Brother-sister duo wins North Carolina High School Fishing State Championship

Courtesy Student Angler Federation

Kristopher and Chelsey Queen from Bandys High School took 1st place at the North Carolina High School Fishing State Championship.

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The brother and sister team of Kristopher and Chelsey Queen from Bandys High School are well on their way in the world of tournament bass fishing.

The siblings, who traveled to Russellville, Ark., last year and finished third in the prestigious High School Fishing World Finals, captured the 2012 North Carolina State High School Bass Fishing Championship March 17 with an incredible four fish weight of 21.80 pounds.

The big sack was anchored by a 7.39-pound kicker that Chelsea landed from the back of the boat on a spinner bait casting around High Point Lake’s fallen timber.

“That was an incredible day of fishing,” said Kristopher. “We didn’t catch a lot of fish but those four were just huge.

“We concentrated on fishing water that was two to three foot deep and had some structure like fallen trees and stumps. I fished the front of the boat with Berkley creature baits while Chelsea followed behind me with a spinner blade. She actually caught the two biggest fish in our bag so I’m glad she was back there.”

“We did a lot of dancing when we landed that 7-pounder,” said Chelsea. “That’s the biggest fish that I’ve ever caught and I haven’t been out on the water much since we went to Russellville last summer, so I’m pretty happy to start off the season like that.”

Finishing second was the team of Zack Bodford and Daniel Everhart from West Forsyth High School who had three fish that weighed 10.88 pounds.

Tanner McMahan and Travis Rigo from Weddington High finished third with two fish weighing 10.75 pounds for the second annual event.

The North Carolina Bass Federation provided the equipment and volunteer manpower for the event, which was sponsored by the Salisbury-Rowan County Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The winners will also advance on to compete in the Southern Regional competition which will take place next fall in conjunction with the FLW College Regional Championship series. Winning at that level will advance them on the High School National Championship sponsored by The Bass Federation and the FLW Outdoors.

For information on how to join the newest high school sport of bass fishing, visit www.HighSchoolFishing.org. You can also find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/hsfishing or on Twitter @hs_fishing.