HICKORY, N.C. — North Carolina State University anglers Logan Anderson and Josh Frederick bested a field of 22 teams to capture the B.A.S.S. North Carolina team state qualifier hosted on Saturday afternoon by the Catawba Valley Community College bass fishing team on Lake Hickory.

Anderson and Frederick caught a five-bass limit of 14.31 pounds, which bested the second place team of Appalachian State University anglers Trevor Harrill and Ty Leatherwood, who caught a total five-bass weight of 10.35 pounds.

East Carolina University duo Jerris Bush and Hunter McGee placed third with a five-bass weight of 10.05 pounds — the third and final team from the event to catch a limit of more than 10 pounds.

With their victory, Anderson and Frederick qualify for their first-ever national championship tournament through B.A.S.S.

"I live at Lake Norman, and I've fished this (lake) my whole life and never done any good," Anderson said. "This is actually probably my first tournament win honestly. I'm happy to have it. This is going to be our first national championship. We're excited about. I've got to shoutout to my grandpa. He let me use his boat. Obviously, it came in pretty clutch because mine is in the shop. It's nice to be able to get out there and do good. It meant a lot to us."

Overall, Frederick was happy with his tournament appearance despite having never competed on Lake Hickory before.

"It was a great experience I thought," Frederick said. "We didn't get to practice as much as we wanted to, but we made due with what we could. It was my first time coming out to this lake so I was relying on the local man (Anderson) for this one."

CVCC anglers Jeremy Dellinger and Nathan Smith won the Big Bass competition with their catch of a 3.53 pound bass.

Dellinger caught the fish using a crank bait near a sea wall, but nearly lost the fish before reeling it in.

"It was kind of nerve-racking," Dellinger said. "I had it barely hooked on the corner of the mouth. I thought it was going to come off several times. I knew it was a good fish. I just was hoping we could put four more with it. It didn't work out, but if we were only going to weigh one, we weighed the right one."
Smith, who also served as master of ceremonies during the tournament weigh in, was impressed with how much support the tournament organized by his program ended up receiving.

"It's good to know that so many people would come out and fish with us and against us," Smith said. "There are some good guys here. We knew the competition was going to be stiff. We knew we had to do good. We caught the big one, which is what we really wanted. I just wished we had four to go with it."

N.C. Bass Nation Vice President Lenny Smathers, who served as the weigh master for the tournament, was pleased with how the event turned out.

"I thought the tournament was really well organized," Smathers said. "I really like seeing our young people — these college kids out here who are wonderful fishermen — out here doing this. It's something we all should support. It's good for everybody. It's good for the outdoors. It's good for the kids. It's good for the educational institutions. I'm really glad that CVCC is sponsoring this kind of stuff. I've seen so much publicity and so many good things that the kids are talking about. It's just wonderful. Today, we had good weather and (the anglers) caught a lot of fish. It was a good day. The tournament was well run. I'm just really proud that the community college is supporting this. It's a very good program."

The Catawba Valley Community College bass fishing team would like to thank all of its sponsors and supporters for the event, including President Dr. Garrett Hinshaw and administration, Pepsi, the Hickory Sports Commission, Catawba Insurance Agency, Best Western, Shiners Stash Jerky, Outdoor Supply Company, Fishstyx Custom Rods, TRC Covers, Ed Watkins Marine and Queen's Tackle.

Below are the results from the event: