2014 B.A.S.S. HIGH SCHOOL EXHIBITION TOURNAMENT
Lay Lake – February 23, 2014
Editor’s Note: Southern Fishing News has been following two young student anglers, Brianna Tucker and Mitchell Gowen, from the Decatur Heritage Christian Academy Fishing Eagles as they have participated in the new B.A.S.S. High School Student Angler Program. This installment follows the young tournament anglers as they compete in the 2014 B.A.S.S. High School Exhibition Tournament in conjunction with the Bassmaster Classic.
3:45 am Saturday – Brianna Tucker and Mitchell Gowen roll out of their respective beds for the third day in a row to participate in the first B.A.S.S. High School Exhibition Tournament scheduled on Lay Lake with weigh-in to be on the Bassmaster Classic Stage in Birmingham at 3:00 pm – a long 12 hour day. They have been accompanied by their parents and grandparents since Wednesday night when they traveled from Decatur, AL to the staging motel at Chelsa, AL for a day and half of pre-fishing on Lay Lake on Thursday and Friday morning. During the practice they have been guided over the lake by boat captain Norman Brown who is also President of the Alabama Student Angler Bass Fishing Association and a coach with the Decatur Heritage Christian Academy (DHCA) Fishing Eagles. The Fishing Eagles are also affiliated with the B.A.S.S. High School program. Camera and video chase boats were operated by Blake Gowen (Mitchell’s father) and Don Gowen (Mitchell’s grandfather) and Jim Gettie (Brianna’s grandfather) and Brian Tucker (Brianna’s father) during pre-tournament and tournament day.
4:00 am – Brianna and Mitchell meet at Norman Brown’s boat with rods and tackle they worked on for hours the previous night in preparation for this day. They have counseled with boat captain Brown the prior evening, studied maps, obtained the latest weather and have their game plan with fishing locations all laid out for execution.
4:30 am – After fueling the 21’ Phoenix Bass Boat and a fast breakfast at the local Waffle House they depart for the launch ramp at Beeswax Landing on Lay Lake.
5:45 am – The snowmobile suits are zipped-up and the boat is launched. The other nine high school competitor boats arrive and
The DHCA Fishing Eagles wait for safe daylight launch.
SFN photo Don Gowen
slip into the cold creek water. The sky is still very dark and a north wind is blowing but the parking lot fills up. The thermometer is showing 39 degrees.
6:10 am – Hank Weldon, B.A.S.S. High School Student Angler Program Director ensures everyone understands the rules, the National Anthem is played, prayer is given. Brianna and Mitchell are the first boat out of the gate. The water is smooth with a slight ripple as the boat exits Beeswax Creek into the Coosa River and swings north upriver with a rooster-tail standing tall. The wind at 70 plus MPH boat speed drops the temperature considerably as the team and boat captain continue a 15 mile run past Wilsonville and head toward Childersburg.
6:32 am – The Fishing Eagles swing right just before a railroad bridge and settle into the mouth of Kahatchee Creek. The river current is flowing and there is shad movement. Mitchell and Brianna thaw out and come unglued from the seats of the Phoenix. One is casting a Rat-L-Trap and the other a chatter bait. They caught a nice bass here in practice.
6:40 am – Two boats move into the creek beside the DHCA Fishing Eagles. No bites and they change up to spinnerbaits. The water is stained from the rains Thursday night when the storms came through the area.
Mitchell and Brianna look for the strike.
SFN photo Don Gowen
7:30 am – After working the mouth of the creek without a strike, the boat captain raises the trolling motor (student anglers can’t operate the big engine or trolling motor unless they have their boat license) and they all settle into the boat cockpit, adjust helmets and the boat raises southbound into the cool morning mist.
8:00 am – After a 20 mile run down river at a sub-zero temperature wind chill, they hang a right off the river into Spring Creek. He runs to the highway bridge spanning the creek and moves just above the bridge to a pocket about the size of a good pond. The area is crowded with five boats – one of which contains the Pell City Team of Hayden Bartee and Zeke Gossett. Here Mitchell and Brianna start working a couple of milfoil beds in three feet of water with two other boats within casting distance that are fishing for crappie. They work the grass and pockets thoroughly. Patience, patience, Brown coaches in a low voice.
Boat captain Norman Brown coaches patience, patience.
SFN photos Don Gowen
8:30 am – Three more boats move into the pocket above the bridge – you can almost walk on the boats now. Hayden and Zeke depart for less crowded places. Brianna and Mitchell continue to work the milfoil beds and a couple of sloughs with Rat-L-Traps, spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, and swimbaits. No luck, no strikes, no bass. This is the hardest part of tournaments – finding the fish. Anyone can catch them but skills have to honed and practiced to develop an aptitude and thought process on the habits of the fish, how they react to environmental conditions such as water clarity, light, wind, water temperature, structure, cover, forage, and other factors.
9:00 am – Outta here! The team heads south down the Coosa and drop the trolling motor on the Lacoosa Mariana point and began working the docks and sunken brush tops. Moving around to the boathouse on the point where they previously caught a good bass in a tree top. They wear it out with swimbaits, spinnerbaits, plastics and anything that will move to produce a strike. Nothing!
9:30 am – Brown swings the boat around and moves back outside the standing timber on the river edge and heads east across the channel into the mouth of Slaughter Creek. He takes the youth anglers to the very back before coming in for a landing. The team works this area for almost an hour and a half pitching and casting everything they have in the tackle box without a single bite.
