Midland High Claims Another Victory At Bassmaster High School Series Event On Saginaw Bay

June 11, 2022

Midland High Claims Another Victory At Bassmaster High School Series Event On Saginaw Bay

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BAY CITY, Mich. — Despite giant waves and heavy winds that prevented them from effectively fishing their preferred areas, Brady Pinwar and Alec Albrecht from Midland High School became repeat champions on Saginaw Bay by catching 21 pounds, 9 ounces to win the 2022 Abu Garcia Bassmaster High School Series presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors.

“Once B.A.S.S. announced they were coming here for another high school tournament, instantly we were both pumped and were like, ‘We have to go back-to-back.’ We have some good history out here and got it done,” Pinwar said.

Pinwar and Albrecht were followed by Fenton High School anglers Mitch Straffon and Hank Sturm with 20-7 and the Freeland High School duo of Brayden Ruckman and Nate Helmreich with 20-6, both teams that finished inside the Top 3 during the 2021 event.

While Saginaw Bay serves as their home lake, Albrecht said winning last year’s tournament helped their mental game this year.

“We came into this tournament knowing we had it in us and knowing the same spots stuck around,” he said. “We just believed in ourselves.”

Using an area similar to the one that produced 23-4 during their victory a year ago, Pinwar and Albrecht targeted spawning flats where they could see the smallmouth set up on bed. A late boat draw Friday night was just the beginning of a number of obstacles they had to overcome to win as the wind kicked up earlier than expected, making sight fishing extremely difficult.

“The waves and the wind were not on our side at all,” Albrecht said. “We were sitting in 5-footers all day trying to catch fish. We stumbled across a few later in the day and then finally on one of our last casts we caught the biggest one.”

“There wasn’t a lot of sun out either,” Pinwar added. “It was obviously hard to see them. For the first half of the day, we were blind casting to try and catch some cruisers. They were either pre- or postspawn.”

The morning was not as productive as they hoped, as they only landed three keepers by noon. Around that time, however, the sun came out and they were able to see a couple of bass on beds.

“We went up to one bed and there were two fish on it, and we caught them on back-to-back casts,” Pinwar said. “Then we went to one of the big ones we had marked. We caught it at the last minute and went in and got it done.”

All of their bass were caught on a drop-shot rig.

Straffon and Strum wanted to head out to the big water and catch smallmouth as well, but when they completed the idle up the Saginaw River and evaluated the conditions on Saginaw Bay, they turned back and pivoted to the largemouth bite.

“I wasn’t too happy with it, but at the end of the day our safety matters the most,” said Straffon, a member of the 2021 Bassmaster High School All-American Fishing Team presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors. “We knew we had a few fish back here. We didn’t know it would be that much. We put our heads down all day and flipped.”

Using two different colored jigs, they targeted a stretch of main-river bank lined with rocks and laydowns. Most of their bass were located next to the bank while a couple bit as they brought their jigs closer to the drop-off.

“We knew a lot of these fish were super pressured,” Strum said. “We both picked up a jig. We really moved slowly and they would pick it up and swim off the drop.”

Dallas Taylor and Hayden Thomas from Stilwell High School caught the Big Bass of the tournament, a 4-13 largemouth.

Saginaw Bay was the final regular-season event of the year, and now qualified teams will set their sights on Lake Hartwell for the 2022 Abu Garcia Bassmaster High School Championship presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors Aug. 11-13.

The tournament was hosted by the Michigan B.A.S.S. Nation.

2022 Abu Garcia Bassmaster High School Series at Saginaw Bay presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors 6/11-6/12Saginaw Bay, Bay City  MI.(BOATER) Standings Day 1

    Angler                                       Club/School                       Pts

