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St. Louis, Mo. – Missouri The Bass Federation announced today the 2025 schedule, entry form and rules for the Missouri-TBF Junior and High School Fishing Trail.  Both trail divisions offer prizes, skill development and the opportunity for student anglers to showcase their talent on a national stage at the 2025 TBF Junior World Championship or TBF Student Angler Federation High School Fishing  World Final and National Championship.  These are NO entry fee tournaments, anglers need to be a TBF Junior or a TBF Student Angler Federation High School Member for the division they fish (cost $25).

The 2025 Missouri-TBF Junior and High School Trail will feature teams competing in four tournaments.  We have already completed one tournament on October 6, 2024 at Mark Twain Lake that will be scored for Angler of Year points for the 2025 season.  Our first and second spring 2025 events on March 15 (MO State Championship) & March 16 (Regular Trail Tournament) at Table Rock Lake will be held in conjunction with the adult Missouri-TBF Qualifier #1 Tournament.  This will allow students and parents to network with Ozark region and national championship competitors to share information, ask questions and build contacts for future events.  Our final event will be held on April 12-13 at Truman Lake.  This will be a 2-day Super Tournament with double points being awarded for Angler of Year standings.  This 2-day event will give the Junior and High School Anglers a chance to showcase their skill in a multiday event, better preparing them to compete in the National Championship.

Missouri TBF Junior & High School Trail Tournaments are two-person (team) events for Juniors (8th grade and under) and for High School (grades 7-12), and open to any TBF Junior or TBF Student Angler Federation (SAF) – affiliated school / high school club or unattached members.  Anglers are required to have an active 2025 membership for the Junior or High School division that they fish.  There are two-ways to advance.  The top 10% of the field in the March 15 State Championship Tournament will advance to their respective National Championship.  For the Missouri-TBF Trail Tournaments one team will advance for every 20 unique teams that compete across all of the Trail Tournaments.

The 2025 Junior National Championship lake and dates will be announced in April/May, 2025.

2024 Junior World Championship Top Finishers, Lake Hartwell, Anderson, South Carolina

The 2025 High School Fishing World Final and National Championship will be held at Grand Lake, Grove, Oklahoma on June 24-28, 2025.

2024 TBF SAF High School National Championship Winners, Lake Hartwell, Anderson, South Carolina

2024 TBF SAF World Finals Top Finishers, Lake Hartwell, Anderson, South Carolina

TBF annually hosts the longest running and  premier Junior and High School Angler events in the United States.   Put your team on the path to advance by fishing the Missouri-TBF Junior & High School Fishing Trail in 2025.

For the entry form and rules for the Missouri-TBF Junior and High School Fishing Trail click the links below.

2025 MO-TBF Trail Entry Form

2025 TBF Junior Rules

2025 TBF SAF High School Rules

For questions and additional information contact Chris Dougan, President – Missouri The Bass Federation.

Fall fishing can be very fickle, and September 28 – 29  for the 2024 TBF National Semifinal at Grand Lake in northeast Oklahoma was no different.  Anglers were greeted with above average temperatures and little to no rainfall for several weeks.

During practice leading up to the event anglers reported tough conditions.  While finding fish wasn’t a problem for most, it was finding quality fish that the anglers would need if they were going to find themselves atop the leaderboard during the two-day event.

As participants gathered at Wolf Creek ramp on Grand Lake Saturday morning, they were faced with a strong warm 14 mph wind and very little cloud cover.  As the day went on any cloud cover disappeared and air temps rose to the low to mid 80’s and water temps hovered in the high 70’s.

As day one concluded and anglers started to check back in by the first flights 3pm cut off, a couple of things were becoming clear, Grands 12-inch length limit was going to be a huge part of the fish weighed-in, and a big bass was going to make the difference in an angler separating themselves from the field.

