Roberts and Blanks Grind Out Tough Victory - Major League Fishing

Roberts and Blanks Grind Out Tough Victory

George Washington High team wins High School Northern Regional
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Jerry Roberts and Tanner Blanks worked through a tough day to earn the High School Fishing Northern Regional title. Photo by David A. Brown. Anglers: Tanner Blanks, Junior Roberts.
September 3, 2011 • MLF • Archives

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. (Sept. 3, 2011) – Jerry Roberts, Ringgold, Va., and Tanner Blanks, South Boston, Va., from George Washington High won the High School Northern Regional tournament held on Sayers Lake Saturday, Sept. 3. TBF along with FLW Outdoors held the high school tournament in conjunction with the FLW College Fishing Northern Regional.

The team representing the state of Virginia had four bass weighing 8 pounds, 4 ounces to beat Chariho Regional High School by 4 pounds, 9 ounces. The winning team will advance to the 2012 High School Fishing National Championship for a chance to win a $10,000 scholarship ($5,000 to each team member).

“We had a pretty tough day,” said Blanks. “We really had to take our time and get down there deepJerry Roberts and Tanner Blanks fished dropshots and Senkos on Sayers Lake. where the fish were. We were fishing between 10 and 25 feet using wacky-rigged green pumpkin black flake Senkos and drop -shotting 4 1/2-inch Roboworms. We threw the Senko in the grass and got our big fish. The dropshot produced more fish.”

“It was slow and we really had to grind it out to get what we got,” Roberts said. “We caught one real early and then we caught one about every hour.”

Roberts said he hopes to parlay his high school fishing success to greater involvement at the collegiate level. “I want to go to Virginia Tech and fish for their bass club.”

State champions from Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia and West Virginia were invited to compete.

Lowell Turner shows off a nice bass for second-place Chariho Regional High School.Rounding out the teams were:

2nd: Chariho Regional High School, Lowell Turner III, Bradford, R.I., and John Ryan, Hope Valley, R.I., 2 bass, 3-11

3rd: West Side High School, Henry Schomaker, Pineville, W. Va., and Phillip Browning, Cyclone, W. Va., 1 bass, 2-15

4th: South Burlington High School, Jamison Gott, Georgia, Vt., and Ben Seaman, Colchester, Vt., 1 bass, 2-4

5th: Plattsburgh Senior High School, Marshall Maynard, Plattsburgh, N.Y., and Jeremey Barber,West Side High Plattsburgh, N.Y., 1 bass, 1-5

6th: H.C. Wilcox Technical School, Justin and Alia Dingle, South Meriden, CT, 0 bass, 0-0

The winning team was determined by the heaviest weight for a maximum of five bass. The winning team from each of five regional championships advances to 2012 High School Fishing National Championship.

Coverage of the FLW College Northern Regional Championship will be broadcast in high-definition (HD) on VERSUS. “FLW Outdoors,” will air Nov. 6 from 1 – 2 p.m. ET. “FLW Outdoors,” hosted by Jason Harper, is broadcast to approximately 500 million households worldwide.

ABOUT FLW OUTDOORS

FLW Outdoors is the best in fishing, on and off the water. Anglers worldwide can compete for millions over the course of 191 tournaments in 2011. FLW Outdoors has taken fishing mainstream with the world’s richest fantasy sports game, FLW Fantasy Fishing presented by Straight Talk, where competitors can play for free as well as sign up for Player’s Advantage to gain an edge. For more information about FLW Outdoors and FLW Fantasy Fishing, visit FLWOutdoors.com or FantasyFishing.com.