Washington's Nania Grabs Second
Junior Bassmaster World Championship
Geary County State Lake
Junction City, Kansas
November 11, 2008

Bass Communications
Gary Tramontina
Edited by Ray Kerchal

Editor’s Note: During the last year, the scheduling of the Junior Bassmaster World Championship has been in transition. Before 2008, the tournament was held in conjunction with the Bassmasters Classic which normally took place early in the year. This year the JBWC was delayed and was held in August with the last professional Elite Series tournament of the season. Meanwhile, young anglers were qualifying for the next world championship, which will now be held in conjunction with the adult Federation Nation Championship. The adult tournament is now held in the fall. Therefore, the Junior Bassmaster World Championship took place in November, 2008. The next tournament will follow this new schedule and should occur in November 2009.

Joey Nania claimed a second Junior Bassmaster World Championship title, this time in the 15-18-year-old age group at Geary County State Lake. Nania, who won the 2005 JWC title in the 11-14 age group, brought two fish to the scales totaling 4 pounds, 1 ounce, for the title. He had three bites, with the first falling short of the 15-inch legal length by a quarter-inch.

The final two were caught in shallow water on a Spro Little John crankbait in crawdad color. The last largemouth was caught about 10 minutes before the end of the day, weighing 2-1, and that was large enough to win the Purolator Big Bass of the tournament to earn an additional $1,000 in scholarships.

"This feels good to win and has been a long dry spell," Nania said. "This was my fifth Junior World Championships. I really worked hard for this tournament."

Nania, 17, and his father drove 1,500 miles from Liberty Lake, Wash., on Sunday to practice and identify key spots for Saturday's tournament. The early practice paid off as Nania also won a fully rigged Triton/Mercury Alliance sponsored boat package.

"The water has dropped like 5 degrees since I first started fishing on Tuesday," Nania said. "It was better fishing earlier this week. In practice I found a couple crankbait fish. With the cold front they closed their mouths so I decided to trick them into biting the crankbait, just something to fly by them."

Drew Creel of Shawnee, Okla., finished in second place at the JWC with a 3-4 total. The pair of bass were caught on an A&M Halo Jig with a brush bug trailer. "I just enjoyed being out there and trying to win," Creel said. "My dad and brother got me started fishing, and the competition is a lot of fun."

In the 11-14 age division of the JWC, the six-angler field battled cold and windy conditions, unable to bring any legal catches to the scales. The six contestants will equally divide $11,000 in scholarships, with each angler earning just over $1,800.

The 12 JWC anglers qualified for the championship event, two from each of the six Federation Nation divisions. The 12 junior competitors are split into two age groups, 11-14 and 15-18. All Junior Bassmaster World Championship contenders will receive academic college scholarship awards, with the top angler in each age division receiving a $5,000 scholarship. The Junior World Bassmaster Championship showcases the top youth anglers in the world and provides them the opportunity to compete through BASS — the most visible fishing tournament structure in the world.

Sponsors of the Federation Nation Youth Program include Toyota Tundra, Advance Auto Parts, Berkley, Lowrance, Mercury, Purolator, Skeeter, Yamaha, OPTIMA Batteries and Triton Boats. Local sponsors of the event include Junction City, The Geary County Convention & Visitor's Bureau, The Kansas Department of Travel & Tourism, the Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks and the United States Army Corps of Engineers-Milford Lake.