Altizer And West Win SAF Championship At West Point

By Randy Sullivan

For the first time in a couple of years we were able to get the Georgia SAF High School State Championship in without any rain. We had a beautiful morning for the take-off on Feb. 24 on West Point, and the first half of the day was calm as glass. However, that changed as the noon hour approached and the winds showed up in force.  Some teams reported that the winds made the fish bite better, while other teams said the bite slowed down as soon as the wind started blowing. Either way we had a great event with more than 100 high-school teams participating, and most of them all weighed in fish.

The Adairsville team of William Altizer and Kasin West bested the field to claim the victory with a limit that weighed 17-03 pounds. Finishing in second place was Caden O’Neal and Matthew Wright with 14-13 pounds. Third place belonged to the South Forsyth War Eagle team of Reese Mutter and Charles Roberts with a nice limit of 13-15 pounds. Rounding out the top-five teams were Owen Wiggins and Bill Gaines with 13-11 pounds and the Newnan Cougar team of Gage Smith and Tayson Harrison with 12-14 pounds.

The Lew’s Big Bass award also went to the winners, William Altizer and Kadin West for their 5-08 lunker largemouth. They each received a Lew’s Reel for their efforts.

West Point Lake seemed to fish pretty well as 73 of the 103 teams weighed in at least one fish. The most popular method of catching them seemed to be fishing offshore in about 8 to 15 feet of water. Ned Rigs, drop shots and Carolina rigs were the popular choices on places like long, sloping points and channel swings that ran up close to the banks. Other teams caught fish on crawfish-colored crankbaits, jerkbaits, ChatterBaits and spinnerbaits.

For full tournament results and pictures CLICK HERE.

Here are the top-10 teams from the SAF State Championship on West Point.