2005 Bassmaster Casting Kids National Finals

 

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
July 29th, 2005

Dave Saterbak traveled to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania for the 2005 Casting Kids National Finals along with his family and his grandparents.  Dave was also there for the Junior Bass World Championship earlier in the week.  Dave is the first person in history to compete in both Junior National events that coincided with the 2005 Bassmaster Classic.  Dave is a five time Minnesota State Casting Kids Champion and he competed his goal to compete in the Casting Kids National Finals.  He had finished 2nd in three of the semi-finals in the previous years.

 

The Casting Kids finals were held Saturday morning in the convention center where the B.A.S.S. expo was being held.  The kids were all given ample time to practice.  Dave competed against 4 other kids in his age group (11-14) from the different Federation divisions.  Each National finalist was taken one at a time to the casting lane to do their best.  Dave was the 4th contestant in his age group to go.  He did his best Flip, Pitch and Cast possible.  On Dave’s pitch and cast, the score keeper’s had to get down on their hands and knee’s and spread the plastic from the jig skirt to see where the line tie on the jig had landed.  After it was all completed, two kids had tied with a 140, and Dave was tied for 3rd with another contestant who also scored a 130.  Dave and the other contestant had to do a cast off from the 30 foot mark.  The other contestant went first and scored a 20.  When it was Dave’s turn he scored a 30, and took 3rd place in the finals.   The other two contestant’s with the high score of 140 then moved on to the final show.  It was held on the main floor in front of 10,000 plus spectators at the Mellon Arena where the Bassmaster Classic weigh-in was being held.  After it was over, Corey Harrington in the 11-14 age group from North Carolina won it in a cast off and became the Nation Champion in his age group.  Cory also received a $5000.00 scholarship

 

Dave earned a $1500.00 scholarship that day for his future education by finishing 3rd.   This was also Dave’s last year he could compete in the Bassmaster Casting Kids program.  After it was over, he said he had great week in Pittsburgh and he has a life time of memories.

 

Joy George the Bassmaster Casting Kids coordinator, and Stacy Twiggs, the Bassmaster National Youth Director went all out to make this a great event for all the contestants.   

 

7-10  Age Group Final Standings
1. Kiana Clark, Washington
2. Bryce Bason, Pennsylvania
3. Shauni Voisin, Ontario, Canada
4. J. Beth Miles, Alabama
5. Devin Dixon, Oklahoma

 

11-14  Age Group Final Standings
1. Corey Harrington, North Carolina
2. Nathan Bromley, Oregon
3. Dave Saterbak, Minnesota
4. Danny Roselle, Maryland
5. Hunter King, Nebraska

The Minnesota Casting Kids State finals will be held in October.  The place and date to be determined.  Please check out the Bassmaster web site www.bassmaster.com and the Minnesota Bass Federation web site www.mnbf.org for upcoming Casting Kids qualifiers in your area.  I look forward to see you there.

 

See you on the water,

Todd Saterbak
Minnesota B.A.S.S. Federation Youth Director