When day one came to an end it was Landen Cole (OK) leading the boater side for District 6 with five bass for 15.11 pounds, and Greg Dennis (AR) leading the co-anglers for District 6 with 5 fish for 12.35 pounds.  District 7 Boater Jordan Williams (MO) five bass for 15.05 put him in leader position and Missouri co-angler Sam Heckman’s five bass for an impressive 15.96 pounds would put him in the lead and it  would give him a 5-pound lead over second place Kyle Klein from Kansas.

Day two was a carbon copy of day one with one very noticeable difference, very little wind.  This made the morning boat ride more enjoyable, but made some leery at take-off that it would affect their bite.  As the day grew close to the noon hour the wind picked up, but only with gusts up to 8-mph.

2024 TBF District 6 (AR/OK) National Semifinal Top Boaters and Co-anglers 

When day two’s fishing reached an end, it was time for District 6 to cross the scales first.  Much of the same was true for day two, anglers that found average to above average fish were rewarded for the efforts.  When weigh-in concluded it was District 6 Boater – Bradley Sullivan (OK) being crowned District 6 Boater Champion and punching his ticket to the 2025 Federation National Championship with a two-day 10 bass limit of 32.05 pounds.  Bradley’s day two bag was anchored with a 7.41-pound Big Bass.  Punching the District 6 Co-angler Champion ticket to the 2025 Federation National Championship was Charles Lawrence (OK).  His two-day 10 bass total tipped the scales at 20.86 pounds.

District 6 Boaters and Co-anglers advancing to the 2025 Federation National Championship:

• Arkansas: Blake Wilson – Boater, Greg Dennis – Co-angler
• Oklahoma: Bradley Sullivan – Boater, Charles Lawrence – Co-angler

2024 TBF District 7 (KS/MO) National Semifinal Top Boaters and Co-anglers 

On day two District 7 was the last flight to weigh in.  After a stellar performance on day one Jordan Williams (MO) would not be denied a trip to the 2025 Federation National Championship!  His two-day 10 bass limit weighed in at 28.79 pounds giving him over a six-pound advantage over second place Don Heiser (MO) and third place Jordan Dibben (MO).  Mr. Williams reported doing most of his damage on a jig while staying close to take off fishing boat docks that looked “fishy”.

District 7 Co-anglers also looked very similar to day-one results with Sam Heckman (MO) earning trip number seven to the Federation National Championship.  Sam was able to keep a three-pound lead on day two over Kansas’ co-angler Kyle Klein and a 5-pound gap over Missouri’s Troy Richter who was coming off his first ever trip in 2024 to the Federation National Championship.  Sam said if it wasn’t for such good boaters his win wouldn’t have been possible.  Sam reported he caught most of his fish behind his boaters on a green pumpkin finesse style worm in the mid-lake area.

District 7 Boaters and Co-anglers advancing to the 2025 Federation National Championship:

• Kansas: Justin Russell – Boater, Kyle Klein – Co-angler
• Missouri: Jordan Williams – Boater, Sam Heckman – Co-angler

2024 District 6/7 NSF Combine Boater Champion – Bradley Sullivan

2024 District 6/7 Combine National Semifinal Co-angler Champion – Sam Heckman

The overall 2024 Combine Boater and Co-angler Champions across the full District 6 and 7 angler field:

• 2024 Combine Boater Champion: Bradley Sullivan (OK) – 32.05 pounds
• 2024 Combine Co-angler Champion: Sam Heckman (MO) – 24.54 pounds

Congratulations to all the TBF District 6 and 7 winners and especially to the Boaters and Co-anglers from each state advancing to the 2025 Federation National Championship!

This was the first of a four-year experiment for The Bass Federation in having four states making up two districts to compete in a dual District National Semifinal event.  Presidents from Oklahoma, Missouri, Arkansas, and Kansas oversaw this event with the help of many volunteers from each state. In 2025 Missouri will be the host state with the event held at Table Rock Lake located in southwest Missouri. This will be an excellent venue for anglers to showcase their talent with various techniques on another world class Ozarks region tournament fishery.

Author:  Matt Hyde, 2024