many took home potentially life-changing scholarships.
We’re grateful to the parents and other supporters who
encouraged them, the sponsors who made the event possible,
our local hosts in La Crosse and Stoddard, Wis., and our
volunteers for stepping up to help everything run safely and
seamlessly from beginning to end.”
Hot on the heels of Gramling and Veronee, a pair of
teams sacked 9-pound, 3-ounce limits. Ryan Thomas and
Cole Holloway of Madison, Ga., won the tiebreaker to claim
second place.
“We’re doing great right now,” Holloway says.
“We feel like we could have done better, but we’re happy
with our finish,” Thomas adds.
Cole Holloway and Ryan Thomas
“We caught a lot of fish today, just like every other day,”
says Holloway, explaining that they targeted shallow water,
mainly with frogs, squarebill crankbaits and shaky heads.
Austin Fleming and Ben Brockwell of Ouachita, Arkansas
landed in third, also with 9 pounds, 3 ounces.
“It’s awesome to finish third in this event. I’m thankful,”
says Brockwell.
“It’s a blessing to be here fishing with everybody,”
Fleming adds, noting that the team finished fifth in the 2019
SAF World Finals.
Brockwell says they fished frogs the entire event and
their go-to fishing spots were “thick grass with open holes in
2 to 3 feet of water in the Pool 9 backwaters.”
The 2020 SAF World Finals were held June 24-27 in conjunction
with the SAF High School Fishing National
Championship. The dual-event format was designed to give
high school anglers from across the country and all walks of
life an equal chance at winning college scholarships.
The no-entry-fee championships were hosted by La Crosse,
Wisconsin and were produced by SAF under the TBF umbrella
with the support of a coalition of 19 sponsors, including TBF
partners in fishing from FLW. Takeoff and weigh-ins were held
at Stoddard Ramp on the Wisconsin side of Pool 8.
Both events kicked off Wednesday, June 24, with the
National Championship concluding on Friday and the World
Finals wrapping up on Saturday.
Ben Brockwell and Austin Fleming
Lawson Losee and Kooper Tweite of Riceville, Iowa
claimed the National Championship title on Friday with a 30-
pound, 4-ounce three-day total. They automatically
advanced to the World Finals.
All World Finals competitors fished the first three days,
battling for coveted spots in the grand finale. The final field
included the 10 National Championship finalists, the top 10
teams from Friday’s World Finals semi-final round, and the
next 10 teams from the semi-final round and second-chance
rounds combined. The winners of a special “Lucky Dog Last
Chance Wildcard” drawing won a chance to compete, bringing
the number of teams competing to 31. All weights were
zeroed to give everyone a fresh start.
On the final day, those 31 teams brought a total of 83
bass weighing 204 pounds, 9 ounces to the scale. The fish
were returned to the Mississippi River in the SAF’s proven
catch-and-release format. Big bass was a 3-pound, 14-
ounce beauty brought in by Fleming and Brockwell, who
received a pair of Lew’s high-performance baitcasting reels
for their efforts.
In total, more than 40 scholarship offers were made.
Some of the scholarship offers were immediately accepted,
and letters of intent signing ceremonies were held on site.
For complete details, visit HighSchoolFishing.org.
Lawson Losee and Kooper Tweite
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