The 2023 Bradley Roy High School Open was one of the most closely contested events in the tournament’s 11-year history. The winning team was Blake Marcum and Reese Hughes of Louisa Bass Club HS. Marcrum, a senior, had qualified for the Top 5 Sunday Fish Off as a freshman four years earlier.
The tournament featured 155 high school teams and 45 junior teams (6-8th grade) competing last weekend at Lake Cumberland and the Top 5 fished the following day at Cedar Creek Lake in Stanford, Ky.
The tournament is an officially sanctioned high school event by the Kentucky Bass Nation. Two
spots in the 2024 Bassmaster High School National Championship were awarded to Saturday’s top finishers: Andrew Worrall and Will Melching of Central KY Bassmasters (1st) and Cole Richerson and Kayden Bickett of Taylor County HS (2nd).
The winning team weighed a bag of five fish totaling 9.75 pounds. The runners-up weighed in five fish for 9.31 pounds.
3rd place – Bryce McDonald/Ethan Elliott – Paintsville HS – 8.01
4th place – Landon Pierce/Korbin Neat – Casey County HS – 7.85
5th place – Blake Marcum/Reece Hughes – Louisa Bass Club HS – 7.51
Worrall and Melching caught the biggest bass, a largemouth weighing 4.38 pounds.
Following the Saturday weigh-in, Roy gathered the Top 5 teams and prepared them for a fish-off on Sunday at a mystery destination. The teams didn’t know their destination until they arrived at Cedar Creek Lake.
Each team was assigned boat officials trained by Roy and provided two sets of MLF-supplied scales. Teams were given 15 minutes to ride around on the designated section of the 784-acre fishery.
The teams fished two 2 1/2-hour sessions, with a 30-minute break in between.
Marcum and Hughes landed a solid two-pound fish with 12 minutes to go to take the victory over the Casey County HS team of Pierce and Neat.
All members of the Top 2 teams were offered four-year scholarships to attend Campbellsville University. Kentucky Christian also offered four-year scholarships to teams in the Top 5. In all, potential scholarships were over $400,000. In addition, Drury University will award scholarships to the Kentucky Bass Nation Angler of the Year team.
Marcum/Hughes and Pierce/Neat earned berths in the 2024 Major League Fishing High School National Championship.
"I want to thank everyone who helped us pull this tournament off for the 11th consecutive year, Roy said. "If you have ever run a tournament, you know the work involved; I have an awesome staff, family, and sponsors. Even though this tournament has my name on it, I am just a small part, and none of this happens without them.”
To see a YouTube video of the event, click below.
