On the heels of a state championship win, Plant City Bassmasters now prepare for the Bass Nation National Championship in South Carolina later this month.
Last month the Plant City duo of Tyson Griffin and Wyatt Drawdy took on the Florida Bass Nation Junior/High School State Championship where they were able to come away victorious, their first tournament win at the high school level.
“It took a lot of preparation to win states,” Drawdy said. “We were doing pretty well throughout the season but weren’t necessarily too confident heading into states, we were just kind of there to have fun until we realized how well we were doing.”
Held at the Harris Chain of Lakes on June 10 and 11, Griffin and Drawdy finished their first day of competition in fifth place with a total of 18.29 pounds caught. On Sunday, the team hauled in the biggest bag of the tournament at 24.55 pounds and a tournament-best bass of 8.33 pounds, elevating them to a state championship victory over the field of 98 teams.
Throughout the 16-tournament season that runs from September to April, Griffin and Drawdy — along with their captain Jesse Drawdy — had already accumulated enough points with several top-5 and top-10 finishes to qualify for both the State the National Championship, to be held on Lake Hartwell in Anderson, S.C. on July 27-29. The season is divided into eight weekends and four divisions — featuring a South Trail, North Trail, Spring Trail and Fall Trail.
“It was a good year,” Griffin said. “Throughout the year we had quite a few top 10 finishes and this was probably our best year compared to any other years we’ve fished together thus far. States was great. After having 18 pounds after the first day we knew that we were doing pretty well, so at that point we were just hoping to have an even better day on Sunday.”
With Wyatt Drawdy entering his junior season at Plant City and Griffin entering his junior year at Strawberry Crest, the duo is not affiliated with their high schools but instead fish under the Plant City Bassmasters regional community club. Growing up, Griffin and Wyatt Drawdy competed in local tournaments before entering the Bassmasters Junior Series in seventh grade, following Wyatt’s older brother Colten Drawdy into the High School Series as he competed for three years at Plant City before advancing to the Collegiate Series as part of the fishing team at Bethel University in McKenzie, Tenn. This year’s State Championship marked the first tournament victory since their eighth grade year while part of the Junior Series.
“Colten’s helped us out some, he’s taught me a lot over the years but when he was fishing in high school there was a little bit of competition with him there too,” Wyatt Drawdy said. “That was always fun having him there.”
With just two weeks until the National Championship, the team has already begun doing their research on Lake Hartwell by watching YouTube videos, researching previous tournaments that have taken place there, speaking with friends that have fished the lake and will be allowed to pre-fish the lake for three days prior to the tournament’s start.
“It’s been an honor to be the captain for these two boys,” Jesse Drawdy said. “This is actually their last year fishing together because Tyson’s moving out of state so it’s been a pretty fun time, ending state with a bang and we’d like to go up and do real well in Nationals to represent Florida High School Bassnation well.”
