THE BASS FEDERATION By Mitchell Forde
MINNESOTA ’ S PIESCHER AND SEMLER , ARIZONA ’ S GIFFEN AND MLADICK TAKE HOME TROPHIES AT HIGH SCHOOL FISHING NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP AND WORLD FINALS
THE DUOS EARNED SCHOLARSHIP MONEY WITH THEIR WINS OVER MASSIVE FIELDS AT THE BASS FEDERATION ’ S COMBINED HIGH SCHOOL FISHING CHAMPIONSHIPS
Every year since The Bass Federation became the first organization to sponsor high school fishing tournaments in 2007 , its participation and prizes have increased . That trend continued when the organization crowned two tandems and doled out more than $ 3 million in scholarship money and prizes at the High School Fishing National Championship and World Finals at La Crosse , Wisconsin , from June 20-24 .
Zachary Piescher and Cole Semler from Minnesota ’ s Isanti- Cambridge High School earned the top spot in the three-day national championship , overcoming boat trouble to sack up 32 pounds , 7 ounces . Then , weights reset for the final day of the World Finals , and Jeff Giffen and Dylan Mladick of Arizona ’ s On Track School capped off their win in the 393-boat event with a 10-9 limit .
It looked at first like they might not get a chance to erase that deficit , as more fuel pump issues on Day 3 left their engine inoperable . Help came from an unlikely source . Camera boat driver Brad Wessling offered his boat so that the team could finish out their improbable championship run .
“ Brad was a life saver today ,” Piescher said . “ We wouldn ’ t have gotten even nearly close to top five without him . I don ’ t think we would have been able to catch the same quality in Pool 8 .”
TBF president Robert Cartiledge said it ’ s not uncommon to allow anglers experiencing boat trouble to fish out of a camera boat . However , he noted that the organization made sure the anglers couldn ’ t gain any sort of an advantage from the electronics on their borrowed vessel .
PIESCHER , SEMLER CAME BACK OUT OF BORROWED BOAT
Swapping boats with the camera crew isn ’ t how Piescher and Semler envisioned it . But they left the Upper Mississippi River with both the win and the story of a lifetime .
The Minnesota duo , who ran from takeoff in Pool 8 to Pool 7 each day , bagged a three-bass limit of 9-13 on Day 1 , then weighed in 11-14 on the second day despite some interruptions from a broken fuel pump . That had them 1-6 back of leaders JD McBroom and Carter Pjesky of Illinois ’ Kaneland High School .
AUGUST-SEPTEMBER 2023 | MAJORLEAGUEFISHING . COM 91