State Bass Fishing Tournament Rescheduled Again

The Illinois High School Association (IHSA) has announced the 2017 IHSA Bass Fishing State Finals will be rescheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, June 14-15 on Carlyle Lake.

The tournament finals were originally scheduled for May 19-20, but the IHSA announced on May 10 that the event would be postponed due to high water levels caused by excessive rain throughout the spring. On May 26, the IHSA announced a new state final date of June 23-24, but was forced to rescind that date Monday due to concerns by the Army Corps of Engineers who run Carlyle Lake.

“Carlyle Lake is a busy lake that gets significant use during the summer months, especially on weekends,” said IHSA Executive Director Craig Anderson. “We worked together with the Army Corp. of Engineers to reschedule the tournament for June 23-24, but given more time to reflect, they had concerns about their ability to safely and efficiently facilitate the event, both on and off the water, on June 23-24. While a mid-week state final isn’t an ideal circumstance, if we didn’t proceed, we feared that cancelling the state finals may be the only recourse. Our high school anglers have earned the opportunity to fish for a state championship, and we wanted to make sure that happened.”

Boat safety checks will be conducted on the morning of June 14, which will alter the fishing competition schedule from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Fishing on June 15 will occur from 7:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. as scheduled.

One of the Teutopolis High School teams, made up of Kendall Tabbert, Andy Isley, Kyle McMahon and Devin Mette with driver Derek Gaddis, advanced to the finals after winning the Forbes Lake Sectional. The other Teutopolis team is an alternate for the state tournament. The team, made up of Jared Bloemer, Noah Pals, Cole Jansen and Wade Probst with driver Ronnie Putnam, finished fourth at Forbes Lake.

The Wooden Shoes teams are coached by Jeff Niebrugge.