Susquehanna Valley Team Wins First Bassmaster High School Championship
OutdoorHub 07.21.14
With tears in their eyes and smiles on their faces, the Susquehanna Valley team of Garrett Enders and Nick Osman hoisted the championship trophy into the air. The Pennsylvania anglers outlasted 59 high school teams to take home the inaugural Bassmaster High School Championship presented by Carhartt trophy.
With a Day 3 weight of 7 pounds, 4 ounces, they sat in second place and were in prime position to take over the lead on the final day of competition. Using a weightless wacky rigged Senko, Enders and Osman caught four more keepers Saturday, and their Day 4 weight of 4 pounds, 11 ounces was just enough to hold off the hard-charging anglers from Benton, Ill., who jumped six places to finish second.
“It’s amazing, I mean honestly I’m still speechless, and it probably won’t sink in for a few weeks,” Osman said. “We worked so hard to get here, and it paid off. We are champions.”
Enders and Osman didn’t have an easy final day whatsoever as they were in the penalty box early Saturday morning. A 30-minute penalty was accessed to the team after they failed to promptly take their mandatory halftime break at 9:30 a.m. on Day 3. Seven minutes later they realized what had happened and took the 15-minute halftime break.
After their 30-minute penalty, the Susqehanna Valley team launched and headed straight for the Carroll County 1,000-acre Recreational Lake dam. Once they arrived at the dam they fished up and down the rocky banks with their weightless wacky rigged Senko, which they threw on spinning tackle.
For their victory, Enders and Osman received $4,000 ($2,000 per angler) in scholarship funds from B.A.S.S. They were also offered $20,000 scholarships (over four years), if they attend Bethel University.
The second place team of Dailus Richardson and Trevor McKinney of Benton High School were a force to be reckoned with this week, as the Illinois anglers were the Day 1 and 2 leaders from Kentucky Lake.
McKinney and Richardson came back to the scales on Day 3 with just three fish for 5 pounds, 3 ounces, moving them into the final day in eighth place.
“I’m a flipper, and I really like to flip a lot,” McKinney said. “But we didn’t do that until 11 o’clock on Day 3, and that cost us.”
The Benton High School team flipped creature baits into flooded timber to catch their 6-pound, 5-ounce limit on the final day. The duo received $2,000 ($1,000 each) in scholarships from B.A.S.S., as well as $1,000 from Triton. For their Day 1 efforts on Kentucky Lake, the anglers received $1,000 courtesy of Mud Hole for their Heavyweight Bag of 20 pounds,14 ounces.
The third place team of Blake Albertson and Evan Wheeler of B Town Bassers in Indiana received $1,500 ($750 each from B.A.S.S. and $1,000 from Yamaha.
Zeke Gossett and Hayden Bartee of Pell City High School in Alabama climbed from 10th to fourth to take home $1,500 in scholarships from B.A.S.S.
The fifth through 10th place teams all received $1,000 ($500 each) in B.A.S.S. scholarships.
Jack Garner received the Carhartt Big Bass for the week after he brought a 7-pound, 4-ounce Kentucky Lake largemouth to the scales. The angler from the Douglass Indians fishing team received a $1,250 scholarship courtesy of Carhartt.
The local hosts for the event are Paris-Henry County, Carroll County, Northwest Tennessee Tourism and Bethel University.
