A morning full of thunder and lightning in Augusta, Georgia, couldn’t cool down a heated battle for the fourth annual GHSA Bass Fishing State Championships.=
Ryan Soles and James Brooks from West Laurens joined Evans’ Jayden Faulkner and Davis Madden, the 2021 champions, Bainbridge’s Bowynn Brown and Shane Dill, the 2022 champions, and Lanier’s Bryson Dover and Angel Cornejo, the 2023 champions, as the only eight anglers to have won the GHSA Bass Fishing State championship. The state’s largest reservoir, Clarks Hill Lake, played host to 125 different boats from 59 different schools. Starting at 6:30 this morning, the anglers fought a 15-minute delay and less-than-ideal we8ather, along with an overfull lake. Anglers had to race to get back to Wildwood Park for the 3:00 weigh-ins, trying to put their names on the shortlist of state champions.
Soles and Brooks saved their best for the last tournament of the season, weighing in a bag more than double any other bag they weighed in this season. With a weight of 20 pounds, 12 ounces, they recorded the heaviest weight of the season and broke the championship tournament record of 20 pounds, 8 ounces, formerly held by last year’s champions Bryson Dover and Angel Cornejo. Along with winning the state championship, Soles and Brooks were one of five teams to qualify for the 2024 High School Fishing World Finals and National Championship.