Dunagan and Hardwick conquer the field to win inaugural Wayne Co. Open

    High School fishing has arrived in Southern Kentucky as the Wayne  County Bass Bandits hosted their first High School Fishing Tournament  Saturday at Conley Bottom Marina on Lake Cumberland.

    Sixteen two person teams launched their boats on Saturday morning as  a cold front arrived with a stiff north east wind that didn't exactly  help the already tough conditions on the lake. But as always youth  did prevail and the team of Bradley Dunagan and Trey Hardwick, both  Wayne County Middle School eighth graders representing the host team,  brought three fish to the scales that weighed in at 6 lbs. 4 oz. to  win the inaugural event.

    WCHS students Aaron Lockridge and Zack Bybee also of the Wayne  County club finished second with one fish weighing 2 lbs. 3 oz. and  Ricky Harris and Tate Clements from neighboring Rockcastle County  

finished third.

    The young duo were pretty tight lipped about how they caught their  fish in anticipation that next spring's KHSAA High School Regional  might very well be on this same lake! When asked what caught their  

fish on the pair just smiled and said "that's a secret for right now".

    The anglers were all treated to a cookout at Friday night's  registration/rules meeting hosted by the Wayne County Extension  office and several local sponsors. There were also several door  prizes given to all anglers who participated in the event along with  a gift card drawing for participating volunteer boat captains.

    "We are very pleased with the turnout for this event" stated Wayne  County club advisor Ricky Kempton. "This program is only going to  grow from here and we are happy to be a part of whole movement to get  

students across the state involved in the great sport of fishing."

    The event brought a nice crowd to Conley Bottom Marina who served as  host for the event. The High School anglers also participated in the  annual Lake Cumberland cleanup while they were fishing. Any team who  brought a bag of garbage collected from the lake or shorelines to the  scales were rewarded with a prize from tournament directors.

    Any students from Wayne County or Monticello High Schools interested  in joining the Wayne county program can contact Ricky Kempton club  

advisor at: rickykempton@hotmail.com.