s team of Tyler Nelson and Seth Harrell punched their ticket to Nationals with their 5-fish limit weighing in at 12.37 pounds. Since Team Lancaster had already qualified for Nationals, fourth place became rally important since that position would also receive an invitation. The Stanly County duo of Logan Eudy and Brody Clontz secured their berth to Nationals with their 10.84-pound limit!
On day one of the High School (60 teams) Division, the points champions Ty Allison and Brayden Padgett dropped a 14.49-pound limit on the scales for the early lead. RoCo Anglers Chance Mako and Karsen Simpson nearly caught them with 14.25 pounds, but they only had four fish. One of the four was a giant 6.63 pound largemouth which tied for the big bass of the tournament! A dead fish penalty cost the Warrior Bass Anglers team of Tristan Ward and Mikey Miller the lead when their 15.30 total weight was topped by the Fuquay Varina team of Grady Stanly and Kieran Stephenson. Brady and Kieran led the high school division after day one with 15.37 pounds anchored by the other big bass (6.63 pounds). With the top 20 cut off weight at 10.76 pounds, this tournament was up for grabs for lots of teams who could go out on day 2 and have a great day!
At the day two weigh in, things were kind of quiet for awhile with teams weighing indecent bags but nothing outstanding. Simpson and Make led by bringing in 12.03 pound for a two-day total of 26.28 pounds. The excitement got started when the Bandy’s team of John Luke Foster and Carter Simmons dropped 16.38 pounds on the scales to grab the lead. Their 27.43 pounds came under assault by two time defending champion Garrett Christy and his partner Cayden Moore. The RoCo anglers made a nice run, but there would not be three straight titles for Christy. Their 16.37 pounds and two day total of 27.35 was just short of the Bandy’s team.
Sitting in second place after day one, Tristen Ward and Mikey Miller caught a 13.16-pound limit which was good enough to knock Team Bandy’s off the hot seat. But lurking in the weigh-in line were points champions Allison and Padgett and the first day leaders from Fuquay. First up were Ty and Brayden who dropped 15.52 pounds on the stage to take the lead with a two-day total of over 30 pounds! They were definitely happy with their catch, but not overly excited because they said the special day catch was yet to come. Grady and Kieran asked to weigh two big fish which were only one-hundredth apart in weight (the biggest was 5.49 pounds), and holding three more nice fish, it was obvious they had a great day on the water. The crowd saved its biggest applause for last because their five fish limit hit the scales at 19.77 pounds! Their two-day total of 35.14 pounds is the largest we have seen and will be difficult to surpass. Congrats to our new State Champions: Kieran Stephenson and Grady Stanley
They took home the high school champions plaques, the Earnhardt Foundation $1000 scholarship, the Woods to Water cash prize ($300), Water Wood Custom Baits, and Shimano gift certificates from Skyline Marine plus the Big Bag plaque and Academy gift cards! And they received a berth to the National Championship at Lake Hartwell in July.
Points Champions/2nd Place in State Championship
Points Champions Allison and Padgett had already secured a berth to Nationals, but still left with another great finish and with the second-place plaques, Woods to Water cash ($200) Water Wood Custom Baits, and a Shimano gift certificates from Skyline Marine. Finishing in third place was the Warrior Bass team of Ward and Miller. For their two-day total, they received the third-place plaques, Woods to Water cash ($100), Academy gift cards, and Water Wood Custom Baits.
Foster and Simmons of Bandy’s took home fourth place. They received the fourth-place plaques and Academy gift cards. Rounding out the top five was the RoCo Anglers team of Christy and Moore who again used spinnerbaits to land the 5th place plaques and Academy gift cards for their two-day total. Places 6-10 also were rewarded with gift cards from Academy. It is worth noting that both the Bandy’s team and the RoCo teams received berths to the National Championship thru the points championship. Joining them from the West Division will be another RoCo team of Hunter Alexander and Chase Wodzinski. From the East Division, RoCo Anglers Traydun Freeze and Austin Hayes will join the Rocky Mount Academy anglers Cason Price and Gabe Winham in representing North Carolina at Nationals.
To wrap everything up, we’d like to thank all of our sponsors and volunteers for making this tournament and all our tournaments possible: Bryan Moore, Todd Bare, Deanna Garmon, Academy Outdoors, Skyline Marine, Shimano Fishing, Water Wood Custom Baits, Woods to Water Outdoor Company, and the Dale Earnhardt Foundation. A special thanks goes out to Jeremy Bogard of Skyline Marine, Marcos Malucelli of Water Wood Custom Baits, and Todd Hammond of Woods to Water Outdoor Company. Without you support we would not be able to do what we do. Thank you!