11:00 am – The team goes back across the river to Spring Creek above the bridge where Mitchell and Brianna work every inch of the slough. Both get some good strikes and finally Brianna hooks up to a keeper bass. They continue to work the area till it is time to go back to the launch area at Beeswax Creek Landing which is about a 20 minute run when you wind up the 250 HP Yamaha hanging over the back of the boat.
1:30 pm The Fishing Eagles recover the bass boat at the Beeswax Ramp and head back to Birmingham for the weigh-in at the Birmingham-Jefferson Civic Center. It has been a hard day. Mitchell and Brianna are worn out, not to mention boat captain Brown who can barely walk but all are excited to be featured as the first high school student anglers to weigh-in at a Bassmaster Classic.
3:00 pm – After the student anglers check in at the BJCC backstage and have their catch checked, Hank Weldon, B.A.S.S. High School Student Angler Program Director and Jon Stewart, B.A.S.S. Nation Director welcome the student anglers to the Bassmaster Classic Stage before about 20,000 spectators. Mitchell and Brianna are the first to be welcomed to the stage where Jon weighs their single bass of the tournament – 1.8 lbs. The Fishing Eagles anglers are interviewed by Weldon and they both
The DHCA Fishing Eagles on the Classic “big stage”.
SFN photo Don Gowen
express their thanks to B.A.S.S. for staging the event and for implementing the B.A.S.S. High School Student Angler Program for kids like themselves in schools all over the nation. They also express appreciation to their coaches and boat captains of the Alabama Student Angler Bass Fishing Association for providing them the opportunity to participate in competitive student angler events and associate with such programs as that of the B.A.S.S. High School Program.
The remaining nine student angler teams are weighed-in and the DHCA Fishing Eagles place 9th out of the ten teams competing.
Still it was a grand experience and they were winners in being able to represent student anglers from DHCA and Alabama in one of the most prestigious events in the nation. You could see it in their eyes and the smiles on their face as they gazed into the spotlight and the cameras that were shooting live stream video going out all over the world via Bassmaster.com.
3:45 pm – Brianna, Mitchell, and Norman were treated with a Bassmaster.com Press Conference in the Media Room in the BJCC Arena. Bassmaster.com had over a 100 media representatives from all over the world covering the event and they were interested in the concept of bass fishing by high school chapter clubs. The DHCA Fishing Eagles were treated just like the PROS on national television.
4:00 pm – The team was provided front row seats for the weigh-in of Bassmaster Classic pro contenders. They sat there in awe as Edwin Evers of Talala, OK took the lead on Day 2 of the Bassmaster Classic by just 1 ounce from Randall Tharp by adding 20-9 lbs Saturday for a two total of 47 pounds, 6 ounces. They watched as Randall weighed in at 19-13 bringing his total to 47-5; Ott Defoe moved to 3rd place with 43-5; and Jason Christie of Park Hill, OK moved from seventh place to fourth with a 42-14 total of huge Lake Guntersville Bass. Tired – yes. But excited and still going strong.
7:30 pm – Next up was a visit to the Outdoor Expo and check out all the new fishing tackle, boats, wearing apparel and anything else that could make an angler’s heart thump out of his/her chest. But then things began to take a toll and it was time for food and some badly needed sleep.
Sunday –BJCC – After being pried from the pillow the DHCA Fishing Eagles were back in Birmingham at the BJCC when it opened with parents and some grandparents still in tow. Walking up to the ticket gate with a V.I.P. pass is really a neat experience.
The anglers were not finished with the Expo experience and there was just one more booth of fishing tackle they just had to visit before the final twenty-five pros started weighing-in. Mitchell, Brianna, and Mr. Brown were also treated to a backstage tour of the Bassmaster Classic and Bassmaster.com War Room operations.
3:30 pm – The final 2014 Bassmaster Classic weigh-in began. The team sat on the edge of their seats when their dear friend and Alabama pro Randy Howell brought 29 lbs. and 2 oz. of hawg Guntersville bass to the scales for a total of 67 lbs. and 08 ounces to move into first place and ultimately the Classic title.
Somewhere in the early evening B.A.S.S. convened the Champion’s Toast in the ballroom of the facility. The media was excluded from this festive occasion and only the pros, their families and relatives, B.A.S.S. officials and V.I.P.’s had credential access to this party. Due to their win at the 2013 B.A.S.S. High School Student Anger Invitational Tournament on Wheeler Lake, Brianna, Mitchell, and Norman Brown were special guests and got to meet, greet, and socialize with the folks that make Bassmaster fishing great and exciting to anglers everywhere.
As soon as the 2014 World Champion Randy Howell spied them he make a bee-line over to them to tell them how proud he was of
2014 Bassmaster Classic World Champion Randy Howell tells Brianna and Mitchell how proud he is of them.
SFN photo Don Gowen
them! Just the type of guy he is – he puts kids everywhere on a pedestal never thinking of himself. How great it was to have this recognition from an individual the kids consider a mentor.
Brianna, Mitchell, and Norman Brown passed on their deep thanks to everyone who made this lifetime experience for them to happen including moms and dads, grandparents, sisters and brothers, coaches, boat captains, school administrators, fellow DHCA Fishing Eagles student anglers, ASABFA, sponsors, and others too numerous to list.
In addition, they said thanks to the media including print, television and Web-based for promoting student angler bass fishing in our high schools.
And last, but certainly not least, Brianna, Mitchell, Mr. Brown, every student angler of the Alabama Student Angler Bass Fishing Association and youth anglers everywhere thank Bass Anglers Sportsman Society, B.A.S.S. Nation, and the entire staff of Bassmaster.com for making some student anglers dreams come true and showing them on of the best times of their life.
