On Feb. 22, senior Blane Holcombe and junior Gibson Huntley clinched a big win with a hefty bag of fish weighing 18.87 pounds. 

Their success led Chapman High School to a second-place finish.

Huntley said the victory was a defining moment for him.

“It felt awesome to go out here and get the dub on the lake that’s been messing me up the past couple of years,” he said. “It’s actually the lake I’ve struggled the most on, so it was awesome to go and win in front of the whole school and help the school come in second in the state.”

Temperatures were around 28 degrees in the morning, with ice forming on the boats. Despite the conditions, they caught fish throughout the day, adding to their total.

“In the morning, we pulled up to a ditch first thing, and they came up schooling,” Huntley said. “I threw my minnow in there and caught a 5-pound largemouth. I told my partner we just needed to keep working on it and expand on a pattern. Then we pulled into the next one, and he caught a couple of keepers. About 10:30, Blane caught a 7-pounder that really bumped us up there. We went throughout the day and filled our limit.”

Holcombe realized they had a solid shot at winning but knew the competition was tough.

“Throughout the day, I felt like we had a shot to win,” Holcombe said. “But knowing the people we were up against, anyone could come in with a bigger bag of fish.”

Catching a limit with around 200 boats on the water and plenty of pressure on the fish required preparation and knowledge of the lake’s patterns.

“A lot of rigging, a long day of practice the day before—we were really just trying to dial in the patterns they were on,” Huntley said. “I told my partner we were going to have to be very precise because we were fishing a lot of timber and had to keep our lines with no fray on them to be as prepared as possible.”

Their preparation paid off.

“We practiced out on the water before the tournament and fished the areas where we knew the fish should be from previous trips,” Holcombe said. “We tried locating the fish instead of catching them.”

As the day went on and the bag got heavier, they realized they had a chance to win.

“After I caught that first big one, I was like: we’ve got our kicker,” Huntley said. “But it ended up not even being the biggest one we had. Me and Blane have never caught a fish in that lake over 5 pounds, so it was a crazy feeling. I was like: we need to catch 20 pounds. We were happy and knew we had a chance to win.”

Holcombe’s 7-pound catch sealed the deal.

“When I caught the 7-pounder, it was an exciting moment,” Holcombe said. “It’s not super common to catch one that big in Hartwell, especially in a tournament. When we got it in the net, I knew we had a shot to win. We already had one that weighed 5 pounds, and we just needed three more quality fish.”