TCHS Top 10 At Lake Hartwell
Courtesy of TCHS
The Toombs County High School fishing team was back in action at Lake Hartwell this past Saturday February 23. AJ Bagby, TCHS 11th grader, weighed in 16.08 pounds to secure a 10th place finish out of 130 fishing teams in the Georgia Bass Nation High School Fishing Tournament.
The Lake Dawgs again faced tough weather conditions with thunderstorms blowing through the morning of the tournament. It was a cloudy and rainy day followed by periods of high winds.
Due to the thunderstorms, AJ decided to target shallow water spotted and largemouth bass. “A small population of bass were already starting to move up and stage for the upcoming spawn. But the thunderstorms pushed those fish even shallower at the beginning of the tournament. I caught the first fish of the day in 2 feet of water. When the rainwater is warmer than the lake water, the bass and the baitfish will push up very close to the bank to take advantage of the warmer rainwater running off into the lake,” said AJ Bagby.
“I primarily rotated between fishing shallow spawning pockets with a neko rigged worm and deep timber with a jighead minnow. The bass were spread out and very hard to locate. I caught a 4.11 pound spotted bass in 3 feet of water on a sand-togravel transition bank in spawning pocket. Then, I caught a 3.47 pound spotted bass in 55 feet of water in the timber. I had to bounce around a lot to find the fish as they are in transition from their deep wintering spots and moving to the spawning flats and pockets,” said AJ Bagby.
The Top 10 Lake Hartwell finish has moved AJ, and his brother, Lane Bagby up into 6th place for Angler of the Year points in the GA Bass Nation High School division out of 168 high school teams.
The Lake Dawgs want to give a special shoutout to some of our key sponsors. A special thanks goes out to Gordy Tire and Brake, Greenline Distributors, Altamaha Bank & Trust, Lassiter Tractor, McLendon Enterprises and Altamaha EMC for their support!
The Lake Dawgs' next GHSA tournament is at Clarks Hill on March 7.
