I know some of you would like to hear about this.
Today was the Wisconsin State Youth Championship. The first place winners will be representing WI in Alabama at the Youth Bassmaster Classic during the main Bassmaster Classic festivities. There are two age groups 11 – 14 and 15 – 17.
The championship was held on Crystal Lake in Dane County. The lake is about 500 – 600 acres with a max depth of around 12 feet. There is alot of wood structure, an old road bed, and lots of weeds and flats. Today the weather was not very friendly. We awoke at about 0500 with rain and 50 degrees, winds out of the north. Pre-tournament meeting started at 0700 with 12 boats and 24 kids (12 in each age group). We started at about 0745. Each boat had one kid from each age group who had to share the time on the front of the boat unless one did not want to run the front. Water temp was 70 degrees at start and 73 degrees at finish. As the day progressed, the skies got lighter and the winds picked up with white caps by the end of the day. The kids really struggled. There were several kids who unfortunately brought nothing to the weigh station. We only had on 5 fish bag, one 4 fish bag and a couple of 3 and 1 fish bags. Fish were all caight on various presentations in various parts of the lake. It didn’t appear that the fish had a specific pattern today, just scattered out all over. The first place finishers were: Ryan Welch from La Crosse in the older group and Johhny Schultz (sorry if I got the name wrong) whom I believe was from the Madison area. As some of you know, my son Broc finished 3rd in the younger group with 3 fish at 5.05 lbs and big bass at 1.89 lbs. We also think his weight was 5th overall. I am so proud of this kid 
. He fished his heart out and being the youngest competitor that I know of deffinately held his own. The hardest part for me was not knowing. The kids could not be in the same boat as anyone from their own club, therefore I did not know anything until weigh in. Knowing how hard the bite was today made me nervous. When I saw him coming in and he held up three fingers it brought tears to my eyes. I knew he done his best and was in the running from what I had seen already. Congratulations Broc, 3rd place is pretty darn good for your first year. 
I have pictures and hopefully will have them posted soon. Anyone have any questions about the youth tournaments, feel free to drop me a line. If I made any errors, also please revise this and let me know. It was a long day and nothing has beed officially posted.
