Atlantic’s Joaquin Wailes and Corning’s Joe Oathoudt have earned a trip to compete in Bass Cat Big Bass Zone Junior Championship, presented by Bassmasters, a national fishing competition in Branson, MO on Lake Taneycomo. Both anglers won a state title to advance, Wailes a freshman at Atlantic High School will represent the state of Iowa and Oathoudt a senior at Southwest Valley will represent Nebraska during the national tournament held Saturday, Oct 30th. The event features 52 anglers from across the country one from every state plus a few top second-place finishers. and competitors will be paired up two to a boat, though it’s still a solo competition. While he’ll be fishing uncharted waters, Oathoudt said he’s going into it with a positive attitude.

They will compete against 52-state championships caliber anglers in the competition for the biggest bass, with the top prize being a Bass Cat boat and scholarships.

The state and national bass fishing competitions are organized differently. For the state competition, the brothers fished on their own, and then submitted proof of their catch to an online Fishing Chaos app with measurements of the fish’s length, width, and girth. Based on that, the organizers calculated the fish’s weight, and Wailes and Oathoudt were declared the winner.

Wailes attempted to qualify for the tournament last year but missed qualifying by a quarter of pound. ‘I was motivated this year to make the tournament, because I love fishing, and this is an amazing opportunity for me to compete at the national level for the first time,” Wailes said. ‘Plus, there’s so much more to the Big Bass Zone tournament, I am a better angler by studying water conditions, learning different fishing techniques, reading contour maps, understanding fish habitats and now getting sponsors and learning business relationships.”

For the national competition, Wailes and Oathoudt will be paired up two competitors to a boat, though it’s still a solo competition. While he’ll be fishing unchartered waters, Oathoudt said he’s going into it with a positive attitude. The competitors will spend the day fishing, and they take turns deciding where the boat goes, with one competitor steering it in the morning, and the other angler steering it in the afternoon. They will be laying it all out there for a chance to win over $300,000 in prizes and scholarships including a new Basscat bass boat.

““It will be a great experience and I feel honored to go and represent Nebraska at this once-in-a-lifetime event,” Oathoudt said. “I found my passion, and fish as often as I can with my brothers, cousins and his buddies from school. I want to thank Bill Siemantel with the BBZ, my grandpa for finding this opportunity and all of the sponsors that helped to support the tournament.”

Both anglers are members of the newly formed Southwest Iowa Fishing Team where they fished with other area student anglers. “I am so excited for the boys they definitely put in the work and time to earn their spot in the BBZJC,” Bob Harris the coach of SWIFT said. In our first year as a fishing team, we have had great success with a two SWFT high school teams placing 20th at the TBF/SAF World Championships and 50th in the National Championships, and our junior fishing 4th at the Junior World Championships. We have some great student anglers in Iowa, and I would also like to congratulate Jake Oathoudt and Owen Hoover who also competed hard in the BBZJC tournament but didn’t qualify.”

“It’s quite a thrill,” explained Wailes. “This is the biggest tournament I’ve ever qualified for and it’s a lot different than the local tournaments I’ve been in. It’s a new experience and I will do everything he can to make Iowa, his sponsors, and his parents proud. I’m going to be nervous, but it’s a great opportunity.”

Over the next month Wailes and Oathoudt will be studying contour maps, connecting with area adult anglers who may have fished on Lake Taneycomo and making a special trip in September to pre-fish the lake, so that when they arrive on the water, he already knows where to go. The boys will be searching for sponsors to help offset travel expenses and fishing supplies as the focus on competing hard for the Bass Cat Big Bass Zone Junior Championship, presented by Bassmasters. The boys are ready and excited to take on this challenge competing against teams from across the US.