BLOOMFIELD, N.M. — Utah’s Jordan Lochhead has been bass fishing for just three years, but he seemed a seasoned pro today as he edged Colorado’s Seth Willard in the 15-18 age bracket to advance to the Junior World Championship later this year. In the 11-14 group, Washington’s Tanner Boday squeezed past Colorado’s Josh Villa by just an ounce.
A member of the High Country Junior Bass Club, Lochhead also seemed a real pro at telling fish stories as he related how he caught the final keeper, which gave him an 8-9 limit. The bass hit his tube twice and twice he missed it, he said.
“Then I hooked it, but my line broke. I retied, put on another tube and the fish hit again. This time I got him in and there was my first tube deep in his mouth.”
The 18-year-old senior from North Ogden caught all of his keepers on a tube rigged on a jighead, with the bite spread throughout the day. He dragged the bait along the bottom around big rocks and “transition” areas, he explained.
The Day Three bite was considerably better than what he experienced during two days of practice, when he caught just one fish and lost another. “Mostly we just figured out the lake, and then I got help from the team,” said the Utah angler who credited his friend Tyler Ivie for introducing him to bass fishing.
Boday also caught just one bass during practice. “It was kind of hard,” said the member of the Tri-City River Runners. “But we saw guys on the other side of the channel catching fish and that was where we headed the first thing this morning.”
The 13-year-old from Moses Lake quickly caught his two keepers on Day Three, with one coming on a crankbait and the other on a jerkbait. He pulled both of them out of water between rocks, he said.
This is Tanner’s second time as a Junior state champion for Washington, added father Jeff Boday. “We live between Potholes Reservoir and Moses Lake,” he said. “Those are the best waters in the state for bass and so he gets lots of practice.”