Pictured from left to right front: Myles Shaffer, Brayden Savage, Tucker Fratz, Jaxon Schmidt left to right back: Maddox Shaffer, Jakob Fullerton, Kaden Tomblin, Rowan Rikhye Our boat captains for the National Championships (not pictured) are: Bart Shaffer, Keith Tomblin, Eric Swearengen & Parks Edward Gettys, Jr.
The Garrett Bass Slayers, a local competitive High School & Junior Bass Fishing team qualified 4 Teams of 2 Anglers to go to the 2024 Bassmaster National Championships on Chickamauga Lake in Dayton, TN.
Hundreds of the top young anglers from across the country will descend on eastern Tennessee. The Bassmaster Junior National Championship will be held July 26-27 on Chickamauga Lake, followed by the Strike King Bassmaster High School National Championship on Aug. 1-3.
The Junior Series event will feature anglers from grades second through eighth, while the High School Series event will have a field comprised of eighth- to 12th-graders.
Our teams qualified by winning 1st place in the High School Division or placing in the top 3 in the Junior division at the Maryland Bass Nation State Championship on October 8th, 2023 on Deep Creek Lake.
Representing Maryland at the High School National Championships are Garrett Bass Slayer’s Kaden Tomblin & Jakob Fullerton, they were the 2023 Maryland Bass Nation High School State Champions.
Representing Maryland at the Junior National Championship are 3 Garrett Bass Slayers Teams who qualify at the State Championship. The Junior Maryland Bass Nation State champions were Maddox & Myles Shaffer, 2nd place was Tucker Fratz & Rowan Rikhye and due to the 3rd place team not being able to go, our 4th place team of Jaxon Schmidt & Brayden Savage qualified to go the National Championship.
Believe it or not, High School Bass Fishing is a legitimate Team Sport offering many young people a chance to earn College Scholarships just like the other popular High School Team Sports. To belong to a Bassmaster High School Program, students must maintain a minimum GPA, participate in community service projects, and conservation projects, and attend mandatory meetings. Our local team has been involved in helping in the community and worked on various conservation projects with Deep Creek Lake Management. They have helped to make reef balls for the lake, helped with clean up around Broadford Lake and Deep Creek Lake, helped to fix up and paint the Fish Weigh In Station at Deep Creek State Park, helped at other fundraising fishing tournaments, and more.
The Local High School Bass Fishing Team, The Garrett Bass Slayers was started in 2014 by Joe McClosky, his mom June McClosky, and Joe’s Bass Fishing Mentor Bret Winegardner. Joe wanted to get into competitive High School Bass Fishing and to do that he had to be a part of a High School Bass Fishing Club. At that time there weren’t any clubs in our area, so Joe and his mom started the club with Joe and 4 of his friends. The first year the club went to the Maryland Bass Nation State Championship on the Potomac River, Joe and his partner Morgan Winegardner won and the club has had a winning team 6 other times since 2014. Here are the list of The Bass Slayers previous High School State Champions:
2014 – Joe McClosky & Morgan Winegardner
2015 – Devan Hamerick & Austin Smith
2016 – Quinn Iden & Trent Lohr
2017 – Makenzy Winegardner & Michael Mayles
2018 – Makenzy Winegardner & Michael Mayles
2020 – Makenzy Winegardner
And this year 2023 – Kayden Tomblin & Jakob Fullerton
The success of this team goes to the dedication of our Coaches & Parents! For years Bret Winegardner was our head coach and rounded up local Bass Nation Adult Volunteers to be our team captains. These captains give so much time and impart so much knowledge of their Bass Fishing Knowledge onto our kids to help them have such great success in these tournaments. A few years ago, Bret retired from coaching the Team, and another parent, Clinton Harvey stepped in to help June McClosky continue to coach the Team. Last year Clinton & June decided to start a Junior Division to give younger kids a chance to start competitive Bass Fishing in our area. There was a great response and a lot of dedication from the parents. Both the High School & Junior Teams now utilize mostly parents as boat captains, with a few Bass Nation Volunteers still helping out.
This team sport is growing so fast among High Schools & Colleges and is now sanctioned in many of the top colleges. Joe McClosky went on to attend Bethel University in McKenzie, Tennessee on a Bass Fishing Scholarship, and in 2021 he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Business. We hope that other kids from our area who have a passion for Bass Fishing/Outdoor sports will also have the chance to pursue a college scholarship and experience this sport at the Collegiate level.
