Two members of a club named after Bassmaster Elite Series pro Charlie Hartley won the Ohio B.A.S.S. Nation High School/Youth Angler Championship June 6-7 at Rocky Fork Lake. According to Bassmaster reporter John Neporadny Jr., Wade Pritsel and Joe Kovatch of the Hartley’s Hawgs High School Bass Fishing Club won the high school event, therefore qualifying for the 2015 Costa Bassmaster High School National Championship presented by TNT Fireworks July 22-25 at Kentucky Lake. They also earned the opportunity to compete in the Old Milwaukee B.A.S.S. National Northern Divisional August 26-28, on Lake Vermillion in Minnesota.
Hartley’s Hawgs was formed several years ago by a father-son team of Robert and Dustin Evans to further the fishing efforts of youth in Central Ohio who had no other venues to bass fish competitively. The club was named after Charlie Hartley, a Westerville graduate and founder of the Walnut Springs Middle School Fishing Club. The main goal of Hartley’s Hawgs is to allow young fisherman graduating from the Walnut Springs Fishing Club and other high school aged bass fisherman or fisherwomen to learn and keep a passion for angling for bass and understand that it can be a calming, peaceful and competitive sport. Hartley’s Hawgs has members from Westerville North, Westerville South, Westerville Central and Heritage Middle School. Their adult host club is Columbus BassMasters.