1.  Brady Pinwar – Alec Albrecht                 Midland High School                   0Day 1: 5   21-09   Total:   5  21-092.  Mitch Straffon – Hank Sturm                  Fenton High School                    0Day 1: 5   20-07   Total:   5  20-073.  Brayden Ruckman – Nate Helmreich             Freeland High School                  0Day 1: 5   20-06   Total:   5  20-064.  Reece Keeney – Bryce Moder                   Northeast Wisconsin Bass              0Day 1: 5   19-09   Total:   5  19-095.  Derek Davis – Connor Jaco                    Mt.Pleasant Bass Team                 0Day 1: 5   18-09   Total:   5  18-096.  Mason Snider – Dalton Benson                 Mount Juliet Fishing                  0Day 1: 5   18-09   Total:   5  18-097.  Presley Lannom – Morgan Lannom               Mt Juliet Fishing                     0Day 1: 5   17-12   Total:   5  17-128.  Cole Jimkoski – Jack Sprague                 Freeland High School                  0Day 1: 5   17-11   Total:   5  17-119.  Max Himmel – Tyler Morris                    Catholic High School of Baton Ro      0Day 1: 5   17-10   Total:   5  17-109.  Ryan Kahut – Noah Varitek                    Michigan A1 Anglers                   0Day 1: 5   17-10   Total:   5  17-1011. Andrew Haney – Kenneth Young                 Martin County High School             0Day 1: 5   16-11   Total:   5  16-1112. Carter Pjesky – JD McBroom                   Kaneland High School                  0Day 1: 5   16-08   Total:   5  16-0813. Dallas Taylor – Hayden Thomas                Stilwell High School                  0Day 1: 5   16-05   Total:   5  16-0514. Austin Benson – Brendan Brown                Mount Juliet                          0Day 1: 5   16-02   Total:   5  16-0215. Trey Richardson – Reid Luckett               Free State Bass                       0Day 1: 5   15-14   Total:   5  15-1416. Lainey Judson – Ella Winchell                Terre Haute North HS                  0Day 1: 5   15-11   Total:   5  15-1117. Kyle Johnson – Carson Kellogg                Black Swamp Youth Bass Club           0Day 1: 5   15-03   Total:   5  15-0317. Reece Nixon – John Stark                     Soddy Daisy High School               0Day 1: 5   15-03   Total:   5  15-0319. Adam Dionne – Zach Waters                    Eastside Elites                       0Day 1: 5   15-02   Total:   5  15-0219. Jerrod Haney – Tanner Young                  Martin County High School             0Day 1: 5   15-02   Total:   5  15-0221. Alex Bowen – Aaron Mills                     Cardinal Fishing Team                 0Day 1: 5   14-11   Total:   5  14-1122. Kyle Chouinard – Caleb Cook                  East side Elites Bass Team            0Day 1: 5   14-05   Total:   5  14-0522. Luke Somerville – Leland Fox                 Gaylord High School                   0Day 1: 5   14-05   Total:   5  14-0524. Cole Berry – Graham Palmer                   Terre Haute North High School         0Day 1: 5   14-04   Total:   5  14-0425. Tyler Williams – Blaise Gatrell              Terre Haute North HS                  0Day 1: 5   13-15   Total:   5  13-1526. Tristan Fawley – Van Price                   Carlson High School                   0Day 1: 5   13-14   Total:   5  13-1427. Nick Seitz – Brock Vogel                     419 fishing                           0Day 1: 5   13-12   Total:   5  13-1228. Lainie Holbert – Sarah Swindle               Riverside Bass Team                   0Day 1: 5   13-03   Total:   5  13-0329. Jake Brown – Preston Kolisek                 Loretto Mustangs Bass Club            0Day 1: 5   13-02   Total:   5  13-0229. Colten Dickerson – Gabe Aldrich              Fishhawx                              0Day 1: 5   13-02   Total:   5  13-0229. Jack Swihart – Rylan Hamlin                  Jackson Fishing                       0Day 1: 5   13-02   Total:   5  13-0232. Nathan Frank – Alex Balla                    Howell high school                    0Day 1: 5   12-11   Total:   5  12-1133. Benjamin Hester – Mason Caldwell             Rhea County High School               0Day 1: 5   12-09   Total:   5  12-0934. Ryan Rang – Ben Rickard                      Lakeland