The GHSA successfully introduced Bass Fishing as a sanctioned sport for the first time last year and now qualifiers from across the state will ascend on Georgia’s largest body of water—Clarks Hill Lake in Augusta—to compete for the 2022 state title this Saturday. The second annual Bass Fishing State Championship follows a season that featured four qualifying tournaments. This statewide-circuit began at Lake Seminole in Bainbridge, Ga. on Jan. 22 and then continued to Lake Oconee (Feb. 12), West Point Lake (March 19) and Lake Lanier (April 16). Hundreds of registered student anglers competed in the four qualifiers and the duo of Gage Sellars and Brock Lewis took first at Lake Seminole with a 20-10-pound haul.
Sellars and Lewis earned a sixth-place finish at the state tournament last season with a 15-11 total weight. Their win marks the second-straight year that the Basscats have won the Lake Seminole qualifier. The 20-10-pound haul is also the second-best mark since the sports’ introduction. Bowynn Brown and Shane Dill also represented the Basscats and placed third with a 14-08 total behind Lowndes’ Pat Langdale-Granger and Cole Ratliff’s 17-04 at Lake Seminole. Brown and Dill opened last season with a 25-15 catch that still stands as the all-time state-record.
Bryan County’s Hunter Shuman and Logan Sehr were the top qualifiers at the Lake Oconee competition with a 16-15 catch and Alexander’s Trent Hammock and Carter Seabrook finished second-best with a 12-15 combined weight. The back half of the qualifiers began at West Point Lake. Trion’s Andrew Melton and Joseph William took first with 16-10 and were one of the nine teams that surpassed 10 pounds that day. Jacob Hodge and Henry Garrett represented Greenbrier at West Point Lake and finished second with 12-15. Hodge and Garrett had an outstanding run in 2021 as well and placed seventh at the state finals with a 15-02 haul.
Lake Lanier was the final qualifier and it proved to be the most competitive of the four. A total of 32 different teams tallied 12 pounds or greater and Morgan County’s Will Thomas and Wyatt Spinks had the largest haul with 17-07. South Forsyth’s Fisher Edwards and Christian Wehman tallied 16-15 for a second-place finish and Coffee’s Dakota Atkinson and JP Harper racked up 16-04.
This will be the first time that Clarks Hill Lake is hosting a GHSA bass fishing competition and the state’s best anglers will be vying for the ultimate prize as the sport continues its growth and popularity in its second year.
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