The Bass Federation of South Carolina hosted their Youth programs state championship on Lake Murray on May 19th. In all there were 98 young anglers from 17 schools and clubs from all around SC. at Dreher Island State Park ready to compete.
TBF is affiliated with FLW Outdoors and has been working with DNR of SC to expand the Juniors program to include school clubs. Lorianne Riggin of DNR and Roxanne Coleman of Berkley were on hand and were presented with certificates of appreciation by TBF of SC for all their help.
Two Juniors State Champions would be decided at this tournament, one in the 11-14 age group and one from the 15-18 group. They will go onto The Juniors World Championship sponsored by The National Guard at Lake Lanier, Ga. later this year and compete for $5000 in scholarship money. Also the club with the heaviest weight for their team of 6 would be crowned as State Champion Club and display the Champions Trophy for the coming year.
For the second year Berkley Products and Abu Garcia were our major sponsors and provided rod & reel combinations for all the winners as well as cash gift cards. They also very generously provided gift bags of baits and line and had t-shirts made for all commemorating the event. We also would like to thank Herndon Chevrolet and Sportsman’s Warehouse for their support.
In the end it would come down to this. The Juniors State Champion in the 11-14 age group was Tanner Lindler of Lexington with 4 bass weighing in at 7.84 lbs. Tanner has been a member of Saint Andrews Jr. Bass Anglers since he was old enough and in now a young veteran to our tournaments. Tanner is quickly becoming an expert “shakey head “worm fisherman.
In the 15-18 group Clayton Lowder 16 of Mayesville with a 5 bass limit of 14.30 lbs. Also starting fishing at a very young age, Clayton is a member of Santee Jr. Bass Club. Clayton says his favorite technique is top water. Both received $500 checks from TBF of SC to help with their expenses to the World Championship.
The winning team honors would go to Saint Andrews Jr. Bass Anglers. Team members include Kyle Black, Chris Blanchette, Tanner Lindler, 
Michael Dial, Shane Cantley and David Bradley. They had a culmative total weight of 45.21 lbs. All were awarded rod & reels from Abu Garcia as well as cash gift cards from Berkley.
The second place team was Mid-Carolina Junior Anglers with a weight of 27.11 lbs. They all received gift cards donated by Sportsman’s Warehouse.
There were also Big Bass honors to be celebrated. They would be, with a 5.28 largemouth Jacob Gray(11-14) of Abbeville. Michael Morris (15-18) with his 4.96 lb. lunker. They also received rod & reel combos as well as plaques for their achievement.
This was only the second year for this event run in combination with the school program. In only that time it has tripled in size of participants. We would like to thank all of our supporters as well as the boat captains that volunteered their time and use of their boats for the day. We are looking forward to next year already.
For more information about The Bass Federation and our programs please visit www.tbfofsc.com and www.bassfederation.com
