Big congrats to PartsVu anglers Drew and Kamden Bradstreet of Lutz, FL, who scored big in the most recent Florida Bass Nation High School Series events on the St. Johns River. Anchored by the big bass of the weekend (7.91 lbs.), the sibling team showed up with a third-place finish on day one of the event (Fall trail). They followed with a solid eleventh-place finish on day two (state trail).
The St. Johns River is renowned as one of the best fisheries in the United States. Unfortunately, Hurricane Ian had a profound effect on the river for the most recent statewide tournament of the Florida Bass Nation High School Circuit.
Senior Drew Bradstreet commented on the challenging conditions, “the storm pushed quite a bit of debris around, and high water was everywhere. In fact, we hit a log in practice but suffered only minor damage.”
Launching out of St. Augustine, FL, the field of one hundred twenty high school teams faced perplexing conditions. This included newly imposed no-wake zones causing limitations on where they were allowed to run boats at full speed. In addition, many areas that are usually open to fish were unavailable as a result of flooding from the hurricane.
The Bradstreet team opted to make long runs to find optimal fishing areas. According to Kamden, the team made a tough decision to navigate a long distance to their spot. “We knew we had a long run which meant that we’d have less time to fish. In the end, it worked out well for us.”
The team continued its solid performance this season, building off of a solid first event in Winter Haven. Currently, they sit in 6th place in the state trail. The next event for the duo is in Leesburg at the Harris Chain in early November.
For information on how to get involved in junior and high school events, feel free to reach out to the team. Contact them at info@bassfishinginsider.com or visit Florida Bass Nation.
