The team of Mason McCormick and Alexis Virgillito fished the Louisiana High School Bass Nation Caney Lake “Hawgfest” on Saturday, March 19, 2023 and caught what appears to be the heaviest stringer ever caught in a high school fishing tournament. Their catch of five largemouth bass weighed 37.13 pounds and their big fish was 9.22 pounds. Their catch was so good, it beat an impressive second place catch of 23.97 pounds by a whopping 13 pounds. The team was captained by Bradley Virgillito. To our knowledge this is the biggest string of 5 bass ever weighed in a high school bass fishing tournament.
“I can’t say enough about the young man Ben [Mason’s father] has raised,” Bradley Virgillito said. “Mason goes above and beyond to try to teach Alexis. Today my heart was melting because of that. They found one on a bed, and Mason would not even cast to make sure she caught it. That process took almost an hour, but he was patient and so was she. This is what makes a team and us parents proud.”
Their team caught their fish on a variety of baits including spinnerbaits and soft plastics. Their Bossier Parish High School Bass Team also took home the team trophy for weighing in 66 pounds for their top 3 teams. Ben McCormick and Mason have been longtime supporters of Wired2fish and folks we call friends. We could not be more proud for them and the work they put into high school fishing and tournament fishing. We’ve also written about Alexis before when her and her partner were the first all female team to win a state high school bass fishing championship.
These two are going to be the team to watch in the National Championships.
Mason is seen here holding his big bass of the event this weekend after Alexis netted it for him. And below are both anglers on stage during the awards presentation. They will be headed to Nationals after winning this event to qualify from Louisiana.
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