JENKINSVILLE, S.C. — The B.A.S.S. Nation Union County High School club hosted a tournament for both high school and adult anglers, Jan. 31, at Lake Monticello in South Carolina.
The tournament featured divisions for high school and adult teams.
“We had an open/invitational that we opened to the public to raise money for our Union County team,” said Mark Osborne, the Union County High School club adviser. “We had 10 boats of adults and 18 boats in the high school (competition). The students weighed in at 2 o’clock and the adults came back at 3 o’clock.”
Osborne said he was pleased with the turnout for the inaugural event.
“We had five different high schools represented, and all were from the upstate part of South Carolina,” Osborne said. The event raised $209 for the Union County high school club.
The competitors encountered warm water but frigid weather at the start of the tournament. Lake Monticello is a power plant lake with a hot-water discharge, so the water temperature was in the high 50s, according to Osborne.
“The (air) temperature was in the low 20s to start the morning and it warmed up to about 50 degrees with clear skies,” Osborne said.
Broome High School won the student competition with 10.95 pounds, followed by Daniel High School in second place with 2.42 pounds and Union County in third with 2.27 pounds. The Broome team of Hunter Buice and Josh Lawson finished as the top individual team with 6.25 pounds. Devin Fuller and Austin Manor, also of Broome, took second with 4.70 pounds, and Garrett Addis and Hoke Durham of Daniel High School finished third with 2.42.
Winners in the adult competition were Billy Messer and Junior Brock with 9.54 pounds.
The open served as one of the four South Carolina B.A.S.S. Nation High School state qualifiers for the Bassmaster High School National Championship, according to Randy Vaughn, South Carolina B.A.S.S. Nation youth director.
The invitational will become an annual event, said Osborne. For more information about next year’s tournament, call Osborne at 864-426-2736.
