HOT, HOT, HOT!  Ohio’s JR Team Grayson Goodwin and Colton Baker was on fire and showed out on the final Championship Day taking home the Win and Title of the 2023 Junior World Champions.

The 2023 Junior World Championship was held in Ponca City, OK home of the Bass Federation’s National Office. The Bass Federation celebrated its 55^th year of serving its members this year. The Presidents and Youth Directors not only came to support their home teams competing in the Junior World Championship but also for the Annual Leadership Conference and meetings. The JWC was held on the OG&E Power Plant, Sooner Lake with 52 teams competing for the title of Junior World Champions.

The 3-day event started on Wednesday morning July 26, 2023, with warmer weather a light southern breeze and gorgeous sunrise. The entire field fished the first two days in hopes to make the final top 12 cut after Day 2 weigh-in on Thursday.

Advancing to the final day, the top 2 over all teams would take the first 2 advancement spots then with the 5 separate divisions, the top 2 teams from each division represented rounded out the field leaving the Top 12 teams to compete for the Title and the prize purse of 13.5k in scholarships.

All weights were zeroed going into the final day. The Renegade Junior Bassmasters team of Grayson Goodwin and Colton Baker brought in a 5 fish limit topping the scales at 15 pounds and 8 ounces Grayson and Colton not only bested the field for the win, but the 15-pound 8-ounce bag was the heaviest bag of the entire event. The Ohio team takes home the prestige title of the Junior World Champions plus a six thousand dollar scholarship for the team.

Pennsylvania Team of Ty Magargle and Quinten Bergey had the second heaviest weight of the entire event. The very impressive 5 fish limit weighed in at 12 pounds and 8 ounces. This would land the team in second place overall. Magargle and Bergey also went home with a 1k scholarship for the team.

Coming in at third place and also securing a 1k scholarship for the team was Kade Evers and Grady Vogele from Oklahoma. Kade and Grady weighed only 3 fish on the final day but with a 3 pound average and total bag weighing 9 pounds and 3 ounces.

Indiana team of Sam Elliott and Myles Motsinger took 4th place followed by Morgan Carden and Daniel Ingram from Alabama in 5th place. These teams also won a 1k scholarship per team. 

6^th place through 12^th place all won a $500.00 scholarship per team.

6th – Caston Carden and Kamden Kiker – Alabama

7th – Kingston Bartley and Nick Rusler – Colorado

8th – Brooks Higginbotham and Rigg McCrary – Mississippi

9th – Ashton Kuchar and Keaton Kuchar – Nebraska

10th – Evan Wager and Tristan McGregor – Ontario

11th – Landon Horton and Eli Meckert – Idaho

12th – Nate Sylvestri and Hinton Carroll – Louisiana

Congratulations to all of our 2023 Junior World Qualifiers and Top 12 finalist!

We want to thank OG&E for allowing us the privilege to use the facilities in hosting the event on Sooner Lake and all of our volunteers and staff. For full results and more photos CLICK HERE

Russellville Arkansas Lake Dardanelle June 24-25. Arkansas hosted 2023 District 6 TBF National Semi Final. Dock talk among the 70 anglers during the pre-tournament meeting centered around a tough bite on the Arkansas River impoundment.

Day 1 brought clear skies and hot temperatures with a welcome breeze.
Arkansas’s Kevin Brown lead at the end of the day with a solid 15.76lb bag anchored by a 5.99lb kicker that earned big bass honors for the day on the boater side. Bradley Sullivan was the leading Oklahoma boater with 10.79lbs for second place over all. Arkansas’s Dewey Larson topped the Non-boater side with 10.46lbs. Brett Taylor was the top Oklahoma Non-boater with 7.85lbs in 4^th place. Arkansas Non-Boater Greg Dennis took the big bass honors for the day with a 3.67lb largemouth.

Day 2 weather saw temperatures reaching 100 degrees and very little breeze. Kevin Brown held on to his lead by bringing in a 9.40lb limit that brought his two day total to 25.16 lbs. Kevin will represent Arkansas boaters in the 2024 TBF National Championship. Bradley Sullivan held on to his 2^nd place spot with a 10.11lb limit. Bradley will represent Oklahoma boaters at the Championship for the 2^nd year in a row. Brett Taylor jumped into the top spot on the Non-boater side with 5.83lbs and will represent Oklahoma Non-boaters in the Championship. Dewey Larson dropped to 2^nd place over all and will represent Arkansas Non-boaters in the Championship. Arkansas boater Doug Thompson earned big bass honors for day 2 with a 4.87lb bass. Arkansas Non-boater Ray Dotson took the day 2 big bass with 4.32LB chunk.