High School                  0Day 1: 5   12-08   Total:   5  12-0835. Christian Misciagna – Logan Wood             Oneida Lake HS Bassmasters            0Day 1: 5   12-07   Total:   5  12-0736. Luke Bailey – Luke Barriger                  Meridian Early College High Scho      0Day 1: 5   12-06   Total:   5  12-0636. Brett Mouw – Logan Kinsella                  The Hill Toppers                      0Day 1: 5   12-06   Total:   5  12-0636. Nathan Reynolds – Luke Malik                 Backwoods Bassin                      0Day 1: 5   12-06   Total:   5  12-0639. Wyatt Carr – Jamie Neel                      Reeths-Puffer High School             0Day 1: 5   12-04   Total:   5  12-0439. Gus Dietrich – Max Phillpotts                Powers Catholic High School           0Day 1: 5   12-04   Total:   5  12-0441. Alex Herter – Barret Vanmarter               Howell High School                    0Day 1: 5   12-02   Total:   5  12-0241. Andrew Lithgow – Pavel Everest               Stevenson highschool                  0Day 1: 5   12-02   Total:   5  12-0243. Tanner Wolf – Kaleb Casler                   Dewitt High School                    0Day 1: 5   12-01   Total:   5  12-0144. Cade Calkins – Brayden Vallie                Fruitport High School                 0Day 1: 5   12-00   Total:   5  12-0045. Harry Richter – Jacob Piniatoglou            Saline High School                    0Day 1: 5   11-14   Total:   5  11-1446. Nick Fashho – Lucas Fashho                   Eastside Elites                       0Day 1: 5   11-13   Total:   5  11-1347. Burke Aidan – Caleb Horn                     Martin County High School             0Day 1: 5   11-12   Total:   5  11-1248. William Cothran – Taedem Ashworth            Mt. Pleasant High School              0Day 1: 5   11-09   Total:   5  11-0948. Luke Lowery – Connor Rumohr                  Howell High School                    0Day 1: 5   11-09   Total:   5  11-0948. Gavyn Rapp – Israel Limon                    Black Swamp Youth Bass Club           0Day 1: 5   11-09   Total:   5  11-0948. Ryan Seitz – Brady Osborn                    Southeastern Bass Anglers             0Day 1: 5   11-09   Total:   5  11-0952. Dalton Polega – Sarah Hable                  Freeland High School                  0Day 1: 5   11-06   Total:   5  11-0653. C.J. Stanley – Colton Parten                 Rhea County Eagle Anglers             0Day 1: 5   11-02   Total:   5  11-0254. Stone Grove – Wyatt Hamilton                 Creek Wood High School                0Day 1: 5   11-01   Total:   5  11-0155. Corey Parsley – Weston Jude                  Martin County High School             0Day 1: 5   10-14   Total:   5  10-1456. Avery Shoemaker – Samuel Shoemaker           Buford High School                    0Day 1: 4   10-13   Total:   4  10-1357. Camden Judson – Will Gorrell                 Terre Haute North HS                  0Day 1: 5   10-12   Total:   5  10-1258. Hunter Kellogg – Tim Fulk                    Renegades Bass Club                   0Day 1: 5   10-08   Total:   5  10-0859. Connor Dobrinski – Gage Brouwer              Zeeland Fishhawx                      0Day 1: 5   10-06   Total:   5  10-0660. Riley Spytma – Trent Van Dam                 Reeths-Puffer High School             0Day 1: 5   10-04   Total:   5  10-0461. Henry Fox – Grady Schultz                    Fruitport High School                 0Day 1: 5   10-02   Total:   5  10-0262. Evan Ludlow – Mackenzie Taylor               Fruitport High School                 0Day 1: 5   10-02   Total:   5  10-0263. Dylan Mcgee – Caleb Kidder                   Licking Valley                        0Day 1: 4   09-09   Total:   4  09-0964. Aaron King –                                 Waupaca Junior Bass Busters           0Day 1: 5   09-07   Total:   5  09-0765. Kayden Waller – Andrew Schoenemann           Mt. Juliet high school                0Day 1: 3   09-03   Total:   3  09-0366. Carson Aarup – Kyle Smith                    Downeast Fishing                      0Day 1: 5   08-12   Total:   5  08-1267. William Hoskins – Joshua Vanderpool          Wilson Christian Academy              0Day 1: 3   08-12   Total:   