Owl anglers finish sixth

Anglers from five boats had keepers for the Anderson-Shiro High School bass fishing team during its most recent tournament.

Anderson-Shiro finished with nine fish caught at the Feb. 15 tournament on Toledo Bend Lake. Their group weight of 22.63 pounds was sixth most among the 23 schools represented.

Montgomery finished first in the tournament with 77 fish caught at 188.16 pounds. Twenty-nine of its boat pairs had keepers.

Keith Bradford and Colton Wichman fished together and led Anderson-Shiro with three catches for a total of 7.33 pounds.

Sophomore Wichman, who has been on the team two years, caught two fish. The first, about 18 inches and 2.5 pounds, was caught at the first cast, he said. The other keepers were caught late in the day, but all three catches were in shallow water. “We fished deep, and there were no bites,” he said.

Wichman said he fishes every other day, yet he had not fished on Toledo Bend until the tournament. “It was a very tough day,” he said.

The pairs of Wyatt Marek and Jonathan Ritchie and Seth and Duncan Benton each had two keepers. Marek caught one fish, about 2.5 to 3 pounds, for his boat. “We caught two in the first 10 minutes,” said the sophomore, a first-year member of the team.

He said he and Ritchie caught their fish in shallow, clear water not far from the shoreline.

Fishing without a teammate, Shelbi Belinowski caught a fish weighing 3.51 pounds. She was by herself in a boat during the October tournament too and had one keeper there.

Joseph Mancuso and Drew Wagner also had one catch.