Lake County high school fishing teams start strong

Lake County Record-Bee

Jun 22

Payton Lyndall (left) of Kelseyville and partner Kaine Navarro of Glendora are in 32nd place out of 241 teams in the National standings and tied for 40th place out of 349 teams in the World standings after day one of the 2023 High School National Championships at La Crosse, Wisconsin. The three-day competition opened Wednesday and concludes Friday. (Courtesy photo)

LA CROSSE, Wis. — The two Lake County Fishing Club teams competing in the Student Angler Federation High School National Championships and World Finals in La Crosse, Wisconsin, got off to a solid start Wednesday in the opening round of the three-day National competition. The World Finals run through Saturday.

In a National field of 241 teams and a World field of 349 teams, Lake County's Joey Gentle and Tyler Bryant of Kelseyville weighed in a three-fish limit of 9 pounds, 6 ounces on Wednesday to move into 26th place in the National standings and tied for 33rd in the World standings. Not far behind was the Lake County team of Payton Lyndall of Kelseyville and Kaine Navarro of Glendora with 9 pounds, 2 ounces, which left them 32nd in the National standings and tied for 40th in the World standings.

The competing fishermen are chasing millions of dollars in college scholarships and other prizes.

Weigh-ins for both the National and World events took place at Copeland Park.

After Thursday's second round in the Nationals, the top 10 teams overall along with the top two teams from each state automatically advance to Friday's round where all of the teams start anew with zero weight. The top 31 teams compete for the World title on Saturday.

The South Carolina team of Ethan Evatt and Bryson Gurley of the Palmetto Fishing Club held both the National and World lead after Wednesday's action with a three-fish limit of 11 pounds, 3 ounces. Just an ounce behind in second place at 11-2 was the California team of Noah Nguyen and Tyler Peterson of Antioch.

In all 15 teams in World Finals and 13 in the National Championships brought more than 10 pounds to the weigh scale after a day of fishing on the Mississippi River.