All about that bass
<p>Jakobe Akins, left, and Nate Kimberling, right, at the state qualifying championships at Brownlee Reservoir. The two 15-year-old boys will be competing in a national bass fishing competition August 4 - 6. - courtesy photo</p>
Nate Kimberling and Jakobe Akins, two sophomores from Lake City High School, are headed to Tennessee this week to compete in the Costa Bassmaster High School National Championship.
Growing up, the boys always fished, but they just started competing a few years ago. The old friends finally became fishing partners this year when they decided to raise money to compete in the state championship qualifier tournament at the Brownlee Reservoir on the Snake River in May.
“They hustled grandmas and did yard work to make money,” said Jake Kimberling, Nate’s dad. “They made the cash and we went.”
Jake and the two boys drove their boat 400 miles to the competition. There were three different competitions that weekend, one each day. Each team could compete in all three, and only the scores from the teams’ best two tournaments counted toward their overall score.
Kimberling and Akins considered themselves underdogs. They arrived late and missed the first tournament, which meant they had to have two really good performances back to back. Also, they had never fished in that reservoir, they didn’t know the lay of the land — or lake, rather.
Whatever they did, it worked. The team placed second and third at two of the tournaments, winning them the top bid to go to the national finals.
“It was pretty exciting. We were surprised,” Akins said.
The team will arrive in Tennessee a few days before the competition so they can fish the lake before they compete on it.
According to Jake, southern lakes are deeper. They have more “underwater structure” and deep canals. Bass like to hang out in deeper waters when it’s hot out.
Bass fishing is different than fishing for other species because bass are more aggressive and their predatory instincts make them smarter than other fish.
The national competition will be held at Kentucky Lake in Paris, Tenn., Thursday through Saturday.
The Coeur d’Alene crew will be competing in a field of 120 teams. After the first two days, the field will be narrowed to 12 teams, who will compete for the championship.
Each day of competition, the teams will catch five bass per boat. The total weight of all the fish will be their score. Throughout the competition, the total weights from each day will be added up to calculate final scores.
Jake Kimberling will drive the “Camo Queen”, his 19-foot duck and bass boat, while the two boys fish.
“My goal is just to get five fish in the boat,” Akins said.
“It’s like a nervous excitement,” Nate added. “I’ve never competed at this high of a scale before.”