Local angler set to compete in national tournament

Local angler Carson Forrester is hoping the third time will be the charm as he once again gets set to compete among the nation’s best.


The 17-year-old Chambersburg high school student has qualified to represent Pennsylvania at the Big Bass Zone Junior Championship World Finals Oct. 30 at Lake Taneycomo in Branson, Missouri — marking the third straight year he has qualified for the national tournament.

“I’m just looking forward to getting another shot to try and win it. I was 11th last year, prior to that I finished in the 20s. Hopefully I’ll continue to get better and do better this year,” Carson said. “It’s at a different location this year, too. It will be good to fish in some new places.”

To qualify for the national tournament, anglers aged 13 to 19 fished from January through Aug. 15, vying for the heaviest bag of five bass in each state. Anglers catch a bass, submit pictures of their catch via a mobile app with the girth and length of each bass. At the end of the eight months, the angler with the heaviest bag of bass in each state became the state champion, qualifying them for the one day big bass national tournament in Missouri.  

This year, there also was a separate category for the largest individual largemouth bass and the largest individual smallmouth bass caught in the nation. 

Carson won for the heaviest bag of 5 bass, both largemouth and smallmouth in the state of Pennsylvania, with his top five fish weighing a total of 33.72 pounds. He also won the category of largest smallmouth in the nation, with a smallmouth weighing in at 7.07 pounds. 

Of the 54 qualifiers, Forrester is one of only seven anglers who is a three-time state winner. 

“You can see the live leaderboard throughout the whole year, so when you submit your fish, you see how you rank. You can see leading up to it how well you’re doing,” Forrester said. “The smallmouth I caught, I caught it in January, so it has been a long wait to see if anybody could beat that. It’s exciting to see that I won both of the categories and get to return to fish at nationals.”

The tournament, presented by Bassmaster, is in its third year and first in Missouri after spending its first two years in Idaho. The grand prize for this year’s tournament is a Bass Cat Boat.  

This year, unlike previous years, Carson won’t be happy just to qualify. He wants to win, and he feels like he is capable, as long as things break his way.

“Time on the water and focusing on the details is what I think separates me [from the average fisher]. It’s a really humbling sport. You could be really good in one tournament, but you can never be consistent and you never know what is going to happen,” Carson stated. “It’s been a fun ride, I’ve been to Idaho, now Missouri. I’ve fished tournaments in South Carolina, Georgia and a lot of places. It is nice to see the country, fish different places and gain experience.”