SETX High School Tournament Draws Record Field

Texas organization continues to raise the bar for high school events

Everything is bigger in Texas: the bass, the barbeque and now high school bass fishing tournaments.

On Dec. 5th, the Southeast Texas (SETX) High School Fishing Association held a whopping 490-boat tournament on Sam Rayburn Reservoir. It was the largest high school tournament of all time.

“Last year we had an event with 376 teams in it and averaged close to 350 teams per event throughout the season,” says John Salamone, tournament director and emcee for SETX. “We could have put 600 teams in this event with schools from Louisiana, but we felt we should cap it because we didn’t know what it would be like handling all of these teams.”

Of course, to operate an event of this size requires plenty of helping hands behind the scenes.

“We have a board of directors that helps make all of this possible,” continues Salamone. “Without Clint Fountain, Tom Selman, Bryan Thomas, Paul Squire, Shawn Butler, Ted O’Dell and Ray Beck none of this would happen. Not to mention the countless volunteers who help out, from coordinating parking to bumping fish. The best part is that each and every person is a volunteer. Nobody is paid a penny to be there. We figure if we aren’t in it for the kids we aren’t going to do it.”

The team event launched out of the Umphrey Pavilion on Saturday, and the field fished from 6:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. Each two-angler team competed for a five-bass limit.

After nearly 790 fish were weighed and the scale closed the duo of Trace O’Dell and Matthew Martin took the win with a limit weighing a little more than 20 pounds, which included an 8-pound kicker.

Martin and O’Dell claimed $2,000 in scholarship money.

“We paid down 49 places in this last event,” Salamone says. “We pay an average of $20,000 at each event. We also hold some money back for the championship at the end of the year, which pays $90,000 in total. All of the money we get goes right back to the kids.”

Salamone says that due to the high level of interest and growing nature of high school fishing that he expects SETX to average 450 teams per event in 2016.

For more information, visit setxhighschoolfishing.com