The Brainerd Warrior team of Blair Erickson and Brandon Johnson brought home top honors in the first ever Student Angler Tournament Trail virtual fishing tournament.
The tournament, held June 7, consisted of 264 teams, 528 anglers along with boat captains on public waters of Minnesota. Competing anglers could fish by boat, kayak, canoe, from docks or from shore.
Tournament anglers used an app to record their catches. They went to their starting spots and waited until event organizers turned the app on at 7 a.m. June 7. Anglers had until 2 p.m. to put together their bag of best seven bass.
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Erickson and Johnson, both of whom will be seniors this fall at Brainerd High School, won the tournament with a catch of seven bass with a total length of 142 inches. They also had Big Fish Honors with a 21 inch smallmouth bass.
In second place was the Pequot Lakes team of Wendt/O’Conner with 139.25 inches. Third place was also a Pequot Lakes team of Schmidt/Schmidt with 135 inches. The Little Falls team of Rustad/Olson took fifth place with 131.75 inches. Rounding out the top ten for local schools, was the Brainerd Team of Hubbard/Hubbard with 128.75 inches, tied for ninth and 10th place.
“The Brainerd area and the high school fishing teams from our neck of the woods (and lakes) have a lot to be proud of,” said Stephen Picht, secretary of the board of directors for the Student Angler Tournament Trail and coach of the Grand Rapids team, in a news release.
The virtual tournaments are conducted in a CRR (Catch Record Release) format. A student catches a bass, measures it on an approved ruler, takes a photo of it on the ruler to verify the length, then submits the photo and length via an app on their smartphones to tournament administrators, who verify the catch.
The next statewide virtual tournament is scheduled for Saturday, June 20.
