On Tuesday April 28, 2009 Plainfield South High School competed in the sectional bass fishing tournament held on Lake Heidecke. This was the first time in Illinois history that high schools have been in a fishing competition. In fact, it is the first time in U.S. history that fishing competition has been held at the State level and everyone involved was very excited to be a part of it.

After two postponements due to weather on Friday and Monday, the decision was made to try again on Tuesday. When the teams showed up at the Lake early Tuesday morning it looked like we might face another postponement due to weather. It had rained several inches overnight and was still drizzling and had cooled off into the low 40’s. Ever more serious was the threat of high winds which can pose a real danger on cooling lakes. The wind at 7 am was around 20 mph and producing high waves. The Illinois Department of Natural Resources who control the lake decided to put us on hold until conditions were safer. At 10 am the boats were released to begin fishing and had to be back for the official weigh- in at 5pm.

There were a total of 17 boats in the competition from 9 different schools. To say that the fishing conditions were difficult would be a gross understatement. The #2 boat from South was skippered by coach Lee Dvorak and crewed by Senior Matt Mieszkowski and Freshman Kyle Walsh. Within an hour Matt had the first keeper smallmouth bass in the live well which guaranteed us a shot at the Championship round. Matt later caught a second keeper smallmouth and Kyle also caught one that was unfortunately one inch too short to keep. Despite the difficult conditions the boys never let up and fished right until the end.

At the 5pm weigh-in the difficult conditions faced by the competitors became evident. After 7 hours of hard fishing 10 boats out of 17 had caught NO fish! The largest fish of the day was less than one pound weighing in at 0.98lbs. When all the weights were totaled the Plainfield South team with Matt and Kyle came in 4th place missing a chance to go on to State by half a pound, if only Kyle’s fish was a keeper. The top four teams were recognized and we did receive a medal to bring back to Plainfield South. Despite not going on to State it was a very proud moment for the boys. Everyone had a wonderful time and we’re glad to be part of history, we all look forward to next year.