July 21, 2025

This summer, Hughson High School’s Logan DeKleva and Landon Mason will begin their final year in the high school’s Bass Club. The team of two comes in with a third experience fishing at national levels in the 16th Annual High School Fishing National Championship tournament in Grove, Oklahoma, on June 25 and 26.

“The competition was fun,” Landon Mason said. “There were 400 teams competing. It was set up very well, and we thank MLF for always providing a good national tournament for us. This year it was held at Grand Lake, Oklahoma, and we had an awesome time fishing the lake. The water was very high from excessive rain this year. In order for them to have the tournament, they had to lower the lake level. With the water being so high and unpredictable, we did not do as well as we hoped. We finished about a little higher than the middle of the pack,” Mason said.

In 2024, the pair finished 248th out of 437 teams on Lake Hartwell, in Anderson, South Carolina, a lake three times larger than the largest lake in California.

And while the team did not finish in the top tiers this year, they continued to demonstrate the qualities for which they have become known over the years.

In the event, each fish must be at least 12 inches long. Teams count their three biggest fish at weigh-in for the first two days. The top 10 teams based on total weight advance to the national finals on Friday. That day’s total weight will be added to the first two rounds to determine the champion.

The National Tournament concludes the year’s competition season for DeKleva and Mason, following being named California Student Anglers of the Year for second year in a row, after placing in the top ten in the two previous state wide tournaments: 6th place in the TBF High School Open Challenge Event on the California Delta at Russo’s Marina, Bethel Island in April 2025, with a total weight of 14.81 and 2nd place at the SAF State Championship on May 2 at the California Delta, with a total weight of 15.94.

For nearly eight years, Dave Zylstra has advised the Bass Club. He has watched DeKleva and Mason grow each year as they have progressed through high school and into leadership club positions. He described them as “great ambassadors for the club”. He noted that they are able to make friends wherever they go, building a reputation at nationals for their sportsmanship and sincere desire for everyone to succeed.

The Bass Club consists of four teams that go out, fish and compete against other teams in a series of tournaments throughout the year. “We compete really well for a small team; others have 8-12 teams,” Zylstra said.

There are six groups in each division, and each group hosts a tournament during the year. Teams earn points with each tournament, and by earning the highest levels of points, DeKleva and Mason once again earned the title of California Angler of the Year. After finishing in the Top 10 during two national qualifier tournaments, they headed to nationals.

“It’s a tough tournament,” Zylstra said. Locals may be more familiar with the lake selected for the competition or have more opportunities to “pre-fish” and identify the hottest spots in the water. In every tournament, a standard body of water is chosen; except for the docks, the lake is wide open for competition.

Competitors are informed of the tournament's location and can fish there in advance. It isn’t uncommon to see winners come from those who had the opportunity to fish there two or three times ahead of the tournament. They look for spots that tend to be good fishing locations, fish some spots, and try to gauge the best color and bait to use.

“The day of the tournament, you hope the fish are still there. If not, you try something else. A lot of it is adaptability,” he said.

Mason explained, “Although fishing may seem like a majority of just who can get a lucky fish, it takes a lot of drive, precision and ability to stay on the water for hours on end, making every last cast count with precision, through years of fishing.”

Arriving in Oklahoma, teams were permitted to pre-fish for 2 1/2 days. Halfway through the third day, they attended a meeting that reviewed rules for the tournament and the awards to be won. “When the tournament starts, we would wake up about 4 o’clock each morning and drive about 15 minutes to the boat launch from our hotel, where we stayed the entire time,” Mason said.

At the tournament, teams launched their boats in the water and waited for their number to be called. The number determines the flight time, that is, when teams must head back in to weigh in. With their fish in tanks, they arrived at the stage, weighed their fish, were photographed, and repeated the process for three days until the tournament’s end.

According to advisor Zylstra, the DeKleva and Mason succeed because they “work well as a team. They’ll try different baits and different directions and see what’s working.” Mason brings the talent of catching a great number of fish, and DeKleva excels in catching the big fish.

“Our strengths as a team are great communication, knowing what each other is going to do at certain spots and being able to cover water looking for an active bite,” Mason said.

With a limit to how many fish can be weighed, and scores depending on overall weight, Zylstra explained that waiting for the biggest fish just won’t do. As Mason catches, they meet the target number to add to the overall weight. As DeKleva brings heftier fish, they can release the lightweight fish of the five.

“They put in a lot of time to be Angler of the Year. It isn’t something that just happens by chance,” Zylstra said.

The two put in the hours of practice. “They spend time, know where the fish are and entice them to bite different lures and presentations to cause the fish to strike, and there’s a lot to it depending on different times of the year, different things work, water temp, locations, on a lake or a delta, two different ways of fishing,” Zylstra explained. Learning their options and how things work strengthens the team’s ability to adapt to different circumstances.

At nationals, the challenges began while pre-fishing. “We ended up catching over 14 pounds for three fish and the first day and we thought we had the fish figured out, but if you look back on our weight the first day of the tournament, we did not have the weight we thought we would have we could not find the fish that we found, and we ran to the other side of the lake and threw jigs in sloughs for a bigger bite that we found, but we did not get enough bites to matter,” Mason said.

“We were most proud of being able to even make the trip,” he continued. “We are thankful for our sponsors and the support of Hughson High School and other people who have supported us along the way to help us get to the national tournament. We also would like to thank our parents deeply and our boat captain, Kyle, for always taking us out on the water with his own time. This would not have been possible without our parents helping us get here, and for Kyle to be willing to take us all the way to the National Tournament.”

Zylstra retired at the end of the 2024-25 school year, having taught math at Hughson High School for 29 years. However, he plans to stay on and advise the club. “For one thing, “I definitely want to see them finish their senior year,” Zylstra said. “Having been there four years with them and having them grow and be successful, that’s really rewarding.”

"Bass fishing is a great club that has had a lot of success in the last few years,” Hughson High School Principal Loren Lighthall said. “More importantly, it has allowed a large group of kids to do what they love in a competitive format with friends. It makes school fun and gives them a creative outlet."

“We hope the bass club will thrive after we leave and keep going on,” Mason said. The two plan to continue fishing as often as they can and “enjoy that passion with friends and family. “Mason added, “But I really thank God for giving me the opportunity to make it as far as we have, and this is a once-in-a-lifetime experience, and we will be forever grateful.”