Miller-Pennington fishing team takes ninth at Bass Nation season opener

Photo: Virgil Noah

By: Scott Emigh, Editor-in-Chief

The Oklahoma High School Bass Nation fishing season officially kicked off recently at Lake Murray and Sand Springs Team #2 landed ninth place on a tough weekend where no single team caught the limit. 

Of the 86 teams that turned out for the event, only 42 landed a fish and only sixteen brought in more than one. John Miller and Caden Pennington hauled in two fish weighing 4.36 pounds for ninth place. Noah Daczewitz and Hunter Hilger caught one fish, weighing 2.58 pounds, for 24th place. Kyle and Kale Hilligoss caught one fish, weighing 2.27 pounds, for 29th place. Austin Smith and Joe Nelson caught one fish, weighing 2.03 pounds, for 32nd place. 

Last season was the first year Sand Springs had any teams participate in the Bass Nation High School Trail, and finished with three teams by the end of the season. Daczewitz and Hilger finished ninth in the standings and placed seventeenth in the State Championship. Miller and Pennington finished sixteenth in the standings and placed fourteenth at State. Braden Millican and Ty Steelman finished 36th in the standings and took twelfth at State. 

In addition to the Hilligoss team and the Smith-Nelson team, three other Sand Springs teams have signed up to participate this year. Seth Kearns and Cole Scott make up Team #5, Jerret Haley and Corbin Williams comprise Team #6, and Jacob Weathers and Bryson Wooten are Team #8. 

The Bass trail only includes one date in the fall, and won't pick up again till Spring of 2017 with back-to-back tournaments at Lake Eufaula on April 1st and April 2nd. The teams will also compete on Ft. Gibson Lake on Lake Tenkiller.