The annual High School Bass Fishing Championship was held this weekend on West Point Lake at Highland Marina. Callaway High School won the school competition, and Matthew Freemon, a student of Callaway, won the overall tournament. Event organizer Ken Bearden said the event is not associated with school tournaments in the state, but was created to promote the sport.

“It’s just a one day event, I don’t charge them an entrance fee,” Bearden said. “It’s just something I do to promote fishing and just something for the kids to keep them interested.”

Bearden said the event had 54 high school students from 13 local schools and from the state, such as Newnan and Harris County. Bearden said the tournament originally started ten years ago when he created a local high school fishing club that has since disbanded. He said the tournament is a good way to introduce high school students who are new to fishing to how its tournaments work.

“If they are new to it, this is a good way for them to see how everything operates without any money or points involved,” he said.

Bearden said the tournament added an overall high school category for the most weight, but it was mostly individual work.

“This one is a championship, so its everybody against everybody. Two of them can fish in a boat, but they have to keep their fish separate throughout the day,” he said.

While Callaway High School won for most weight, Troup High School and Newnan High School finished in second and third.