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June 4, 2025 | By: Gavin McGough
The competitors pictured are Jonas Lawler-White and Cale Denney, who won the tournament overall.
Hundreds of pounds of fish were caught at the tournament this weekend.
Melissa Hermann of Topeka, Kansas is weighing fish above the boat ramp at Mozingo Lake Park, a lot of fish. Surely a couple hundred pounds have been pulled from the water today by youth teams assembled across Kansas. They have travelled over state lines to Maryville for the Kansas Bass Nation Championship. Competition entails a long day in the heat waiting for a bite. Tate Hermann is the Youth Director of Bass Nation. He organizes the tournament along with his wife Melissa.
Tate's takeaways from day one: "We should have taken out a little earlier, so tomorrow we are going to take off at 5:45 instead of 6. It's a little tough out there but you have to grind and fish hard."
Their response on fishing in Missouri as opposed to Kansas: "It was all right, could've been better. We had about 11.8 pounds."
After today, they stand roughly in the middle of the pack, the top team reeled in just over 20 pounds of bass. Today's total is then added to the results of day 2 of competition. The winner gets to move onto Georgia where they will compete with Bass Nation Champions from across the country. Bass Nation is a nonprofit, aiming to promote the culture of bass fishing and to preserve waterways across the U.S. It supports a robust circuit of youth competitions."
Competitor Kyle Hermann along with his brother, Nick, caught over 18 pounds but he spent most of the day waiting.
"It is a long time between bites but when we get one, it is a good one." Kyle said. "Fishing is a lot like life and you just have to figure it out eventually and it makes the good days better".
Even more special teams are packing up for the afternoon and headed for a rest. They've got another early day of competition.
Mozingo Lake was chosen for the tournament because of its varied fishing terrain and its ample camping facilities.