Clarksville, Va. –– The top two finishing teams from the Virginia B.A.S.S. Nation High School/Youth State Championship will be heading to the Costa Bassmaster High School National Championship this summer at Kentucky Lake.
The state championship held April 16-17 at Buggs Island drew 34 teams of high school and middle school anglers. “We basically run two tournaments at that event with what we call the varsity (high school anglers) and the junior varsity (middle school anglers),” said Becky Gore, Virginia B.A.S.S. Nation youth director.
Orange County High School anglers Nolan Minor and Ethan Stone won the varsity competition by throwing spinnerbaits to catch 10 bass weighing 27.70 pounds. Second-place finishers Ben Leblanc and Zac Fones of the Frederick County Bass Wranglers used wacky-rigged soft plastics on drop shots to catch 10 bass totaling 24.80 pounds.
“The fishing was awesome,” Gore said. “Of all of my years in being involved (with junior tournaments) since 1999 we have never had a state championship where so many kids caught their limits.”
In the junior varsity competition, Kale Carr won the event with eight fish weighing 12.66 pounds, while Haden Hedrick finished second with nine bass totaling 10 pounds. Carr and Hedrick qualified for the Junior Bassmaster Championship on Carroll County Lake in Kentucky.
Helping Gore run the championship were Virginia Nation officers Steve Woodroof (vice president) and Pam Bryant (secretary).
