Livingston Ladies Win Final DETX Event of the Season
by Terry Sympson -
Jackson Hill Marina
Paige Blackmon and Tamlyn Duff fought from behind all season but kept themselves in position to win and win they did at the final event of the year held on Saturday April 7th at Jackson Hill Marina. The dynamic duo managed to land a limit of fish weighing 16.09 lbs to win the seventh qualifier of the season and secured a berth for the May 12-13th DETX Championship. This caps off the year of the lady anglers who have emerged as some of the finest student anglers in East Texas. The final event of the year also settled the year long rivalry between Huntington High School’s Addy Stringer and Abram Boles and Broaddus student anglers Jade Yates and Gavin Brush when Stringer and Boles held on to their slim lead to win the 2018 DETX Anglers of the Year.
The Evans High School team of Skyler Beason and Hunter Nash finished fourth in this final event which was enough to put them into second place for the year in the DETX as well as giving them a qualifying position in the Bassmaster National High School Championship along with the Woodlands High School team of Colin Cargol and Isaac Smith. Beason and Nash did not win a tournament this season but managed to fight their way to four top ten performances including a second and two fourth place finishes to outlast all but the top team of Stringer and Boles.
Second place at this last event was taken by The Woodlands High school team of Colin Cargol and Isaac Smith who landed 15.38 lbs in what turned out to be the toughest weather conditions of the year and allowed them to leap frog past the rest of the field and secure the second BASS National Championship qualifying position. Third place went LCM’s Garrison Byerly and Will Henson with 13.50 lbs. Garrison’s Andres Marquez and Chandler Amos brought in the day’s big bass that weighed 6.09 lbs.
The anglers reported the bite was mainly throwing weightless Senko’s and other plastics along with a spinner bait bite and chatter baits shallow while others used Carolina rigged plastics in 5-10 feet of water to trick spawning bass even with the sudden drop in temp and winds up 15 mph from the North.
The DETX Championship will be held on May 12-13th at Jackson Hill Marina. For more information you can go to www.deepeasthighschoolfishing.com.