JASPER, Texas (March 22, 2016) – The Woodlands College Park High School duo of Joe Beebee and Chad Mrazek brought a five-bass limit to the scale Saturday weighing 18 pounds, 5 ounces, to win the 2016 TBF/FLW High School Fishing Texas State Championship on Sam Rayburn Reservoir. The win earned the team trophies, the title of state champions and advanced the team to the High School Fishing Southern Conference championship on Cypress Lake in Shreveport, Louisiana on October 14-15.
For Beebee, it was his second High School Fishing state championship win. In 2014 he and partner Will Brady caught the largest five-bass limit ever weighed in FLW/TBF High School Fishing history – 32 pounds – to win the title on Lake Lyndon B. Johnson. Saturday, Beebee and new partner Mrazek bested a field of 115 teams to earn the title.
The pair used a green-pumpkin and red-colored Xcite Baits jig to catch the majority of their fish.
“We caught all of our fish punching heavy mats of what we call hay grass,” said Beebee, a junior at College Park High School. “We found that the combination of 9 to 12 feet of water and where the heavy mat was connected to the bottom seemed to be holding more fish,” said Mrazek, a sophomore at College Park.
When asked what the key to their success was the pair answered the work of the boat captain fighting the wind and staying confident when the conditions changed from their pre-fishing pattern.
The top 11 teams on Sam Rayburn Reservoir that advanced to the Southern Conference championship were:
1st: Woodlands College Park High School, Conroe, Texas – Joe Beebee and Chad Mrazek, five bass, 18-5
2nd: Leon High School, Jewitt, Texas – River Lee and Colby Vinyard, five bass, 16-3
3rd: Marble Falls High School, Marble Falls, Texas – Blake Lilly and Calvin Todd, five bass, 17-10
4th: Permian High School, Odessa, Texas – Andy Ortega and Blake Terry, five bass, 14-10
5th: Nederland High School, Nederland, Texas – Logan Wood and Keaton Butler, five bass, 14-1
6th: New Braunfels Christian Academy, New Braunfels, Texas – Chase Hux and Matt Nicholas, five bass, 14-0
7th: Kirbyville High School, Kirbyville, Texas – Will Rice and Brett Herrin, five bass, 13-3
8th: Huntington High School, Huntington, Texas – Emily Hamilton and Sam Shaw, three bass, 13-2
9th: Splendora High School, Splendora, Texas – Hunter Goodrum and Trey Kinard, five bass, 12-13
10th: Kirbyville High School, Kirbyville, Texas – Braden Berryman and Kenneth Pickett, five bass, 12-13
11th: Shepherd High School, Shepherd, Texas – Tanner Moreno and Andrew Moore, five bass, 12-12
Complete results and photos from the event can be found at HighSchoolFishing.org.
The 2016 Texas State High School Fishing Championship was a two-person (team) event for students in grades 7-12. The top 10 percent from each TBF/FLW state championship field will advance to a High School Fishing conference championship along with the top three teams from each of the seven TBF/FLW High School Fishing Opens held this season. The top 10 percent of each conference championship field will then advance to the High School Fishing National Championship, coinciding with the TBF National Championship and an FLW Tour stop in the spring of 2017.
The High School Fishing national champions will each receive a $5,000 college scholarship to the school of their choice.
In addition to the High School Fishing National Championship, all High School Fishing anglers nationwide automatically qualify for the world’s largest high school bass tournament, the 2016 High School Fishing World Finals. At the 2015 World Finals more than $20,000 in scholarships and prizes were awarded. Visit HighSchoolFishing.org for details.
