Season’s First GHSA Bass Tournament Hosted On Seminole

Bainbridge High School anglers Hayden Reynolds and Caleb Logue won the first GHSA tournament of the season. It was hosted Jan. 20 on Lake Seminole.

On Jan. 20, the GHSA hosted its first tournament of the 2024 season on Lake Seminole. Though temperatures hovered below freezing for most of the event, Bainbridge High School anglers Hayden Reynolds and Caleb Logue managed to bring an impressive bag of fish to the weigh-in that went just over 19 pounds, helping them secure their second win this month on the Big Pond in Bainbridge.

“Conditions were a lot different in this tournament than they were in the Florida Bass Nation event they won a couple of weeks ago,” said Lance Reynolds, the duo’s boat captain.

“We went out and fished some on Martin Luther King Day, but the boys didn’t really get on a good bite. We knew on tournament morning the weather was going to play a big factor in our overall strategy.”

After blasting off the morning of the tournament, the team made the pivotal decision to head to what locals refer to as the Cypress Pond. Located near Seminole State Park in the Fish Pond Drain section of the lake, this area offered some protection from the wind and cleaner water than other areas in the lake.

“Normally we have a strategy, but that day we knew we were going to have to just go fishing and see what would happen,” said Hayden.

Despite not getting a bite in the first hour of the tournament, the young anglers stayed focused.

“We were throwing a black-and-chartreuse crankbait in about 20 feet of water and cranking it down to about 17 feet or so. It was slow but we were confident we’d find some fish stacked up somewhere,” said Caleb.

By 11:45, things were on the upswing. With three decent fish in the livewell, the anglers we’re hoping for a big bite to help build on their total weight.

Suddenly, Hayden hooked into a good fish and struggled to bring it up beside the boat. Finally, after several tense moments, Caleb managed to net the 6-lb. fish and a half second later the crankbait shook free.

The anglers managed to finish out their limit, with no more action the remainder of the afternoon.

“We knew we had a good bag headed in, but we didn’t know if it was enough to win. With that many boats on Seminole, someone’s gonna have some good fish,” said Hayden.

The 19.10-lb. bag of fish was good enough for the win and punched their ticket to the state championship later this year.

The finish is impressive but also well deserved as the team of anglers have been working at the sport and fishing tournaments together since elementary school.

“I told Hayden back in fifth grade to pick a partner and stick with him. Him and Caleb have been teammates ever since,” said Lance.

The pair of tenth graders also won last year’s GHSA event on Seminole and have racked up other impressive finishes in both GHSA and B.A.S.S. events. With more than two years of high-school eligibility remaining, it’s fair to say these anglers have a bright future ahead.

Full results are at GHSA.net.