PROVO, Utah (Sept. 1, 2012) – David Ashton and Jake Beahm from Idaho’s Borah Senior High School won the High School Western Conference Championship bass fishing tournament held on Utah Lake Saturday. TBF along with FLW held the high school tournament in conjunction with the FLW College Fishing Western Conference Championship event. Borah Senior High School had two bass weighing 7 pounds, 13 ounces to beat University High School by 2 pounds, 12 ounces.
“It’s such an awesome feeling, I can’t even explain it,” said Ashton, a sophomore. “It was a six-hour drive for us to get here, and neither of us have ever fished in Utah in our lives. Jake got to get out on the lake for a few hours on Thursday, and we went out together for a few hours yesterday, but we had a terrible practice and didn’t catch anything. The two that we weighed in today were the first bass that we caught all week.”
“We caught quite a few white bass and a catfish today as well,” said Beahm, a recently graduated senior. “But when we got the big 4½-pounder, we were pretty stoked.” The young anglers fished in the marina near takeoff, throwing a Rapala crankbait and some E2 soft plastics. They credited their quality gear for their victory.
“We were using Quantum rods and reels with Gamma 10-pound test copolymer line,” said Ashton. “That was crucial for us today, because we didn’t break any fish off and we were able to land the ones that did bite. I hope that this will get some of the people at my school to get serious about bass fishing, and show them that this is a really good opportunity to come out and win a college scholarship.”
Rounding out the top five teams were:
2nd: University High School, David Slater and Nikolas Autrey, three bass, 5-1.
3rd: Woodcreek High, Tyler Bounds and Andrew Loberg, two bass, 4-0.
4th: Arizona SAF, Christian Borucki and Brandon Koon, one bass, 1-10.
5th: Utah SAF, Auston Hall and Connor Burn, zero bass, 0-0.
5th: Pine Creek High School, Trevor Carpenter and Peter Decker, zero bass, 0-0.
5th: St. Mary’s High School, Jacob Wall and Nicholas Chin, zero bass, 0-0.
Overall there were eight bass weighing 18 pounds, 8 ounces with zero five-bass limits caught by the seven teams.
High School Fishing Tournaments are open to all ninth, 10th, 11th, and 12th grade students, including home schooled students, that are members of the Student Angler Federation. The winning team from each state championship advances to a High School Fishing Conference Championship. Boats are provided upon request at all Conference Championships. The winning team from each Conference Championship will receive trophies and commemorative jerseys, and advance to the 2013 High School Fishing National Championship, held in conjunction with the FLW College Fishing National Championship in the spring.
Each member of the winning High School Fishing Championship team will receive a $5,000 scholarship to use at the University of their choice. Teams participating in the conference championships and National Championship will also receive a travel allowance to help offset their expenses. Student Angler Federation membership is $25 per year. Visit www.highschoolfishing.org for more information.