Rouse team wins state fishing tournament

March 16, 2013, 6:00 pm by Mark Goodson

By Mark Goodson

Highlander Sports Editor

Colton Mitchell and Dallin Bishop of Leander Rouse High School won the Texas High School State Fishing Championship on Lake LBJ Saturday catching three fish weighing in at 15-pounds, 13-ounces.

They also had the big bass at seven-pounds, 11-ounces.

The anglers edged out the Westlake fishing club by two ounces. Westlake’s Knox Kronenberg and Richie Pusateri caught the limit of five fish over the minimum length of 14 inches to take second with a total of 15-pounds, 11-ounces.

The defending champion Corrigan-Camden team of Wyatt Frankens and Clay Nash also caught five fish weighing in at 15-pounds, 11-ounces.

The tie was broken by the third tiebreaker of the first team to weigh in.

Frankens and Nash edged out Kronenberg and Pusateri by an ounce on the big bass with a catch of seven-pounds, seven ounces.

The tournament was the biggest in the three years of the event. The two previous tournaments had been held on Lake Lavon near Allen in North Texas.

Marble Falls High School had 28 anglers in the field matched in two-person teams.

The best finishers for the Marble Falls team were Cole Van Brocklin and Tyler Rutherford, who are both students at Burnet High School. The duo logged five fish at 15-pounds, three-ounces.

In all there were 68 teams (136 anglers) entered in the one-day tournament that started at first light and ended near 5 p.m. with the conclusion of weigh-ins.

In all 22 teams caught their limit and 52 of the 68 teams caught fish.

Marble Falls had four teams in the top 20.

The top Marble Falls teams were (fourth) Van Brocklin-Rutherford, (13^th) Jordan Breaux-Jordan Wright, (14^th) Shilo Nelson-Ben Stripling and (19^th) Lyle Schmidt-Lane Amidon.

"We caught all our fish at the second place we stopped,’’ Wright said after he and Breaux had to come in an half hour before weigh-in because they were running low on gasoline. "We hit that one spot and got them all.’’

The 14-inch minimum was killer on some of the anglers.

"We had 13 at 13-inches and never had a keeper,’’ said Matthew Manley who teamed with Marble Falls angler Wes Thornton.

There is a captains tournament scheduled for Sunday on Lake LBJ at the LBJ Yacht Club and Marina in Cottonwood Shores.

Marble Falls will host the tournament again next year.

For complete coverage, please read the Tuesday Highlander.