Special shout out to Kim and Phillip Austin, Brandon Beck, Melissa Dotson and Bailey Dotson for their help running what turned out to be a very successful and smooth event. Thank you! 

2023 Junior World Championship

Heads to Oklahoma and Sooner Lake July 26-28, 2023

 PONCA CITY, OKLA. (5/12/2023) – The Bass Federation Inc. (TBF) announced today that the 2023 TBF Junior World Championship (JWC) is set for July 26-28 on Sooner Lake south of Ponca City, Oklahoma and home of the Federation’s National office.

The 2023 JWC includes a two-person team format and three days of competition, launching just south of the Oklahoma Gas and Electric power plant (OG&E) that owns and operates Sooner Lake, teams will take the field from the HWY 15 west launch ramp.

The TBF Junior program includes all angler’s 8^th grade and under at the time they qualified through their home state’s Junior program. Only the top percentile of Junior teams from each state’s sanctioned programs are qualified and invited to attend and compete for their share of well over $12,000 in scholarships and prizes. Registration for qualified teams only will open May 31 at www.Bassfederation.com and close July 5.

Historically, the Junior World Championship (JWC) is held in conjunction with the Federation’s Annual State Leadership Conference for 2023, in celebrating the federations 55^th year since the first federation club was formed it will be hosted with the 2023 JWC in Ponca City, Oklahoma. The Annual TBF State Leadership Conference invites 49 TBF affiliated state federations in the US and Canada to send state official(s) to attend meetings on fishing, youth and conservation items, strategic planning, educational sessions, as well as annual elections of TBF National Directors.

“We welcome the TBF Junior anglers, State Leaders and their families from across north America to our hometown of Ponca City for this week-long array of events.” Stated TBF Federation National President Robert Cartlidge. “We have never held an event from the home of the Federation and thought it would be a great place to hold our annual convention celebrating 55 years and the 2023 JWC as it is very centrally located, the fish on Sooner Lake will keep the young anglers busy and it is a unique fishing location in this part of the US. There certainly will be no home lake advantage as it is doubtful any of the junior contenders or their parents/boat captains have ever fished the lake so it is anyone’s to win.”

Sooner Lake is kind of a local “favorite” owned and managed by the Oklahoma Gas and Electric company (OG&E) as a power plant cooling water lake, it is well managed, full of grass, weeds, rip rap, standing timber, offshore fishing and more. Access is provided by OG&E for the public’s use. Spring time events can turnout multiple 8 pound plus bass on Sooner Lake and by end of July for the JWC grass beds should be topped out.  Sooner Lake can be very deceiving at first glance but it holds a lot of fish and over 40 miles of shoreline if the young anglers can figure them out. It is located in Oklahoma so the wind may play a factor as well.

Many of today’s top pro anglers started in the TBF Junior program.  A few examples are; Jacob Wheeler (IN) fished the 2006 JWC; Shane Lehew (NC) won the 2007 JWC, and 2017 Forrest Wood Cup winner Justin Atkins (MS) in the 2008 JWC.  More recently, 2020 TBF Federation National Champion Living The Dream angler Lance Freeman (KY) started out by fishing his home states Junior program in Kentucky and many more.

About The Bass Federation – The Bass Federation Inc., (TBF) is a member of the Freshwater Fishing Hall of Fame and headquartered out of Ponca City, Oklahoma. TBF is owned by those we serve and dedicated to the sport of fishing. The Federation is the largest and oldest, organized grassroots fishing, youth, and conservation organization there is. TBF, our affiliated state federations, and their member clubs conduct more than 20,000 events each year and have provided a foundation for the entire bass fishing industry for 55 years. TBF founded the Student Angler Federation and the National High School Fishing program in 2007 to promote clean family fun and education through fishing. Visit bassfederation.com or highschoolfishing.org and “LIKE US” on Facebook.

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