Arkansas Sportsman

Fishers capture high school title

A couple of Fishers are living up their names in competitive bass fishing.

Fisher Davis and Fisher Bissell of Mount Ida won the senior division of the first Arkansas Bassmaster High School Series Classic on Sunday at Lake Ouachita by weighing in 10 bass in 2 days which weighed 30.2 pounds.

Drayton Standridge and Alex Gillingham won the junior division with 21.1 pounds.

The victory enables both teams to fish in the national Bassmaster High School Nationals on Aug. 1-3 at Kentucky Lake.

Derek Sandlin of Hot Springs, owner and promoter of the Arkansas Bassmaster High School Series, said the first year was successful. It included three regular-season one-day tournaments besides the two-day Classic. A fourth regular-season event will be added next year, he said.

To qualify for the Classic, teams were required to compete in all three regular events. Each tournament averaged about 60 teams, Sandlin said, and 40 teams qualified for the Classic. He said that's a respectable turnout for a first-year tournament trail, and he expects it to grow.

Incentives for the anglers certainly promote growth. The Classic paid $2,300 in cash and $5,000 in prizes. Davis and Bissell won $1,000, which they split, along with some top-grade fishing gear.

"I believe over next year or two we can average in the 80-100 boat range," Sandlin said. "Tournaments in Texas draw 400-500, but we don't have the lakes that they have or the population."

The Classic exposed youth anglers to the complexities of a two-day tournament, which Davis said requires a different approach than a single-day event. Winning a multi-day event factors in ascending patterns, descending patterns, weather and fatigue.

"In a two-day you have to have enough fish to last you," Davis said. "You have to know how to conserve your fish.

"You also have a second chance. If it had been a one-day tournament, we would have lost because another team came in with more than we did. In a one-day, someone can get lucky, but conserving fish is one of the key things."

On Saturday, Davis and Bissell endured strong wind to catch five bass that weighed 17.20 pounds. Davis said they started the day with a limit of Kentucky bass that they caught with a jerkbait. With a limit in the well, they went to a grass point and caught their best fish with a Carolina rig.

Davis lost his first big bite, a 5-pounder, but he caught another 5-pounder shortly after. Bissell caught a 3-pounder.

"Those fish were bedding, but they were probably in 8 to 10 feet," Davis said. "You can't really 'sight fish' for those because you can't see them. They were bedding right inside the grass."

The second day was even windier, and the fishing was hard, Davis said. Again, the pair caught a limit of Kentucky bass with jerkbaits, but they were bigger than average Kentuckies. Bissell caught a 3-pounder, so when they began the upgrade process, they had five fish that weighed about 7 pounds.

After an uneventful stop in the Cedar Fouche area, Davis said he and Bissell fished a point where they didn't throw a Carolina rig in practice.

"We caught a super-size Kentucky," Davis said. "We threw out again and caught another one about the same size. We weighed in that one, too."

They finished the day with three largemouth bass and two Kentuckies.

"The last cull I made, we had three Kentuckies," Davis said. "We were on a point right up from Shangri-La. It was 3:20 [p.m.], and my first cast I caught one that was about 2 pounds that culled one of our other fish. That put us over because we won that tournament by a couple of ounces."

Davis, son of former Bassmaster Classic champion Mark Davis, said it was special to win his first Bassmaster-sanctioned tournament.

"I didn't think it would matter a whole lot, but it being the first made it better for me," Davis said.

Davis and Bissell are longtime fishing partners and have won many events. Davis said the Bassmaster High School series is the best trail they've fished.

"You'll always have very good competition, but we had better competition this year than we had in any other," Davis said. "I think we have gotten better because of it."

Sports on 04/19/2018

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