CLARENDON COUNTY, S.C. — Tripp Parks III and Russell Gibson only ran a mile to catch the winning bag of bass at the 2026 Strike King Bassmaster High School Series at Santee Cooper Lakes.
The Clarks Hill High School duo caught 26 pounds, 11 ounces to claim the title, narrowly edging out the second-place team of Hudson Logan and Weston Rigsby from the A1 Anglers Fishing Team. It is the biggest bag either of the high schoolers have landed in a tournament setting.
“We couldn’t be more blessed,” Gibson, a junior, said.
Gibson and Parks were aiming to qualify for the 2026 Strike King Bassmaster High School National Championship through their state series, where they sit second in points. With the win, they advance to Nationals, a sigh of relief and an instant release of pressure.
“These boys have been fishing really hard together for the last two years. We made Nationals through the state last year,” boat captain Woody Parks said. “When they put their heads down and fish, they are as good as anybody.
“We cranked the motor one time today.”
Parks, who is committed to Erskine College, had only visited Santee Cooper a couple times as an elementary schooler, and Gibson had never fished the mammoth fishery before this week.
Practice was a struggle for Parks and Gibson, but in one patch of grass in a pocket in Taw Caw Creek, they landed two keeper bites and decided that’s where they were going to start.
“We got lucky,” Parks said. “We caught two fish back-to-back in practice, a 4-pounder and a 3-pounder. We weren’t on anything else, so that’s where we went this morning.”
That decision was rewarded almost immediately, as they caught two 6-pounders to start the morning. They stayed in the pocket the rest of the day, catching the majority of their bag before 10 a.m.
The duo threw Z-Man JackHammers and Speed Worms through the scattered hydrilla. Parks said most of the largemouth they caught were postspawn and they were using that grass as a staging point before moving out to summer holes.
“It was a big time bedding area, and they were starting to come off the beds. I feel like they were staging in the grass before going back out,” Parks said.
Logan and Rigsby earned second with 26-7 while Logan Parker and Hudson Howell of the Cherokee Bass Team finished third with 26-4. Ten bags weighing 20 pounds or better crossed the stage on Sunday.
Eli Ellege and Aaron Crawford caught the Big Bass of the Tournament, a 7-9 largemouth.
This event was hosted by Santee Cooper Country.
2026 BassmasterHigh SchoolSeries Title Sponsor: Strike King
2026 BassmasterHigh SchoolSeries Platinum Sponsor: Progressive, Toyota
2026 BassmasterHigh SchoolSeries Premier Sponsors: Bass Pro Shops, Humminbird, Mercury, Minn Kota, Nitro Boats, Ranger Boats, Rapala, Skeeter Boats, Yamaha
2026 BassmasterHigh SchoolSeries Supporting Sponsors: AFTCO, Daiwa, Lew’s, Lowrance, Phoenix Boats, VMC, Yokohama
2026 BassmasterHigh SchoolSeries Youth Sponsors: Seaguar
