PARIS, Tenn. >> It was a tough day on the water for the 250 two-man teams, including Lake County’s Cooper Goff and Sheldon Reese, competing in the Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster High School Series National Championship at Kentucky Lake in Paris, Tennessee.
While five-fish limits were the exception rather than the rule on Thursday, the team of Wes Rollo and Hunter Owens of Natchitoches Central High School in Natchitoches, Louisiana, grabbed the first-round lead with a five-fish limit of 19 pounds, 11 ounces. Most of the teams weighing in on Thursday brought only one or two fish to the weigh scale.
The Goff-Reese team weighed in only one fish, a 4-pound, 15-ounce bass caught by Goff. That was good enough to put them in 124th place, an indications of just how tough the fishing conditions were on Thursday.
Goff-Reese qualified for the national championship by winning the Bassmaster Western Open in late May on Clear Lake. They’ll be back out on the water Friday as the national championship continues. The tournament runs through Saturday.
Goff attends Kelseyville High School while Reese attends Clear Lake High School.
Rollo-Owens were one of two teams to bring 19-plus pounds to the weigh scale in round one. Fisher Davis and Fisher Bissell representing the Mount Ida Junior Bass Hookerz of Arkansas, caught four fish weighing a combined 19-4, including the big fish of round one at 7 pounds, 5 ounces. Spencer Childers and Owen Moss of Pickens High School of Pickens, South Carolina were in third place with 18-9.
Only 21 teams had five-fish limits.
The Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster High School Series National Championship is presented by DICK’s Sporting Goods and Junior Bassmaster Championship.
