Avid bass anglers Hunter Pate of Orrington and Jacob Gauvin of Bucksport teamed up to defend their 2014 title on Saturday during the Student Angler Federation Maine High School Bass Fishing Championship.
The duo landed a collective 12.27 pounds of bass during the event, which was held at Silver Lake in Bucksport.
Gauvin also caught the day’s “lunker,” or biggest fish — a 4.14-pound smallmouth bass.
Tyler Heath and Jacob Wilson of Bucksport finished second with a five-bass total of 9.37 pounds.
Pate is a senior at John Bapst Memorial High School in Bangor, while Gauvin is a junior at Bucksport High School.
The competition will get tougher from here, as Pate and Gauvin have earned the right to represent Maine in the Conference Championship on Sept. 18-19 on Lake Winnipesaukee in New Hampshire. There, they’ll face the champions from 12 other states stretching from Virginia to Maine.
According to a press release, pate and Gauvin have been fishing competitively for three years with the Bangor Bass Club and the Outcast Bass Club.
The SAF’s State Championship Series is touted as the largest high school fishing organization in the country.