How the Varsity Bass Fishing Champions Claimed their Crown
- I
- Oct 11, 2025
- 4 min read
Updated: Oct 12, 2025
South Hero, Vt. - Twenty schools and more than 150 anglers gathered Saturday on Lake Champlain’s Inland Sea for Vermont’s eighth annual High School Bass Fishing State Championship. This year’s Varsity Championship title went to White River Valley. Their claim to victory was perseverance, steak and a duck decoy, but their title was four minutes off of being claimed by another team.
“Feels awesome to be the first team in the state to win two state championships, I told them if they won states, I was taking them out for steaks, so I guess they wanted to eat steak,” said Paul Feeney, head coach of White River Valley’s team.
Their team’s total weight was 21.18 pounds between the five largemouth and one smallmouth bass they weighed. Each team is allowed to weight up to six bass, but penalties of one pound per minute can occur if a team fails to return to a designated spot in-time.
“Our boat malfunctioned,” said Eli Martin of Richford, moments after the winners were announced. “We had to switch out a battery right when we were heading back in,” he continued.
That delay pushed the team to be four minutes late in their return, moving their placement from first to fourth.
Richford’s coach Kaleb Brown attributed their high numbers to, “persistence, the boys just kept their heads down.” In reference to the malfunction, “it’s part of competitive fishing, it just happens. It’s part of the game.”
Burr and Burton Academy claimed second place in the varsity competition with six smallmouth bass totaling 20.48 pounds. Middlebury was third, with 18.48 pounds between their six smallmouths weighed.
The junior varsity featured a similar few. Burr and Burton Academy took first with 21.96 pounds between two largemouth and four smallmouth bass. In second was Middlebury, their total being 16.40 pounds, one largemouth and five smallmouth bass. Third place was claimed by Lamoille Union with one largemouth and four smallmouth bass. Lamoille’s total was 14.90 pounds.
During competition, anglers are at their own discretion on their equipment. Types of bait or rods often come to personal preference - how they prefer to coax a bass to line.
“I think to an extent, there’s a point where gear can help. But eventually that kind of falls off because there’s knowledge applied to it,” described Scott Green, coach of Harwood Union’s team. Many of the anglers described this as the case, that it ultimately comes to the knowledge one has gained to achieve success in bass fishing.
Many of the boats are equipped with ‘fish finders,’ a device that uses imaging sonar to display a underwater map. This can show fish locations, sizes, temperature, water depth, and can be a useful tool while fishing.
Kaleb Huff of White River Valley attributed little to their fish finder, saying, “we didn’t really use any electronics today, I mean a little bit, but…” Huff and the team did exclaim that they couldn’t have claimed victory without the find of a duck decoy they found abandoned in the water. They named it ‘Wilbur,’ who will become a permanent member of their boat.
“It’s definitely a pay to win sport,” Logan Lora of Lamoille Union thought regarding the use of equipment, “Our other guys that had a pontoon boat, they didn’t catch anything, not a single fish. We had the bass boat with our fish finders on it.”
Garrett Dryden of Burr and Burton Academy credited their choice of location to their fish finder, saying, “without the electronics, we probably would have packed up and left. Just because we could see the fish that were there, we stuck around.”
Knowledge of where the fish are can help anglers decide where to cast, but the skill behind the cast cannot be bought. Many of the competitors have been fishing for a long time and have been passed knowledge from their mentors.
“I always fished growing up, and then my dad’s the coach of the team, and my brother does it, so I kind of just did because everyone else was,” said Hailey Isham of Mount Abraham. Being one of the few female anglers in this co-ed sport, Isham had to say, “I just hope that me being here shows other girls that they can also be in a male dominated area and do well.”
Isham, like many of her competitors, believed that anyone is capable of obtaining the skill needed to be a successful angler. “I think fishing is definitely a co-ed sport. It’s just based off your skill and knowledge, so really, anyone can compete.”
Beyond the number and placements, the championship was a sunny day of connection for people around the state. Competitors had the opportunity to apply their culminated skills over the span of a few hours, and coaches got to see what their mentorship brought. Each participant is not only contributes to this outdoor recreation, but helps to uplift wellbeing of the environment around them. Through perseverance, respect for nature, and the joy of competition, this championship gives high schoolers an opportunity to represent their community in a meaningful way.
“There’s patterns in bass fishing, and students are able to pick up on those patterns,” said Jeff Goodrich, Chair of the Vermont Principals’ Association’s fishing committee. He believes in the importance of fairness and skill when on the water, adding, “If you’re not fishing where the fish are, you’re just out on the lake enjoying a beautiful day.” But no one says you can’t do both.
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