2026 Junior State Championship Results May 24, 2026

Lake McClure, California: The very last event of the season for the California Bass Federation
Youth Division is the Junior State Championship. This year it was held at McClure Point North
Ramp on Lake McClure in Merced County. The field comprised of 11 teams, mostly from the
Delta region with about half of them camping at the reservoir. It was a beautiful venue!
Blast off was promptly at 6:15am and followed the mandatory safety meeting and National
Anthem. There was a little ripple on the water as the sun rose that morning. Although most of the
fish caught in pre-fish were average, there were definitely some impressive fish to be caught if the
timing was right.
All teams returned to the dock by 1pm for a drive-thru weigh-in. The bags were all less than 10
pounds with most teams catching a limit. It was the eleventh boat out of the water that saved the
best for last!
The team of Parker Jackson and Lucas Degonzague from Folsom Lake Student Anglers weighed
in at 10.20lbs!! This earned them an invite to the 2026 Junior World Finals at Lake Dardanelle in
Russellville, AR on July 29-31, 2026. This is the pinnacle of junior bass fishing and the carrot
they were chasing all season long.This is the first season that Parker and Lucas have fished together, but not the first time winning
the State Championship for Parker. Last year he took the top spot with Carson Fisher after
starting half-way through the season. This year Parker and Lucas have been consistently in the
top 5, but when they didn’t win AOY, they knew this was their last chance and made it happen.Angler of the Year goes to Logan Joudrey and Kylen Cruz from the Delta Teen Team. All of them
are respectable young men that have put in the time and energy to be successful, and have
wonderful support from their family and friends.In second place, it’s no surprise that Brayden Merrill and Brayden Pesonen, also from Delta Teen,
came in with 9.98lbs! This too is the first year “Team Brayden” has fished together and Pesonen’s
first year fishing competitively. This is actually Brayden Merrill’s 6th year competing. He fished
the State Championships 4 times, and competed in back-to-back World Finals in 2021 and 2022!!Our third place team, also from Delta Teen, is Hudson Leiser and Aiden Crowder. They brought in
an impressive 9.28lbs and the tournament Big Fish that weighed in at 3.36lbs! Hudson and Aiden
have been friends and fishing together since elementary school. This is their first year
tournament fishing as a team and they have had a lot of fun and success! Most of them will be making the step up to the high school division next year, and I can see a
bright future for all of these anglers. Tight lines!