Tallassee anglers Brandon Goodman and Eli McCraney have been friends since childhood, when they spent their days on the lake casting and reeling. Things have changed for them since then, but things have also stayed the same.
Goodman and McCraney, incoming seniors at Tallassee High School, competed at the annual Strike King Bassmaster High School National Championship on Clarks Hill Lake, just outside of Augusta, Georgia.
Submitted / TPI
Brandon Goodman (left) poses with his angling teammate Eli McCraney (right) at the Bassmaster High School National Championship.
“It was great,” boat captain John Goodman said. “It was three or four days of 120 degree heat index and it was with fishermen from all over the country, and even Canada. So it was a great experience.”
The championship demands long days and early mornings, as fishing began at first light – around 4 a.m. – and didn’t end until about 12 hours later. The anglers finished 126th out of 249 who were competing, but the competition was fierce and the results were neck-and-neck.
“It was like ounces,” Goodman said. “A pound more and they could have been up in the top 50. So it was tight, but it was great. They did super well for their first time in Nationals and it was a very good experience.”
The boys qualified for nationals at a Bassmaster High School Open at Harris Chain in central Florida in July.
“We went down to Harris Chain,” Brandon Goodman said. “We were down there for a few days, getting used to the water and we ended up placing second with 18 pounds and two ounces.”
These competitions require lots of preparation and due diligence, it’s not just putting the boat on the lake and setting off to catch fish. “(Learning the lake) helps a lot when you know what the fish are feeding on and all that,” Goodman said. “It just gives you a little bit more of an edge. You have to know the bite, because each fish is going to bite differently.”
Goodman and his father, the boat captain, spent a lot of time preparing for Nationals. They wanted to secure as much of an edge as they could, especially as they knew they would be competing against some of the best amateur fishers in the U.S. and Canada.
“Me and my dad both stayed up and just watched videos throughout the whole month,” Goodman said. “Leading up to the tournament, you have to just research how each body of water is different, and just the areas, or which areas are more likely to have bigger fish than the other areas, which ones are not going to be as pressured.”
While the anglers didn’t place as high as they would have liked, they can chalk it up to experience and shoot to be back to compete next year.