CULLMAN, Ala. — Jack Story and Roper Putnam from the Clarks Hill High School Fishing Team utilized skill sets from their home lakes to catch five spotted bass weighing 16 pounds, 12 ounces and win the Strike King Bassmaster High School Series at Smith Lake.
The victory at Smith Lake caps off an impressive two-week run for the Georgia duo. The weekend prior, Putnam and Story won two events on Lake Lanier, including a Georgia B.A.S.S. Nation tournament.
“This feels awesome,” Putnam said. “Last year we finished second at Clarks Hill, and it means a whole lot to come back and win this one.”
Thomas Tumbull and Caleb Miller from Evangel Christian School finished second with 15-4 and Bryson Osment and Lohgan Gosnell from the Byrnes High School Fishing Club finished third with 14-14.
The 236 high school teams overcame a chilly start to the morning to land 60 limits and over 1,250 pounds of bass, although 61 teams unfortunately did not catch a keeper bass.
Story spends much of his fishing time on Lanier while Putnam lives closer to Clarks Hill. But the combined knowledge of those two blueback herring fisheries helped the duo decipher the Alabama reservoir.
“(We) caught 24.73 pounds in that tournament at Lanier last weekend and did the same exact thing today on Smith Lake,” Story said.
“It is very similar,” Putnam added. “There are a lot of deep fish, a lot of spotted bass. It is what both of us really love to do.”
Putnam and Story spent their tournament targeting spotted bass that were chasing schools of blueback herring. Two zones in the water column were most productive: 10 to 15 feet of water and 45 to 55 feet of water. They rigged a 5-inch Zoom Winged Fluke on a ¼-ounce Greenfish Tackle Bad Little Shad jighead.
“It didn’t fall too fast and didn’t fall too slow,” Putnam explained. “If you throw a lighter head it takes too long to get down there, and if you throw a heavier head they don’t react as well.”
The duo enjoyed a productive practice, catching 14 pounds per day. Putnam said they felt confident they could do well enough to qualify for the 2025 Strike King Bassmaster National Championship, but weren’t sure they could get enough quality bites to win.
While they filled a limit early on, Story said they didn’t generate their better bites until later in the day when the wind picked up and the sun was higher in the sky.
“It went well,” he said. “Once the sun got up, the deep fish started acting right and we started catching them.”
Late in the day, Story landed a 3 ½-pound spotted bass that vaulted them over the 16-pound mark. That was when Putnam said he believed they had a legitimate shot to win the tournament.
“We decided then to get back up the river and closer to the ramp,” he said.
The duo will now set their sights on the 2025 Strike King Bassmaster High School National Championship at Clarks Hill, a body of water they are very familiar with.
“I’m going to put in a lot of time out there (in the coming months),” Putnam said. “It is going to be a good one.”
The Triangle Bass Club’s Jesse and Fisher Lancaster landed the Big Bass of the Tournament, a 4-8 that anchored their 13-5 10th-place stringer.
Visit Cullman hosted the tournament.