Cove duo bring home top-10 finish at tourney
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By John Hartsock
jhartsock@altoonamirror
Last summer, the team of Jerry Brumbaugh, Jr. and Hunter Klotz, both of Central High School, won first place in the High School (Bass) Fishing National Championship event in South Carolina.
So when Brumbaugh, Jr., a recent Central graduate, and Dalton Metzger, who will be a senior at Central this fall, entered this year's 13th Annual High School Fishing National Championship and World Finals competition June 22-25 on Pickwick and Wilson Lakes in Florence, Ala., they were facing a very tough act to follow.
This year's team didn't bring home another championship, but turned in an exemplary performance nonetheless.
The Brumbaugh-Metzger team finished ninth among 218 overall boats in the national event, and 19th among 415 overall boats in the World competition.
"Any time you're in the top 10 in a competition with hundreds of boats involved, you're doing good,'' Brumbaugh, Jr. said. "It's not like a baseball tournament, where if you don't go out there and get first place, it's a bad outing.''
In the three-day high school competition June 22-24, the Texas team of Fallon Clepper and Wyatt Ford won the title by catching a three-day sum of nine bass weighing a total of 39 pounds, nine ounces. Clepper became the first female angler ever to win a national high school bass fishing championship.
Brumbaugh, Jr. and Metzger's total catch of nine bass weighing 28 pounds, nine ounces overall earned them the ninth-place finish in the national event and a berth in the World Finals on June 25.
The Virginia team of Wes Newman and Kendall Hatch won first place in the World Finals with an overall catch weighing a total of 13 pounds, seven ounces. The Brumbaugh-Metzger duo -- which fished out of a Ranger bass boat that was commandeered by Brumbaugh's father, Jerry Brumbaugh, Sr. -- caught fish with a total weight of six pounds, 10 ounces en route to their 19thplace overall finish.
As the top finishing team from Pennsylvania in the World event, Brumbaugh, Jr. and Metzger earned $4,000 apiece in college scholarship money to attend Tiffin University in Ohio, which has a competitive bass fishing team.
Brumbaugh, Jr. is already enrolled for his freshman year this fall at Adrian College in Michigan, where he will major in business management and also compete as a member of that school's bass fishing team. Brumbaugh Jr, has received a full scholarship to Adrian through his performances at various prestigious bass fishing competitions, including the national high school championship and World Finals.
Brumbaugh Jr. and Metzger fished very well in torrid Alabama heat where the temperature reached 100 degrees each day and the fishing was slow because of heavy fishing pressure on the waterfrom recently-completed professional and college tournaments.
"The first day, we did really well, but as the days went on, the fishing kept getting tougher and tougher every day,'' Metzger said. "The water temperature was like 90 degrees, and whenever it gets like that, the fish just buckle up and don't want to do anything.
"It was a great experience, though,'' Metzger added. "I'm just happy that I could go and experience something like that.''
Brumbaugh pointed out that Metzger will be undergoing a tonsillectomy soon, and fought through considerable physical pain to complete the four-day event.
"Dalton and I worked together pretty well,'' Brumbaugh said. "He took some medication, grinded through the week, and fished real well.''
As a college student now, Brumbaugh will be moving on to other bass fishing ventures. If possible, Metzger plans to return to this event next year.
"Since Jerry has graduated high school, I'm going to have to find a new fishing partner,'' Metzger said. "But I definitely want to do this tournament again. It was a lot of fun.''