After a weekend full of fishing in Hiawassee, the Basscats scored a second place finish in the junior division and qualified a team to go to Paris, Tennessee for the Bassmaster’s Junior National Championship.

After qualifying for state on the last day of the last possible tournament this spring, the pairing of Caleb Reynolds and Lex Thompson have punched their ticket to nationals. However, the rest of the team struggled.

“It was a really tough lake for most of our teams to fish,” said coach Roy Matthews. “It just doesn’t fish like Seminole.”

The difference in the way the lakes fishes caused problems for the Basscats, despite some teams participating in pre-fishing all week before the tournament.

Reynolds and Thompson’s second place finish came off of a net weight of 7.67 pounds on the weekend. The first place team weighed in at 10.23.

“It’s great that we did have a team qualify for nationals that’s worked hard,” said Matthews. “Every team out there didn’t give up. Even though they weren’t catching anything, they just kept throwing it.”

In the senior division, Bryson Arthur and Kyler Duke were the top finishing Basscat team. The pairing finished in 14th place.

For Reynolds and Thompson, their national competition takes place this coming weekend, June 19-24.