The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.


West Central Bass Team Reels in 1st Place to Begin Competition

The West Central Bass Fishing Team hosted Mercer County for a Bass Fishing Tournament in Burlington, IA last Saturday.

With the river level relatively high, 14 feet in Burlington, strong currents and floating debris, the teams had a difficult time finding and catching bass,

Mercer County’s “Collins Jr.” boat, made up of Nicholas Reaber and Brendan Bernas, caught two largemouth bass for a total weight of 4.4 pounds. Reaber came away with the biggest fish of the day weighing in a 2.7 pounds.

The 2nd Mercer County boat “Collins Sr.” included Aiden Thomas and Jonah Hayes, caught one largemouth bass weighing 1.92 pounds.

West Central’s “Stimpson” boat of Gage Stimpson and Xander Anderson caught a pair of fish that totaled 3.93 pounds. Their biggest bass weighed 2.63 pounds which was just .07 shy of Reaper’s big bass.

The Heat’s 2nd boat “Knutstrom” included Reed Plate and Alex McGraw.

Their team came away with five largemouth bass totaling 7.8 pounds to take first place on the day.

This will be West Central’s only competition before regionals, which is scheduled for May 15th in New Boston.

Along with West Central, teams from Mercer County, Galva, Hamilton, Knoxville, Macomb, Sherrard and Warsaw will compete for a chance to advance to sectionals.

Each school can bring a maximum of two teams and the top six teams will advance. Boats will be put in the water at 8:00 a.m. and weigh in is scheduled to begin at 2:00 p.m.

Final Results:

Bass team volunteer David Knutstrom and his team of Alex McGraw and Reed Plate show off their haul.