It always brings a curious smile when you watch and listen to older, more veteran bass fishermen talk, and most times complain, about trying to catch fish in a tournament, and talk about the competition.

The smile comes knowing these men, and a few women, compete in and against relatively small numbers compared to the youthful rising stars in this sport.

Take, for instance, the late-summer high school and junior championships held a week ago on Tennessee's Chickamauga Lake.

It was way cool when Rayne High's Travis Meche and Chance Watson finished No. 12 in the Strike King High School Championship, which drew main sponsorship from fishing legend Bill Dance.

Meche and Watson had a three-day total of 21 pounds, 9 ounces, far behind the winners' three-day catch, but still laudable considering the tournament had a 272-team field -- yes, that's 544 high school anglers and their coaches.

Huntington High's Brise Hazelton and Caden Alexander finished 42nd and were the only other Louisiana team among the top 50.

Louisiana teams in the 129-team Bassmaster Junior Championship fared much better on Chickamauga with Joseph Childers and Bray Youngblood finishing in third place at 19 pounds, 8 ounces and representing the Southwest Louisiana Junior Anglers. They were barely a pound shy of the winners in the 129-team field.

Four other Louisiana teams made the top 50, led by Gilbert Junior Anglers Sawyer Adams and Colton Talbert in seventh place; Parkview Baptist Juniors Max Daniel and Carter Oufnac in 19th place; Vermilion Juniors Conner Tate and Sawyer Knickerbocker in 24th place; and, James Boquet and Landon Grabert from Houma Christian in 42nd place.

Joe Macaluso