SEVIERVILLE, Tenn. (March 12, 2018) – The Karns High School duo of Josh Lee and Mason Cizek, both of Knoxville, Tennessee, brought a five-bass limit to the scale Saturday weighing 17 pounds, 13 ounces to win the 2018 FLW High School Fishing Douglas Lake Open tournament. The win advanced the team to the 2018 High School Fishing National championship, held June 26-30, on Pickwick Lake in Florence, Alabama.
A field of 42 teams competed in the no-entry fee tournament, which launched from Mountain Cove Marina in Sevierville. In FLW/TBF High School Fishing competition, the top 10-percent of teams competing advance to the High School Fishing National Championship.
The top four teams on Douglas Lake that advanced to the 2018 High School Fishing National Championship were:
1st: Karns High School, Knoxville, Tenn. – Josh Lee and Mason Cizek, both of Knoxville, Tenn., five bass, 17-13
2nd: Elizabethton High School, Elizabethton, Tenn. – Blaine Poiroux and Hunter McClaskey, both of Elizabethton, Tenn., five bass, 13-8
3rd: Sullivan East High School, Bluff City, Tenn. – Braden Perry and Justin Potts, both of Bluff City, Tenn., five bass, 13-8
4th: Hazard High School, Hazard, Ky. – Kaden Hillman, Hazard, Ky., and Jacob Frazier, Cornettsville, Ky., five bass, 12-14
Rounding out the top 10 teams were:
5th: Gilmer High School, Ellijay, Ga. – Caleb Waddell and Grant Ledford, both of Ellijay, Ga., five bass, 11-15
6th: Southwest Virginia Junior Anglers – Matthew Gobble, Abingdon, Va., and Reed Samuel, Bristol, Va., five bass, 11-14
7th: Lake Cumberland Bass Club – Austin Bray and Jackson Lockard, both of Somerset, Ky., five bass, 11-8
8th: Lake Cumberland Bass Club – Jackson Prather and Seth Bennett, both of Somerset, Ky., five bass, 11-4
9th: Cornerstone Christian Academy, Shelbyvile, Ky. – Doug Jesse, Shelbyville, Ky., and Jake Thornbury, Finchville, Ky., five bass, 10-3
10th: Lake Cumberland Bass Club. – Blake Stringer and Ragan Burton, both of Somerset, Ky., five bass, 10-2