This past weekend, junior fisherman Brayden Elliot won the THSBA tournament at Lake O’ the Pines. Elliott came in with a sack of 21.04 pounds that included a big fish weighing in at 7.64 pounds.

“To prepare for the tournament, I spent over 60 hours on the lake, looked over maps and researched the lake,” Elliott said.

In the second tournament of the year, Elliott fished against 172 other teams. He received $2,500 in scholarship money provided by the Texas High School Bass Association, ($2,000 for first place and $500 for big bass). 

“At first, I couldn’t believe that it happened,” Elliott said.  “I looked down at my graph and saw that I only had 2 minutes left. Before my final catch, I only had about 13 pounds between four fish, that weight would have had me around 20th place. After my fifth fish, I had over 21 pounds, and got the win. Without that last catch, I wouldn’t have won.”