June 30, 2025
GROVE, Okla. – In the days leading up to their arrival in Oklahoma for the 2025 High School Fishing National Championship on Grand Lake, Georgia-based Cartersville Fishing Team teammates Cooper Moon and Carson Holbert thought their chances of winning the nearly 400-boat tournament were, in their words, “a long shot.”
But within a 30-minute span on Day 1 – after catching 12 quick pounds en route to a tournament best of 15 pounds, 12 ounces – “long shot” turned to “Dude, I think we have a shot at this” for the Cartersville duo.
Two days and 44 pounds later, Moon and Holbert are leaving Grand Lake with a pair of trophies, matching $5,000 checks to spend on college, and the title of 2025 National Champions. The high school seniors sacked up 13-15 on the final day to finish the three-day event with 44-1 – good enough for a 3-pound win over Dylan Sorrells and Andrew Waters (41-1) of the Texas Highland Park Bass Team.
“We came out here with an open mind, learned as much about the lake as we could in practice, and kind of just worked our way through it, day by day,” Holbert said. “There were almost 400 teams fishing, so we knew it was a little bit of a long shot just because of the numbers. But we figured out a few things that got us onto bigger fish and ran with it.”
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Moon and Holbert spent the majority of their tournament fishing what they referred to as “transitional” water – rocky structure in 8 to 12 feet that seemed to harbor bigger-than-average fish while remaining impervious to the fluctuating water on Grand. They started the tournament with 15-12 on Day 1 and held onto the lead with 14-6 on Day 2 before finishing with 13-15 on Friday to secure the win.
The teams of Carson Mowdy and Colton Stewart of the Milano Eagles (37-10); Jackson Roumbanis and Lawson Lewis of the Russellville Cyclones (37-4); and Wyatt Woods and Wyatt McBride of Lexington High School (35-5) rounded out the Top 5.
Moon and Holbert were meticulous in their pre-tournament research and invested ample time leading up to the National Championship collecting facts and trends about Grand Lake (which they put to use practicing on a handful of lakes local to them that approximated Grand). They identified the basics of their winning pattern on Day 1 of practice, then spent the rest of practice eliminating water and techniques. The duo started the tournament with a basic plan to fish crankbaits over mid-depth rock while most of the other teams either fished shallow or on main-river offshore spots.
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“We weren’t back in the bushes, and we weren’t on the main-river ledge stuff that other people found them on – we wanted to stay in that transitional zone where the water would be somewhat more stable and fish didn’t move very much,” Moon said. “If the water came up a few feet, they’d be in maybe 12 feet of water; when it came down, they’d move to 8 feet. They’d only have to move maybe 20 feet. I think it was just the area where they felt safe and could feed.”
Holbert and Moon fished a variety of crankbaits from various manufacturers, almost all in shad colors, each working different depths and retrieves until they found the magic combination that touched off a flurry. They knew they found the right pattern early on Day 1.
“We caught 12 pounds in 30 minutes on our first spot on Day 1 and thought ‘We might be putting ourselves in contention here,’” Holbert said. “We had heard mixed reviews all week about people catching them just OK or not catching them. It didn’t seem that the lake was fishing that great for a lot of the teams, so we felt good about that first day.”
They picked right up in the same area on Day 2, despite being in a late flight and some increased pressure on their main spot. The pressure didn’t seem to affect Moon and Holbert as they plucked 13 pounds from that spot within 15 minutes, setting themselves up for the final day.
“We had some boats fishing around our spot, but they weren’t doing what we were doing,” Holbert said. “Everybody was doing the same thing, but we were working the bait right, hitting the angles right, doing everything efficiently.”
They arrived to a ripping current on their key spot the final morning as water managers pulled water, which played right into Holbert and Moon’s hands.
“They pulled a ton of current Friday, those fish wanted something moving, and fast,” Moon said. “We had lost a big fish on that spot just before weigh-in on Day 2, and when we went back to it on the final day, it was loaded. We caught a 5 and a 4 on one bait and had total chaos for about 10 minutes before the school broke up a little.”
“We knew we were around the fish to win,” Holbert said. “It was just a matter of getting the right bites and getting them at the right times when they were setting up to feed. Getting them in the boat was a big thing, too. We’d get a lot of bites in a flurry, and then it would go pretty dead. We knew we needed to take advantage of every bite, especially on those bigger fish.”
Moon and Holbert’s National Championship partnership will eventually lead them both to Montevallo University in Alabama – both have declared to fish for the College Fishing powerhouse, now with $5,000 apiece to help with expenses.
“We met back in July of 2024 – both of us were looking for a partner who was committed to travel the whole country and be serious about it,” Holbert said. “We’ve fished together very well from the beginning and have some experience fishing giant tournaments. Going into this week, we wanted to look for more sneaky stuff that people hadn’t looked at. It really worked out for us.”
Here's how the Top 10 teams finished:
1st: Cartersville Fishing Team – Cooper Moon, White, Ga., and Carson Holbert, Louisville, Tenn., nine bass, 44-1
In addition to the college scholarships and prizes offered, Moon and Holbert will also advance to compete as co-anglers at the 2025 MLF Toyota Series Championship, held Nov. 6-8 on Grand Lake.
