6th Annual Iowa High School Bass Team Championship

 

2024 TEAM CHAMPIONS: Indee Bass Club- Gable,
Colton, Carter, and Jackson

It is hard to believe that it has been six years running this event.  It all started with an idea over a conversation at lunch, and now in 2024 there was 150 kids fishing in a single event that gave away over $4,000 in prizes to kids.

The whole idea for this event was to give kids from all over the state a tournament that they could fish if their school/area didn't have a fishing club.  The idea must have been a good one!  

With a few phone calls to some of my sponsors the event was created in 2019.  The first event saw 28 boats participate, in 2020 there were 26 boats, in 2021 there were 20 boats, in 2022 there were 32 boats, last year was 49 boats and this year we topped out at 75 boats.  It has been an awesome run seeing all these kids being able to fish and enjoy some time on the water chasing bass.  I couldn't have done these events with out the help of my personal sponsors and event sponsors, along with the many friends of mine that help me run the events on tournament day.  For this year I must give a huge thank you to Randy Toale, Jackson Toale, Chad O'Brien and Keith Donnelly for making things go very smoothly this year.

This two part event tests each boat on their own, as well as the top two boats from any given school system.  This year we saw a record of 24 different schools participating and 150 kids.  Ankeny HS was able to take home the first place trophies for the top boat.  They had a limit of five bass that weighed 12.15 pounds.  Coming in second was an Independence boat that weighed 9.64 pounds.  In third place was a boat from Johnston HS, they had 9.17 pounds.  Coming in at fourth place was the Charles City/Waverly Shell-Rock Boat weighing 8.94 pounds and rounding out the top 5 spot was a boat from NE Goose Lake HS weighing in 8.75 pounds.  Complete results can be found on the tournament website HERE. 

1st Place Boat: Ankeny HS- Darin and Tyson

The second part of the event is always a suspenseful one for the anglers and crowd gathered.  The "TEAM" portion of the event adds the top two boats from each school for their combined school weight.  This year the weights were very close at the top ten boats and no one...not even myself had a true idea of the 2024 Team Champions.  As things were added up and checked twice, it became clear.  The school from Independence, 2023 2nd Place team rose to the top with a combined weight of 16.37pounds.  Cedar Falls, the 2023 Team Champions came in second with a combined weight of 15.67.  In third place, for the second year in a row, was the team from Wilton HS, they weighed 14.54 pounds.

Prizes were given to the top 3 teams, the Champions receiving the CHAMPIONSHIP RINGS.  On teh individual side of the tournament, the top 18 boats (36 anglers) recieved prizes for their catches.  The Big Bass was given a special trophy and loads of X-Zone Lures and Rod Gloves.  All in all the total amount of prizes and trophies ended up being over $4,000 this year.  

This amazing event could not happen with the HUGE support of our presenting sponsor, the Cedar Falls SCHEELS store.  SCHEELS was also present to give all students prizes for entering the event.

WOW...quite an event, and one that will not be forgotten any time soon!  Time to start planning for 2025!