District 18 Oregon and Washington TBF National Semi-Final on the Columbia River

The District 18 TBF National Semi-final always proves to be a challenging event for the most part with our 2025 season and dealing with high wind conditions on the Columbia River it was quite different for the 2-day event of no wind at all a pure glass river. There was hardly any current to speak of which made for some tough fishing for the anglers

Day 1 leader Jeffry Ball on the PRO side of Washington weighing in a bag of 17.91lbs and 2nd place was Mel Williams on the PRO side with a bag of 17.68 bls with a big fish of 5.10 lbs. The leaders for Oregon were PRO Jay Burford with 17.18 lbs. and Zip Decker with 16.53 lbs.

The AM leader for day 1 was Wes Williams of Washington with 15.70 bs and 2nd place AM was Hernandez Ruffin of Washington with 15.18 lbs.  And for Oregon it was Travis Schweitzer with 14.62 lbs. and Kevin Pangle 14.13 lbs.

Day 2 was still a very calm day for the Columbia River with no winds and no current made for a very tough day which changed the leader board with lower weights overall.   Rounding out Day 2 for the leaders PRO Rickey Hamilton of Washington weighed 18.40 lbs. and 2nd place for Day 2 was PRO Trystan Wallace of Oregon with 17.41 lbs.   The AM first place was Dave Roberts of Oregon with 16.43 lbs. and 2nd place was AM Jason Rose of Oregon with 14.57 lbs.

Congratulations to the winners – PRO Jeffry Ball of Washington as the overall division winner with a total weight of 34.97 bs.  And Congratulation to Trystan Wallace for the Oregon Division with a total weight of 33.54.

The AM winners are Dave Roberts of Oregon overall AM winner with 28.99 lbs. and AM Eduardo Bolich of Washington Division with 27.26 lbs.   Congratulations to these AM winners.

DISTRICT 8 NATIONAL SEMI-FINAL IOWA

The 2025 season is a wrap, and we have our next set of anglers qualifying for the TBF National Championship where anglers compete for over 400k+ in cash and prizes as well as advancement opportunities into the highest levels of the sport. Nate Maher ran away with this event on the boater side bringing in both the heavy bag and big bass both days of the event to finish with a commanding 6lb+ lead over 2nd place. Nate finished with a 2-day total of 30.33lb including a 4.77lb big bass on day 1 and a 3.69lb big bass on day 2. The weights were certainly tight on the co-angler side, but Justin Bauer was able to beat the field by bringing in big bass on both days as well bringing his two-day total to 18.31lb with a 3.14lb day 1 big bass and 3.52lb big bass on day 2. Rumor has it Justin was able to anchor his day 2 bag in the last 20 minutes of the event to earn his spot to Nationals!

These two anglers will be joining Chancy Walter and Jim Garton who both qualified for the TBF National Championship back in May by winning our Clear Lake Qualifier.

The river was a new body of water for a lot of anglers and for a weekend forecasted to be filled with rain we were all lucky to stay dry throughout the event. A lot of fish were caught, no one got stuck in a backwater, and the Mississippi showed why it truly is a special place to fish. We are already looking forward to the 2026 season and it is never too early to reach out about TBF membership or creating your own club to participate in next year’s events. Let’s congratulate all our anglers on more time who made it to the TBF National Championship, and we look forward to cheering all these anglers on as they compete for a piece of the “Living the Dream” prize package at Nationals. Thank you to all the anglers who participated in the 2025 season, and we look forward to seeing you all again next year.

DISTRICT 17 NATIONAL SEMI FINALS NEW HAMPSHIRE/MAINE

Event Overview

The District 17 semifinals were held on Lake Winnipesaukee under frigid conditions, with temperatures starting at a brisk 38°F. Despite the cold, the competition was intense and produced impressive results from both Angler and Co-angler divisions.

Angler Division Highlights

John Levesque dominated the Angler division, leading the tournament from start to finish. On day one, he brought in a bag weighing 15.37 lbs. He followed up with an outstanding performance on day two, landing 21.22 lbs of largemouth bass. His two-day total of 36.59 lbs secured a commanding victory, finishing 9 lbs ahead of his closest competitor.

Co-Angler Division Results

The Co-angler competition was much closer. Brayden Antosiewicz narrowly edged out Jeff Peron by just 0.16 ounces, with a winning total of 22.84 lbs. The tight race showcased the high level of competition among the co-anglers.

Winners by State

  • NH Angler: John Levesque
  • NH Co-angler: Brayden Antosiewicz
  • Maine Angler: Anthony Gelardi
  • Maine Co-angler: Zack Morris

Conclusion

The event on Lake Winnipesaukee tested anglers with cold weather and tough competition. Congratulations to all winners, especially John Levesque and Brayden Antosiewicz for their outstanding performances. The Ranger Cup winner was Nick Deering with a two day total of 24.42 lbs.

DISTRICT 8 NATIONAL SEMI-FINALS NEBRASKA/SOUTH DAKOTA

South Dakota Bass Federation hosted District 8 Semi-Finals on Lake Oahe north of Pierre
South Dakota. Day 1 was an exciting day, with almost a half a dozen small mouth bass weighing
in at over 5 pounds and another 2 fish over 6 pounds. We did however have mixed results with
some only weighing 1 or 2 fish. Our biggest bag of the event came across the scales at 27.55
pounds with Travis Seitzinger fishing for South Dakota. On the co-anglers’ side we had similar
results with a wide range of weights. With the top co-angler weight belonging to Jason Kushlan
at 16.78 pounds.

On day 2 some boats said the bite was firing up while others had similar success on the scale
overall weights were down from day 1. Having only around 4 or 5 fish across the scale at four
pounds with one fish almost toughing 6 pounds weighed by Joe Paulson at 5.98 pounds.
On the boaters side Nebraska angler Logan Greeno was the only one to crack 20 pounds with
a weight of 21.03 pounds . On the co-angler side results were very similar to day one with the
biggest co-angler bag belonging to Jeff Siepker at 19.78 pounds. In calculating event results 4
out of the top 5 boater spots belonged to South Dakota. With Seitzinger leading the way with a
two-day today of 45.41 pounds.The weather was gorgeous and the water was like glass most of
the weekend.