ON TOUR
FLW HIGH SCHOOL FISHING
PFOH, SHELTON DOMINATE HIGH SCHOOL CHAMPIONSHIP
TEXAS ANGLERS WIN BY MORE THAN 8 POUNDS ON WHEELER
By Curtis Niedermier
T
Despite intense fishing pressure from a three-day college championship the day before, Justin Shelton (left) and Dakota Pfoh hammered 17 pounds, 7 ounces
of Wheeler Lake bass to easily win the high school title.
102
o win by more than 8 pounds in a
multi-day bass championship is
an impressive performance. But
to win by more than 8 pounds in a one-
day championship takes impressive to
a whole new level. Yet, that’s just one of
the notable facets of Mabank (Texas)
High School anglers Dakota Pfoh and
Justin Shelton’s 2017 TBF/FLW High
School Fishing National Championship
win on Wheeler Lake June 3.
Equally impressive is that despite
the fact the championship tournament
took place the day after YETI FLW
College Fishing’s best teams from
around the country pounded the lake
for three days in the college champi-
onship event, Pfoh and Shelton’s 17-
pound, 7-ounce limit surpassed any
limit checked in by the college field. The
next closest high school team was Nick
Cora and Cole Thompson of Harmony
(Fla.) High School, which weighed in 9-5.
Both graduates who qualified for
the championship in 2016, the aspiring
bass pros from Texas camped on one
area all day. It was a main-lake spot that
was loaded with bait.
“We found one place in practice and
kind of left it alone,” says Shelton. “We
went in there today [tournament day]
and wore ’em out.”
Although the spot was located near
some barge tie-offs that were visible
above the water, the real key was a ledge
that sloped up to a shell bed – popular
hard-bottom substrate on the Tennessee
River system – that was about 5 feet deep
on top. Above the shell bed the anglers
located a 2-foot-deep sunken island.
Pfoh and Shelton positioned on the
shallow side of the shell bed and cast
out, dragging black and blue or green
pumpkin jigs rigged with matching
Strike King Rage Craw trailers back up
the slope. They also circled the island,
which did produce a keeper fish, but
the move was primarily aimed at allow-
ing their shell bed area time to rest and
replenish. Each time they re-fished the
main spot they landed another keeper.
While the jig bite was key, according
to Pfoh the team also caught a couple
of fish on a Strike King 5XD crankbait
and a Bass Pro Shops Speed Shad
swimbait rigged Texas style with a
screw-in weight, which they steadily
worked through some grass.
Pfoh and Shelton earned a $10,000
scholarship for the win.
FLWFISHING.COM I AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2017