PC fishing competes in World Finals
The Phil Campbell fishing team competed in the High School Fishing World Finals last week at Pickwick Lake. There were 330 boats representing 33 states.
Phil Campbell entered three boats in the four-day competition: Dakota Mansell and Isaac Cummings (boat captain Shane Mansell), Logan Hill and Cade Baker (boat captain Kevin Hill) and Eli Jackson and Trenton Clark (boat captain Eric Jackson).
Wednesday and Thursday of the competition, teams competed against others from the same state, and the top two from each state advanced to the semifinal round Friday. All others competed in a second chance round Friday.
Day one, Mansell and Cummings had a total weight of 11 pounds, 8 ounces; Hill and Baker had 4 pounds, 6 ounces; and Jackson and Clark had 7 pounds, 12 ounces. Day two, Mansell and Cummings has 16 pounds, 4 ounces; Hill and Baker had 12 pounds, 13 ounces; and Jackson and Clark had 6 pounds, 13 ounces.
After two days of fishing, Mansell and Cummings were sitting in 17th place and third from Alabama, barely missing the cut by 1 pound, 6 ounces. All three boats headed into day three in the second chance round, starting with zero weight.
Day three proved to be tougher, with deteriorating weather conditions and the amount of bait that had been on the water all week. Mansell and Cummings caught two fish with a total weight of 9 pounds, 2 ounces. Mansell caught a 7-pound largemouth bass.
After day three Mansell and Cummings finished in 66th place, Hill and Baker finished in 115th place and Jackson and Clark finished in 159th place. There were more than 250 boats in the second chance competition. None of them made the cut to the finals on day four.