10 Finalists to Vie for HSF Crown
Georgia’s Culpepper, Waddell lead the way on Pickwick
A balanced field of 10 two-angler teams from around the country will square off Friday on Pickwick Lake in the final round of the 2017 High School Fishing National Championship.
Heading the list is Harris County High School of Georgia, whose two-day total is 36 pounds, 9 ounces. The team of Mason Waddell and Cal Culpepper had a limit weighing 17-07 on day one and followed it with a second limit of 19-02 Thursday. They lead both the National Championship and the World Finals, which run concurrently. Parker Maples and Daniel McAfee of the North Mississippi Student Anglers trail in second in the World Finals with 36-03. The Mississippi duo’s bid for the championship was bolstered Thursday by the tournament’s biggest stringer, a 21-pound, 15-ounce sack. Another Georgia team, Dalton Tankersley and Zack Nicholson of Fannin County High School, goes into the National Championship title round in second place at 34-02, and is in third in the World Finals.
While the National Championship is being contested on Friday, the rest of the 330 teams involved will be vying for spots in Saturday’s High School Fishing World Finals Championship. It pits the top 10 from the National Championship against the top 10 from a Consolation Round, the top 10 from the World Finals State Qualifying Round plus one fortunate contestant whose name will be drawn Friday evening at The Bass Federation’s pizza party. In all, 31 anglers will compete Saturday for the World Finals crown.
Thursday’s fishing was more or less a duplicate of the opening round, with most anglers trying to entice ledge bass – with mixed results. Among the lucky ones was Kyle Roy of the Russell County, Ky., High School Fishing Team. Around midday, he was cranking a ledge in the main lake when a 9-pound, 11-ounce largemouth latched onto his lure. It’s the biggest fish caught thus far, and is likely to keep that designation.
Waddell and Culpepper have caught most of their fish on crankbaits during the event, and aren’t likely to switch now. The ledges from Florence to the Pickwick Landing Dam were peppered with boats on day two, though there were a few exceptions. Hunter Harwood and Paiton File of the East Rowan, N.C., Mustangs managed to reach seventh place in the semi-final round of the National Championship by flipping docks with jigs and soft plastics.
Waddell of Georgia and Hunter Davis of Arkansas add a touch of celebrity to the National Championship’s finale. Waddell is the son of Michael Waddell, host of a popular TV hunting show, while Davis, whose Mt. Ida, Ark., Lions is currently in fourth place, is the son of Bassmaster Classic winner and former B.A.S.S. Angler of the Year Mark Davis. The elder Davis is also the Mt. Ida team’s boat captain.
Friday’s weigh-in will begin at 1:30 p.m. at Florence’s McFarland Park.