Florida Bass Federation Nation Junior State Championship

CLICK HERE FOR FINAL RESULTS (PDF)

The 2011 Bass Federation Nation Junior State Championship was held this past weekend in Kissimmee Florida on Lake Toho. The event got underway Friday night with a mandatory registration and pairings meeting at the host hotel, Clarion Waterpark in Kissimmee. Everyone was treated to a pizza party and a guest speakers including Lt. Carpenter from the FWC and Pro angler Terry Segraves. Everything went smooth and now on to the fishing. 

We had 62 junior anglers this year. Saturday morning started at 5am with boat check, where the kids and boat captains got their water, sports drink mix (supplied by Mark from Orlando Team Sports), and their subs supplied by Publix. It was brutally hot this year with temperatures in the high 90’s and heat indexes well over 100. However, we still had some impressive catches on day 1. Leading the 11-14 year old division was Preston Smith of Florida Trails with 6.32lbs. Right on his heels was the big little man, Luke Farmer from Big ‘O’ with 6.23lbs. Leading day 1 in the 15-18 year old division was Zach Ford, also of Florida Trails with a great stringer of 16.89lbs and a monster big fish of 8.92lbs. All the anglers and boat captains were treated to Barbeque after the weigh-in, courtesy of Bill O’Keefe of Charlie’s Worms and Elijah Davis of Old Fashioned Bar-b-que of Orlando.

Day 2 started much the same way under extreme heat. However, there were a few afternoon showers in the forecast. A special thanks to Joe Clements of Toho Marine in St. Cloud for bringing a few boats to the weigh-in and providing us with the ‘hot seats’. Luke was second to weigh-in and brought in two fish for 2.39lbs. He took over the hot seat and never looked back. In the older division things were a little closer. First up was Jeffrey Rushing, from Quincy, who was in second on day 1. He took over the hot seat, but it was short lived. His boat partner for the tournament was Drew Cook also from Quincy, was up next and with his 11.91lb limit, he was now in the hot seat. A few anglers later, Dustin Bozeman, from Lakeland, brought in the biggest bag on day 2, 14.62lbs and rocketed up from 5th place all the way to the top. Finally Day 1 leader Zach Ford had his turn. He unfortunately only brought 1 fish to the scales, but it was a good one, over 6lbs and things were going to be really close.  When the scales finally settled, it was Dustin Bozeman who remained on top, by less than 0.75lbs. It was a great tournament and I look forward to taking these two Champions to the Southern Divisional.  Zach Ford took big fish honors in the 15-18 year old age division and Tyler Woolcott, from Florida Trails had the big bass in the 11-14 year old age division with a 3.20lber.

I would like to thank all junior anglers, parents, club directors and sponsors. It was a pleasure to run a tournament for such great kids and I look forward to making 2012 even bigger and better.  Please support our sponsors; we would not be able to put on a tournament without them. Thanks and until next time tight lines!!!!

Jeff Brooks
State Youth Director-Florida Bass Federation Nation
jeffbrooks829@yahoo.com
Jeffbrooksfishing.com
561-271-0252

2010 FBFN Junior State Championship Final results

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