3  08-1268. Jack Miner – Colin Hull                      Detroit Catholic Central              0Day 1: 3   08-10   Total:   3  08-1069. Annie Lassiter – Madison Pendergraph         warren county pioneer anglers         0Day 1: 4   08-08   Total:   4  08-0870. Remington Barkley – Carlie Mitchell          Hartland                              0Day 1: 4   08-06   Total:   4  08-0671. Connor Wallace – Sophia Balla                Howell High School                    0Day 1: 3   08-05   Total:   3  08-0572. Thomas Hinshaw –                             Northville High School                0Day 1: 3   07-00   Total:   3  07-0073. Cason Mcnutt –                               Mt Juliet High School                 0Day 1: 3   05-12   Total:   3  05-1274. Kolby Angell – Evan Powell                   Iowa youth fishing league             0Day 1: 3   05-08   Total:   3  05-0875. Connor Racine – Drew Brzys                   Dexter Highschool                     0Day 1: 2   05-07   Total:   2  05-0776. Alex Standerfer – Collin Mcglin              New London High School                0Day 1: 3   05-02   Total:   3  05-0277. Nathaniel Terbush – Dima Griffiths           Dexter High School                    0Day 1: 2   05-02   Total:   2  05-0278. Brendan Shinn – Owen Silverson               Dexter High School                    0Day 1: 3   04-10   Total:   3  04-1079. Jacob Policka – Collin Jolman                Fruitport High School                 0Day 1: 3   04-09   Total:   3  04-0980. Peter Duffy – Bryce Formsma                  GR Bass boys Northview                0Day 1: 2   04-08   Total:   2  04-0881. Matthew Wenzell – Nathaniel Wenzell          Midland High                          0Day 1: 3   04-07   Total:   3  04-0782. Jack Hay – Jakob Stamper                     howell high school                    0Day 1: 2   04-07   Total:   2  04-0783. Marco Wolf – Jake Maiberger                  Howell                                0Day 1: 1   04-01   Total:   1  04-0184. Paxton Giem – Nolan Little                   Boyne City High School                0Day 1: 2   03-15   Total:   2  03-1585. Blake Marcum – William Copley                Louisa Bass Club High School          0Day 1: 1   03-13   Total:   1  03-1386. Colin Oldfield – Mario Manzardo              Lakeland                              0Day 1: 2   03-06   Total:   2  03-0687. Jeffrey Mansfield – Garrett Schultz          Howell High School                    0Day 1: 1   02-14   Total:   1  02-1488. Mitch Porter – Chase Aaron                   White Lake Lakeland                   0Day 1: 1   02-11   Total:   1  02-1189. Miller Pomper – Louie Alpers                 Benzie Central                        0Day 1: 1   02-04   Total:   1  02-0490. Alex Decia – Jaylee Lesniak                  Howell High School                    0Day 1: 1   02-01   Total:   1  02-0191. Cayden Geurts – Andon Harwood                Freeland High School                  0Day 1: 1   02-00   Total:   1  02-0092. Chase Quillin – Hunter Alviar                Reeths-Puffer High School             0Day 1: 1   01-08   Total:   1  01-0893. Cougar Fagan – Caden Adams                   Michigan bass bandits                 0Day 1: 0   00-00   Total:   0  00-0093. Josh Garbarino – Nathan Akahoshi             Livonia                               0Day 1: 0   00-00   Total:   0  00-0093. Clay George – Wayland Adkisson               BGA Fishing Team                      0Day 1: 0   00-00   Total:   0  00-0093. Colter Mahabir – Matthew Swanson             Midland High School                   0Day 1: 0   00-00   Total:   0  00-0093. Miles Smith – Casen Rogers                   Central Lafourche High School         0Day 1: 0   00-00   Total:   0  00-0093. Logan Ware – Jack Romatz                     Midland High                          0Day 1: 0   00-00   Total:   0  00-00———————————————————————–BIG BASS OF TOURNDallas Taylor            Stilwell, OK        04-13          $0.00———————————————————————–TotalsDay   #Limits    #Fish      Weight1        63       384      1023-00———————————-63       384      1023-00

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