Brady Pinwar and Alec Albrecht, of Midland (Mich.) High School, have won the Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster High School Series at Saginaw Bay presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors with 23 pounds, 4 ounces.

Photo by Kyle Jessie/B.A.S.S.

June 19, 2021

BANGOR CHARTER TOWNSHIP, Mich. — The Midland High School team of Brady Pinwar and Alec Albrecht defended their home waters of Saginaw Bay on Saturday afternoon, catching 23 pounds, 4 ounces of smallmouth bass to win the Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster High School Series presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors.

The second-place team of Brayden Ruckman and Nate Helmreich from Freeland High School, also a local program, took second place with 20-14, and Hank Sturm and Mitch Straffon from Fenton High School finished third with 20-12.

“It’s amazing,” Albrecht said. “All of our buddies are going to Nationals, so it will be cool to go along with them. We set the bar high and went for 25 pounds, but 23 pounds is just fine. We fish out here a lot of the time but the wind is crazy. It took forever to get in.”

Unexpected storms moved across the region around mid-day, creating some rough conditions for competitors, who were allowed extra time to navigate back to the weigh-in. That, however, didn’t stop Pinwar and Albrecht from getting to their spot and sight-fishing for bedding smallmouth.

“We made a long journey today up North and we got onto a rock flat and caught the bed fish that were there,” Albrecht said.

While some were postspawn, Pinwar said they could see most of the bass they caught. They were throwing an X Zone Lures Finesse Slammer on a drop shot, a Poor Boys Baits Erie Darter on a darter-head jig and a black hair jig, which produced their biggest bass.

“They were late spawners more out deep,” Pinwar said. “Some of them might have been guarding the fry. We executed great. We only caught seven or eight fish, but we only fished the ones we thought we needed.”

Ruckman and Helmreich took a similar approach, fishing for bedding smallmouth in deeper water. Their day started slow, but after bouncing around through some different areas they found a couple of smallmouth that were willing to bite.

“We couldn’t get the first two or three to go,” Ruckman said. “After that, it was kind of lights-out for three or four fish. Then we had a standstill for a while and finally started picking back up. We culled our one 2-pounder we needed to cull out.”

The Freeland High duo caught smallmouth in 10 to 12 feet of water, using a drop shot for the spawners and a crankbait to pick up a couple of postspawners.

“If you could get to them without them seeing you first, you could catch them normally,” Helmreich said. “We marked them in practice and today we would go look for them and cast to them.”

Ethan Gilbert and Carson Aarup from Downeast Fishing Club in North Carolina earned the Big Bass of the Tournament award with a 5-1 largemouth.

The top six teams punched their ticket to the 2021 Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster High School National Championship presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors, which will be held on Chickamauga Lake in Dayton, Tenn., July 29-31.

The final regular-season High School Series event of the year will be held next week at Lay Lake.

2021 Mossy Oak Fishing Bassmaster High School Series at Saginaw Bay presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors 6/19-6/19
Saginaw Bay, Saginaw Bay MI.
(BOATER) Standings Day 1

