The Panacea native is making a name for himself at Bassmaster tournaments
Staff Report
Carson Falk of Panacea is having success in bass fishing tournaments. Falk and fishing partner Trey Blackmon III recently finished second in the 2024 Strike King Bassmaster High School Classic.
Competitors qualified for the High School Classic by placing first or second in one of four Strike King Bassmaster High School tournaments last year or by winning the 2023 Bassmaster High School Series or Bassmaster Junior Series championship tournaments.
In April of 2023, Falk and Blackmon were able to weigh a five-bass limit of 25 pounds, 3 ounces to best a huge field of talented high school anglers at the 2023 Strike King Bassmaster High School Series at Chickamauga Lake presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors.
As reported by Bassmasters, “Although it was an eight-hour drive from the Tallahassee, Fla., area, the pair was able to find water that looked and fished similarly to Lake Seminole, their home lake.
“We started off on a bed fish this morning that we figured was around 4 1/2 pounds but we eventually had to leave it,” said 15-year-old Falk. “We stayed in the lower portion of the lake all day because it just set up perfectly for what we’re best at. It had clear water, stumps and grass which is a perfect combination.”
During practice, Falk and Blackmon used large swimbaits like the Megabass Magdraft and Bass Mafia Daingerous. The big bass would follow the swimbaits out of the grass and as soon as the bass showed themselves, the anglers would quickly get the swimbaits back into the boat and mark a GPS waypoint in order to return on tournament day.
“They were eating big crappie while also spawning on those grass flats,” Falk said. “We used your typical grass baits such as bladed jigs to catch the fish that previously followed our big baits. The conditions lined up perfectly and we were able to fish with our favorite baits and had a blast.”
