Eric Price and Noah West bring a Bass Fishing State Championship to Lawrence Co. Set records in the process…

JOHNSON MARTIN COUNTIES FINISH 10TH AND 12TH 

Calvert City, Ky In only took the Bass Fishing team at Lawrence Co. High School three years to produce a state champion and thanks to Noah West and Eric Price it was a record setting weekend as well. The freshman duo broke the all time largest margin of victory in the KHSSA bass fishing state tournament and also tied the record of 34.4 pounds caught in the two day event that was held at Kentucky Lake. 

Price and West led the tournament after day one with a bag of 20 pounds and 1 ounce. McCracken Co. was in second place trailing by three pounds going into day two. 

The duo from McCracken Co. weighed in first on the final day and ended up with a total of 30 pounds and 2 ounces so the LCHS freshman knew what they had to beat. When they stepped up to weigh the bag of bass you could cut the tension with a knife. They needed at least 10 pounds and 3 ounces and when they announced 14 pounds and 3 ounces the state title was coming to Louisa. 

Lawrence Co. teammates Micheal Scaggs and Conner May finished 41st out of 64 boats with 13 pounds and 3 ounces. 

Scaggs also won the Above and Beyond award this year. The award is based on excellence in five areas. Citizenship, Leadership, Athletics, Sportsmanship, and Scholarship. 

It was the first year a high school outside of western Kentucky has one the bass fishing event. 

Eastern Ky was represented well this weekend as Blake Martin and Kenneth Powers of Johnson Central finished 10th with 26 pounds and 1 ounce. Grant Marcum and Lafe Messer of Sheldon Clark finished 12th with 24 pounds and 14 ounces. Jacob Jude and Heath Maynard also of Sheldon Clark finished 52nd with 9 pounds and 10 ounces on the weekend. 

Lawrence Co. Bass Fishing coach Brandon Meddings

COACH’S COMMENT

“… I am so proud of the accomplishment that Noah and Eric have achieved while competing on Kentucky Lake in Calvert City, Kentucky. Our first day on the water, we scanned ledges using my Lowrance HDS9s for the first 3 hours Wednesday morning. We could not find schools of bass on any deep ledge. I turned to Noah and Eric asking,..  “We drove all this way, do you want to just catch some Kentucky lake bass and have fun?” And they both begged ‘yes’.

I pulled up to a point and said this had deep water close. And that it was kind of like a ledge and it would be the first place post spawn fish would move to after spawning in the shallow water.

During my 3rd cast instructing and showing them how to fish what is called a Tommy Biffle hardhead and with a 10 inch Strike King Bullworm, a bass hit and took the rod out of my hands. I literally had to catch it. It weighed 5.9 pounds on my scales. After taking a few pictures and discussing the catch, I said,  “let’s spend a few more minutes here.” On the very next cast, I had one 5.3 pounds.

We decided to leave the spot alone until Friday. This is the same spot Noah and Eric caught their 20-pound limit off of Friday. Then going into Saturday, Day 2, they led by 3 pounds, but the wind was blowing a constant 20mph and gusting even more out of the north, which makes Kentucky Lake almost unfishable. I made it 7 miles south to Moor’s Marina harbor and them to catch a limit. They did not get a bite from 7am-10:30 am.

After having lunch, Eric and Noah refocused and decided to stick to their pattern found during practice. I made a run back up to a place called Little Bear Creek, and the rest is history. The creek was calm and protected from the wind gust. They fished the first pocket and secondary points close to the channel, which was our pattern, and had 7 keepers in a little over an hour. If you would have told me at lunch that they would have a limit, let alone one weighing 14 pounds, I would have said, “you are crazy.”

What I witnessed Friday and Saturday was something truly special, and I will probably never see it again.

It is a blast being in the boat with Noah and Eric. One thing I believe that helped Noah and Eric win is their attitude. They never once gave up, all the while maintaining their sense of humor. While they struggled on Saturday, they still kept their heads held high. They did exactly what I asked of them Wednesday, “just catch some Kentucky Lake bass and have fun…”

Lawrence County Athletic Director: Travis Feltner

“… I am tickled to death for them.  Proud of those boys. I have got to know Noah and Eric in class this year. Great Kids and great families.” Mr. Meddings came to me a few years ago and I didn’t know what a Bass Fishing Team was.” He did all the research and I want to tip my hat to him.” I don’t care what it is if they give a trophy out its a big deal.” There are a lot of kids participating and it has grown in popularity. This is an awesome accomplishment for Lawrence County.”

Lawrence Co. Freshman Eric Price 

“… The school had let us go out a couple of days early and get on the lake and practice. We still had a lot of anxiousness but we felt confident.” The first and the fifth are the hardest to get in the boat. We had our first fish probably 10 minutes into the day but it took a while to get our fifth.” We knew we had around 20lbs and we had a great day. Once we got to the dock we started hearing rumors what everybody had and we knew we were going to be sitting in a good place.”

We knew there was going to be some bad weather the next day so we was wishing it would just be over right then and we would just go home, but we were happy we got to get out there that second day and still do good.” We were alot more anxious going out the second day. We just wanted to close the deal.  It was a really long day, it was cold, the weather was terrible and we just went up some random creek that would look good on our map.”

We caught about five fish in 10 minutes around lunch time and then we were just looking for that big bass.  We knew we were setting pretty good but we didn’t know if we had enough for the win.”  I was on cloud nine once I heard the weight.

If it wasn’t for the people that volunteered and had boats and agreed to take us out we would never have gotten the chance to bass fish competitively. We would always sit on the bank and wish we were out there and now people has worked to where we can be out on the lake fishing in a State Tournament.”

We had a lot of great Sponsors like Borders Sporting Goods that has backed us ever since we started, a lot of local people, and our community. Also I want to thank my Parents and all of the volunteers.”

Lawrence Co. Freshman Noah West

“…We got to practice and we found some spots that we knew were going to be key to us.” We were excited to get there and they were kinda community spots so we had to get there early and try to get to a place we wanted. Spots are first come first serve. We respect others if they are already on that spot.  We want to be treated the same so we respect others.”

Once you get the first fish in the boat you can kind of start working your bait. There is stress relief.  But once your fifth fish is in you know you can start trying to upgrade.” We were hearing rumors of a 25 pound bag and you just get nervous hearing that big of a number while you are sitting there waiting to weigh in. A three pound lead after the first day was comfortable.” We knew we didn’t have to catch another 20 pound bag but we knew we had to get out there and fish good and catch the limit.” When we went out we wanted to go where we were the day before but we knew we wasn’t goting to be able to go there due to weather.

So we picked a spot and got on some fish about lunchtime.  It was a grind all day and your always trying to upgrade.” We got to the marina and we go to get a bag and  coach says, “lets hold off.”  McCracken Co. weighs in and we hear 30 pound bag. We knew we had around 10 pounds in the live well  and Coach Meddings says “Lets make this a little more Dramatic.” It was relief when we got up there and he says we got the lead at 34.4.” I have been grinning ever since.  It was an amazing moment. 

Its all Glory to God on this one.” I guess it was in his plan for us to go out there and win this State Championship. I was praying that whole second day and he fullfilled and answered our prayers.”  I want to Thank my parents and the school system, all the volunteers, the bass club and our community for backing us and allowing us to win this State Tournament.” 

Remember, assembly at LCHS 3pm, parade through town 5:30pm, and the LC board meeting at 6pm at the LCHS Library.