Angler Club/School Pts

1. Brady Pinwar – Alec Albrecht Midland High School 0
Day 1: 5 23-04 Total: 5 23-04
2. Brayden Ruckman – Nate Helmreich Freeland High School 0
Day 1: 5 20-14 Total: 5 20-14
3. Hank Sturm – Mitch Straffon Fenton High School 0
Day 1: 5 20-12 Total: 5 20-12
4. Luke Malik – Ryan Kahut Brighton High School 0
Day 1: 5 18-02 Total: 5 18-02
5. Jack Swihart – Rylan Hamlin Jackson Fishing 0
Day 1: 5 18-02 Total: 5 18-02
6. Jacob Policka – Brayden Vallie Fruitport (271) 0
Day 1: 5 18-01 Total: 5 18-01
7. Cole Carr – Luke McGuire Anchor Bay High School 0
Day 1: 5 17-12 Total: 5 17-12
8. Ethan Gilbert – Carson Aarup Downeast Fishing Club 0
Day 1: 5 17-07 Total: 5 17-07
9. Mason Snider – Dalton Benson Mount Juliet Fishing 0
Day 1: 5 17-07 Total: 5 17-07
10. Drake Vandike – Anthony Polzin Livonia Outlaws 0
Day 1: 5 17-06 Total: 5 17-06
11. Braylan Tyler – Logan Ashby Franklin County High School (141 0
Day 1: 5 16-15 Total: 5 16-15
12. Jacob Davidson – Tristen Boyd Mt Juliet High School 0
Day 1: 5 16-02 Total: 5 16-02
13. Van Price – Tristan Fawley Carlson High School 0
Day 1: 5 15-13 Total: 5 15-13
14. Jack Sprague – Cole Jimkoski Freeland 0
Day 1: 5 15-10 Total: 5 15-10
15. Dylan May – Trey Hayton Brownsburg High School 0
Day 1: 5 15-09 Total: 5 15-09
16. Blake Marcum – Brody Diamond Louisa Bass Club High School 0
Day 1: 5 14-14 Total: 5 14-14
17. Evan Simonis – Hunter Ross Fruitport high school 0
Day 1: 5 14-13 Total: 5 14-13
18. Nate Grow – Micah Hammond Grand Haven High School 0
Day 1: 5 14-10 Total: 5 14-10
18. Alex Standerfer – Collin Mcglin New London 0
Day 1: 5 14-10 Total: 5 14-10
20. Nick Seitz – Brock Vogel 419 fishing 0
Day 1: 5 14-09 Total: 5 14-09
21. Caden Adams – Parker Pace Clarkston HS – A1 Anglers 0
Day 1: 5 14-07 Total: 5 14-07
22. Harry Richter – Jacob Piniatoglou Saline High School 0
Day 1: 5 14-02 Total: 5 14-02
23. Aiden Pihaylic – John Sheker Anchor Bay Juniors 0
Day 1: 5 13-15 Total: 5 13-15
24. Mike Abbott – Rees Williams Jonathan Alder High School 0
Day 1: 5 13-13 Total: 5 13-13
24. Adam Dionne – Zach Waters lanse creuse 0
Day 1: 5 13-13 Total: 5 13-13
26. Connor Dobrinski – Nolan Tibbs Zeeland Fishhawx 0
Day 1: 5 13-12 Total: 5 13-12
26. Blake Talaski – Jordan Osentoski Bad Axe High 0
Day 1: 5 13-12 Total: 5 13-12
28. Matt Mosby – Gus Dietrich Powers Bass Team 0
Day 1: 5 13-10 Total: 5 13-10
29. Zach Pocos – Brett Hill Hartleys Hawgs Bass Team 0
Day 1: 5 13-10 Total: 5 13-10
30. Landon Brown – Connor Mckinzie Bourbon County High School 0
Day 1: 5 13-08 Total: 5 13-08
31. Nick Bartolo – Dylan Ross greenville bass club 0
Day 1: 5 13-04 Total: 5 13-04
32. Will Hughes – Corbin Olsson East Grand Rapids 0
Day 1: 5 13-03 Total: 5 13-03
33. Blake Gad – Eddie Gad Reed Custer 0
Day 1: 5 13-01 Total: 5 13-01
34. Tanner Wolf – Kaleb Casler Dewitt High School 0
Day 1: 5 12-13 Total: 5 12-13
35. Brett Mouw – Tj Wright The Hill Toppers 0
Day 1: 5 12-12 Total: 5 12-12
36. Nathan Syrett – Evan Shaw Howell High School 0
Day 1: 5 12-12 Total: 5 12-12
37. Cougar Fagan – Logan Moulton 0
Day 1: 5 12-10 Total: 5 12-10
38. Paxton Giem – Charlie Dobbelaer Boyne City High School 0
Day 1: 5 12-10 Total: 5 12-10
39. Hunter Petrovic – John Sergeant Minooka High School 0
Day 1: 5 12-07 Total: 5 12-07
40. Alex Herter – Derek Kantola Howell High School 0
Day 1: 5 11-12 Total: 5 11-12
41. Trent Rivers – Thomas Henshaw Northville High School 0
Day 1: 5 11-05 Total: 5 11-05
42. Bennett Chenoweth – Chance Reese Northville 0
Day 1: 5 10-12 Total: 5 10-12
43. Jaden Bovee – Hunter Falor Coleman High School 0
Day 1: 5 10-09 Total: 5 10-09
44. Carter Albright – Jordan Warner Midland High School 0
Day 1: 5 10-07 Total: 5 10-07
45. Tyler Zimmerman – Fruitport High School 0
Day 1: 5 10-01 Total: 5 10-01
46. Bennett Bauer – Preston Venable RoCo Anglers 0
Day 1: 5 10-00 Total: 5 10-00
47. Dalton Polega – Luke East Freeland High School 0
Day 1: 5 09-15 Total: 5 09-15
48. Connor Christensen – Noah Varitek Anchor bay 0
Day 1: 3 07-03 Total: 3 07-03
49. Matthew Wenzell – Nathaniel Wenzell Midland High 0
Day 1: 3 06-00 Total: 3 06-00
50. Mitchell Anderson – Keegan Johnson Lowell high school 0
Day 1: 3 05-03 Total: 3 05-03
51. Casey Rausch – greenville bass club 0
Day 1: 1 03-15 Total: 1 03-15
52. Nathan Akahoshi – Ethan Laducer Stevenson High School 0
Day 1: 0 00-00 Total: 0 00-00
52. Braylon Eggerding – Lucas Washburn Forest Hills 0
Day 1: 0 00-00 Total: 0 00-00
52. Jack Hay – Dominic Wolf howell high school 0
Day 1: 0 00-00 Total: 0 00-00
52. Carlie Mitchell – Remington Barkley Hartland 0
Day 1: 0 00-00 Total: 0 00-00
52. Ayden Rubritius – Boyd Fuller Western Panthers Bass Fishing Te 0
Day 1: 0 00-00 Total: 0 00-00
52. Chase Taylor – Braydon Moore Grand Haven High School 0
Day 1: 0 00-00 Total: 0 00-00
52. Logan Ware – Jack Romatz Midland High School 0
Day 1: 0 00-00 Total: 0 00-00