Nation High School Championship on Clark’s Hill Lake in Evans, Georgia.

Hi. Our names are Dash Arterburn and Brett Cumberland and we are on the Linganore High
School Bass Fishing Team. Last October we fished in the Maryland B.A.S.S. Nation High
School Championship on the Potomac River. We came in first place with a total weight of 13.33
lbs. Fishing in the state championship was a great experience that we will never forget, it was
cool to experience something like that because everyone was able to come together and share
the great sport of fishing. We also cooked out afterwards with hot dogs and burgers and it was
so nice to sit and talk about how everyone caught their fish.

After winning the championship, we had the awesome opportunity to be qualified to fish in the
High School National Championship on Clark’s Hill Lake in Evans, Georgia. We drove down on
Sunday, July 27 early in the morning to immediately get on the water. Due to the late July heat,
the water temperature was a whopping 97 degrees, something we have never seen before. We
practiced for 2 days, and it was extremely hot and muggy. With the water temperature being so
high it made fishing extremely difficult and new. We managed to land some nice bass and, to
our surprise, a giant alligator gar. After the two long practice days we had a day off. We took
that day to tie up some tackle and rest for the big day.

Thursday morning came and the excitement was overwhelming. Following long debates, we
decided to flip trees with a baby brush hog and a jig. We caught our 3-fish limit with a total
weight of 5lbs 10oz. During the second day we took a 30-mile run up the lake to flip more trees
that we found during practice. There was one specific tree that we found a heron at the base of,
and our boat captain, Brian Trieschman, said “that’s the world’s greatest fisherman.” A few
minutes later, on that same tree, we were able to land a 3lb spotted bass. After the second day
concluded we ended with a little bit better of a day with our 3-fish limit of 6lbs 15oz.
Unfortunately, we were unable to qualify in the top 25 for Championship Day fishing. We ended
up finishing in 125th place out of 249 boats in the tournament.

Dash’s favorite part about the tournament was being able to walk across the stage and weigh in
the fish. Brett’s favorite part of the tournament was being able to learn so much by meeting
other high school fisherman just like us. On behalf of both of us, we would like to give a great
big shoutout to Maryland B.A.S.S. Nation for giving us the opportunity to compete in the
tournament. We sure hope we can qualify again next year!