Final 15 TBF junior teams all awarded scholarships and prizes
Tension was high as division champion anglers took off from Lake Dardanelle in Russellville, Ar., for the final day of the world championship event. Anglers were greeted with one more day of heat blasting off the lake’s shores. Weights were zeroed, the playing field even, making the final day a whole new tournament. All 15 final teams received scholarships, prizes, and trophies for their efforts this week. One team went home with all of that plus much more: the 2026 TBF Junior World Championship titles.
Caleb Coburn and Brooks Beaty
The Louisiana Bass Federation anglers, Brooks Beaty and Caleb Coburn, were crowned champions this week on Lake Dardanelle. The team caught a three-bass limit and the biggest bag of the tournament, weighing 14 pounds 3 ounces to secure the titles. They also reeled in tournament big bass at 5 pounds 11 ounces and received two new Lew’s reels.
The Calvary Baptist Academy Jr. Cavaliers were in third after day one with 13 pounds. They paired that with 10 pounds 5 ounces on day two to make the final day cut with 23 pounds 5 ounces. They remained steady in the third and fourth place slots with solid limits both days. On the final day, they came out swinging and landed the heaviest bag of the three-day tournament.
Caddo Lake is the duo’s home lake, which straddles the border between Caddo Parish in Louisiana and Northeast Texas. It’s the largest natural freshwater lake in the South and covered in wetlands and moss. The team found fishing in Caddo similar to that at Lake Dardanelle, though not as swampy or covered in cypress trees. Both lakes are somewhat shallow, and that’s where they found fish this week.
Coming in second was the team of Parker Smith and Cooper Anderson representing the Tennessee Bass Federation. Smith and Anderson from the Scotts Hill Jr. Anglers caught a three-bass limit weighing 12 pounds 11 ounces. The team came out in second on the first day with 13 pounds 3 ounces and first place on the second day with 13 pounds 9 ounces.
Anderson and Smith
The third-place team representing the Trader Bills Jr. Fishing Club worked their way up the ranks from seventh place on the first day and ninth on the second to claim third in the championship event. Arkansas Bass Federation anglers Jaxon Livingston and Jake Gaston caught a three-bass limit on the final day, weighing 11 pounds 6 ounces.
Livingston and Gaston
Fourth and fifth place came down to a tie with both teams catching 9 pounds 11 ounces. Hagan Hay and Hank Rowton from the North Louisiana Jr. Fishing League locked in fourth. The Phoenix Jr. Bassmasters team of Levi Woodruff and Ryder Schwoerer came in fifth.
Hay and Rowton
Woodruff and Schwoerer
Lake Dardanelle State Park and Russellville Tourism in Russellville, Ar., welcomed 79 TBF junior champion teams from 29 states across the US to their waters. All anglers received swag bags filled with sponsor merch at registration, and to kick off the event, piles of pizza and ice cream were served lakeside. Anglers battled heat and humidity all week with a short and sweet rain shower that arguably left more humidity in its wake. But they fought and fished hard to prove worthy of advancing from their respective states. At the end, one team rose above the pack to be named the 2026 TBF Junior World Champions.
